[Article] Polyphasic Sleep

[skylight]

Recently, i've been lacking alot of sleep... typically only sleep for a few hours. Yesterday i tried to google for "3 hours sleep daily" trying to find out what are the bad effects of lacking sleep...

Instead, i found an interesting sleeping pattern which i have never thought such idea exists... Polyphasic Sleep.

What is Polyphasic Sleep, you may wonder....

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Quoting from wikipedia...


Polyphasic Sleep is a sleep pattern specification intended to reduce sleep time to 2–5 hours daily. This is achieved by spreading out sleep into short naps of around 20–45 minutes throughout the day. This is supposed to allow for more waking hours with relatively high alertness.

The method uses natural human sleep mechanisms to maximize alertness when sleep time needs to be minimized. However, it requires a rigid schedule which makes it unfeasible for most people. It can work well for those engaged in activities which do not permit lengthy periods of sleep.

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I am shock to realize such concept exists... it is really a very interesting idea. The whole of today, i've been thinking about this polyphasic sleep idea. It s really great to be able to gain few more hours every day... i have soooo much stuff to do....

The following links has info of how that guy switch to polyphasic sleep and how great it is.

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=892542


However, i am still not sure what are the side effects. Gathered from many of the polyphasic sleepers that blog their experience... although they have been successfully used it to gain many hours, many of them eventually switch back to monophasic (our typical 6-8 hours long sleep) sleep. With polyphasic sleep... most of them having less social interaction... bcos most of the time gain are during the night where everyone sleeps.

The following polyphasic sleeper blogger gives reason why he switch back to monophasic sleep. He mentions that it is really a hard decision to switch back... he got to choose... more time? or more social interaction.... He also mention that after gone into polyphasic sleep, he saw a new perspective of time. To polyphasic sleepers, time is continuous instead of individual days.

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...to-monophasic/

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So..... what do you think of polyphasic sleep?
Having few hours extra everyday to watch anime, play games, work for more money....wow...

But i dont think i will be trying. it seems there will be a great lifestyle change after adopting this sleeping pattern. Imagine.. you have to go nap every 3.5 hours...

From the experience of those polyphasic sleepers, they all really enjoy having those addtional waking hours....

[akiraguy]

im a practitioner of that poly-whatever sleep thing. i got some 4 hours extra out of my usual 24 hours time. most of it is in early morning, where i slept for 2 hours and then rise, slept another 2 hours in the noontime plus some hours after dinner.

and yeah, not so sociable is a bane. but who cares.

[skylight]

Originally Posted by akiraguy

im a practitioner of that poly-whatever sleep thing. i got some 4 hours extra out of my usual 24 hours time. most of it is in early morning, where i slept for 2 hours and then rise, slept another 2 hours in the noontime plus some hours after dinner.

and yeah, not so sociable is a bane. but who cares.

wow... when did you start doing this... do you plan it out when you first started it? there are variant of polyphasic sleep. however, it seems that the more commonly practice is the uberman schedule... the goal of such sleep is to quickly go into REM stage the moment you sleep.

From those articles, they state that typically in a normal monophasic sleep, people will get approx 1.5 hours of REM stage. for a successful polyphasic sleeper, you will get probably 2 hours of REM stage...

[akiraguy]

Originally Posted by skylight

wow... when did you start doing this... do you plan it out when you first started it? there are variant of polyphasic sleep. however, it seems that the more commonly practice is the uberman schedule... the goal of such sleep is to quickly go into REM stage the moment you sleep.

From those articles, they state that typically in a normal monophasic sleep, people will get approx 1.5 hours of REM stage. for a successful polyphasic sleeper, you will get probably 2 hours of REM stage...

well, i dont plan it exactly dat way...but after my dad started to nag me to get some sleep, i thought; how bout i do 'this' way?? and then i gt my sleep AND got time to see anime :P been doing it since three years ago. dats why u only get to see me late night or early morning sky.

and...whats dat REM stage? i dont go to college dat high so i dont know.

