Polyphasic Sleep Experiment

posted by William Womack on Friday, February 5th 2010 under: Application, Experience, Growth, Personal, Sleep, Time Management Tags: dymaxion, everyman, polyphasic adaption, polyphasic sleep, uberman

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Polyphasic Sleep 101

Ahh…. polyphasic sleep. My old nemesis….

If you’ve been a reader of this blog you know that a few months back I tried to adapt to a sleep schedule called “polyphasic sleep”, and to make a long story short, I failed miserably.

I overslept, had to skip naps, incorrectly set alarms, and it was a mess.

Although a failed at polyphasic sleep, I succeeding in figuring out what it was going to take to succeed at this sleep schedule.

And right now is where I explain what polyphasic sleep is, isn’t it?

Polyphasic sleep is a form of sleeping in sequential naps. There are a few different varieties of polyphasic sleep: everyman, uberman, and dymaxion.

You right now are a monophasic sleeper. You sleep in one long chunk every night. Darkness comes, you roll into bed, and crawl out when the sun comes up.

Polyphasic sleep is drastically different. A polyphasic sleeper will nap throughout the day AND night in order to get the rest that they need.

How long do they sleep? An average of 2-5 hours.

Yep, that’s it.

I can already hear your next question. “How is this possible?”

The idea is simple. Polyphasic sleep starves your brain of your most important stage of sleep. Your REM cycle.

Your REM cycle is the stage of sleep that restores your body, organizes your memories, and gives you dreams.

An average monophasic sleeper gets about 1.5 hours of REM every night.

Once your brain is sleep deprived, it will go into survival mode and skip past the other less necessary stages of sleep and put you straight into your REM cycle for nearly the full amount of time you are asleep.

Because you are achieving your REM cycle the same amount of hours as a normal monophasic sleeper, you are able to function just as a normal person would.

The amazing fact of the matter is, most people say that they feel BETTER as a polyphasic sleeper. (Once they get through the hellish adaption period, that is.)

The Three Types of Polyphasic Sleep

Of the three different brands of polyphasic sleep, Everyman is the most normal.

In the Everyman polyphasic sleep schedule you take a core nap every night of 2-5 hours and take intermittent 20-30 minute naps throughout the day.

You get a grand total of maybe 2 hours back everyday, depending on how long your core nap is, and how many naps you take during the day.

Of the three types, Everyman takes the longest to adapt to, but it is the easiest of the three. Your brain stay sleep deprived longer because it doesn’t have to go into survival mode to function. It becomes more your body adapting than your brain commanding you to go into your REM cycle.

The most radical of the three is the dymaxion sleep schedule. (Which just happens to be the one that I had failed to adapt to.)

The dymaxion sleep schedule consists of taking a 4 naps throughout the day, each 30 minutes long. These naps must be spread apart every 6 hours.

You sleep a grand total of 2 hours a day, gaining back 4-6 hours of your life every day.

I have looked, and have found no reputable or proven sources that show anyone adapting to this schedule. (If you find some, let me know.)

The last of the three is the uberman sleep schedule. (Which is the the schedule that I am currently adapting to.)

The Uberman sleep schedule calls for taking 6 naps, 20-30 minutes each. You sleep an average of 2-3 hours a day. The bummer of this schedule is the fact that every 4 hours you have to lay down to take a nap.

They are reputable and documented sources of people adapting to this sleep schedule very successfully. I linked to them in another article that you can find here.

My Chosen Adversary…

After much deliberation and a few quick test runs, I’ve opted to adjust to the uberman sleep schedule.

It has the most documented success, the same amount of sleep time as dymaxion, and I have the work schedule to pull it off. (One of the many joys of being self-employed )

So what makes this different than the last time I tried it?

I’m doing a sleep schedule that has had successful attempts
I have a huge focus in my life right now to provide motivation
I have a partner in crime
Finally, I’ve done my research, and know some tips and tricks of the trade

My last attempt was unsuccessful due to lack of knowledge, limits, and know-how. Picking up certain tips like changing my diet, my habits, sleeping location as well as mindset will give a tremendous advantage.

I will be documenting my adaption both in video and text on this blog, as well as created a free PDF for you all to download with all of the tips and tricks that I have found that actually work. (The Title is still in the works, but “The Definitive Guide to Polyphasic Sleep” sounds pretty good… )