[skylight]

http://www.ubersleep.com/ is a blog about this polyphasic sleep...


anyway at

http://www.sleepdisorderchannel.net/stages/

it describes the various stages of a normal sleep.

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Stage 5, REM
REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep is distinguishable from NREM sleep by changes in physiological states, including its characteristic rapid eye movements. However, polysomnograms show wave patterns in REM to be similar to Stage 1 sleep. In normal sleep (in people without disorders of sleep-wake patterns or REM behavior disorder), heart rate and respiration speed up and become erratic, while the face, fingers, and legs may twitch. Intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep as a result of heightened cerebral activity, but paralysis occurs simultaneously in the major voluntary muscle groups, including the submental muscles (muscles of the chin and neck). Because REM is a mixture of encephalic (brain) states of excitement and muscular immobility, it is sometimes called paradoxical sleep. It is generally thought that REM-associated muscle paralysis is meant to keep the body from acting out the dreams that occur during this intensely cerebral stage. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes, with each recurring REM stage lengthening, and the final one lasting an hour.

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Taken from wikipedia.

Theories about the function(s) of REM sleep

The function of REM sleep is not well understood; several theories have been advanced.

According to one theory, certain memories are consolidated during REM sleep. Numerous studies have suggested that REM sleep is important for consolidation of procedural and spatial memories. (Slow-wave sleep, part of non-REM sleep, appears to be important for declarative memories.) However, in people that have no REM sleep (because of brain damage), memory functions are not measurably affected.

Another theory suggests that monoamine shutdown is required so that the monoamine receptors in the brain can recover to regain full sensitivity. Indeed, if REM sleep is repeatedly interrupted, the person will "make up" for it with longer REM sleep at the next opportunity. Acute REM sleep deprivation can improve certain types of depression, and depression appears to be related to an imbalance of certain neurotransmitters. Most antidepressants selectively inhibit REM sleep due to their effects on monoamines. However, this effect decreases after long-term use.

According to a third theory, known as the Ontogenetic Hypothesis of REM sleep, this sleep phase (also known as Active Sleep in neonates) is particularly important to the developing brain, possibly because it provides the neural stimulation that newborns need to form mature neural connections and for proper nervous system development (Marks et al. 1995). Studies investigating the effects of Active Sleep deprivation have shown that deprivation early in life can result in behavioral problems, permanent sleep disruption, decreased brain mass (Mirmiran et al. 1983), and result in an abnormal amount of neuronal cell death (Morrissey, Duntley & Anch, 2004). REM sleep is necessary for proper central nervous system development (Marks et al. 1995). Further supporting this theory is the fact that the amount of REM sleep decreases with age, as well as the data from other species (see below).

[akiraguy]

they made a study bout this??! unbelievable.

nice still to know dat im not the only freaks with this type of sleeping order. makes u feel not alone :P

well, back to sleep. its saturday anyway.

[Natsume]

This is weird...I've been lacking sleep and rest for days...when I lay on my bed, I just stare at the wall...I can't sleep at all unless I keep staring for hours....I don't know about polyphasic sleep side effects, but I hope that it's not something serious.

[akiraguy]

sounds like u need sleeping pills, but be sure not to overdose. its pretty powerful stuff.

[Natsume]

Originally Posted by akiraguy

sounds like u need sleeping pills, but be sure not to overdose. its pretty powerful stuff.

I need some, but in my current health condition ( asthma and other crap )...I'll sleep and never wake up...lol, but if I can waste time on the pc, ps2 or my gamecube...I try to sleep, I don't drink coffee much, most of my days ; I don't drink coffee at all....maybe it's a psyhcological problem....I need to stop loving people a lot is on my mind lately, from people to things...I think a lot

[cloud97402]

-shrugs- i do this all the time! ROFL odd to know that it is an actual method of sleep -.- for it is beyond my control -glares- lol