Thursday, January 13, 2011

Polyphasic Sleep


I've been trying to get adjusted to a polyphasic sleep schedule recently.  For those who don't know what polyphasic sleep is, a bit of background info is in order.  Every night your body goes through various stages of sleep, one of which is known as REM(rapid eye movement), and this is where the most beneficial sleep comes from.  Ironically the REM phase is when the brain look least asleep.  Well, it seems that REM sleep is all you really need to survive and feel rested but only 1-2hrs of your nightly sleep are spent in REM.  Wouldn't it be nice to cut out the extra phases of sleep and get 4-5 more hours of productive time awake.

Introducing polyphasic sleep:
One of the ways to train yourself to go into REM sleep immediately when you go to sleep is to trick your body into thinking it is going to get a tiny amount of sleep.  You can do this by using a few 20-30 minute naps throughout the day.  There are numerous different schedules you can adopt to use this method and the one i've been trying to stick to is: 3-hours of core sleep at night (1-4 a.m.), then three 20-minute naps throughout the day (at 9am, 2pm, and 9pm ideally).  naps can be shifted by as much as an hour in either direction. So I can nap at 8, 1, and 9; or 9:30, 3, and 8:30...etc.

Getting adjusted:
Switching my sleep schedule like this has left me pretty tired lately, and I've had some trouble waking up from my naps.  I hear it takes about 10 days before you get used to polyphasic sleep, but I've had to start over a couple of times when a 30min nap turned into a 5 hour sleep.  I slept through 6 alarm clocks!  Maybe I just need to switch the mp3s my alarm clocks play to some louder songs.  I'm sure if I keep trying, I'll get used to it.

Anyway I just wanted to share what I thought was some useful info.  Can't really think of too much to write about on here yet, so unless I have some good subject matter, maybe I'll just keep updating this blog with cool or useful information like this post.  Let me know what you think.


Squeaked by Anonymouse at 4:13 PM

25 comments:

  1. Blops KillerJanuary 13, 2011 at 5:46 PM

    Nice I want to try that.

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  2. mohoJanuary 13, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    i've always wanted to try this, but i like my 7 hour sleeps. i also throw in an afternoon nap

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  3. daytodayhijinx.blogspot.comJanuary 13, 2011 at 5:52 PM

    useful stuff. hit me up.

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  4. CalamariJanuary 13, 2011 at 6:03 PM

    Never heard of it before, I'll be sure to try it tonight. I have always found that telling your body that you'll have hardly any sleep seems to make it sleep more efficiently. Cheers!

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  5. Schla.mp3January 13, 2011 at 6:49 PM

    hey nice
    make sure to visit my blog
    http://samboism.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:17 PM

    nice blog man
    following

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  7. AlexanderJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:23 PM

    thanks for the support man. Following

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  8. UnknownJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:25 PM

    Sweet as. I'm watching this one

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:50 PM

    I've heard of this. Sadly, with school and whatnot I can't sleep at 9 and 2. Gotta get dem grades yo

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  10. AnonymouseJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:51 PM

    thanks for the comments...if you try it you might be a little tired at first and you'll probably have more vivid dreams too...pretty cool.

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  11. Come At Me BroJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    I need more sleep!

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  12. PikamitsuJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    Sleeping through 6 alarm clocks? Shit, I need to try this.

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  13. joeblackJanuary 13, 2011 at 7:58 PM

    I agree. my sleeping schedule is fucked also...

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  14. RatsRunThisTownJanuary 13, 2011 at 8:32 PM

    REM sleep? Like the band! :D

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  15. JooponJanuary 13, 2011 at 8:42 PM

    the easiest way to fix sleep shedule is the most simple one: just get up early a couple of days, ypu'll become tired in the everning and voila

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  16. Null PointerJanuary 13, 2011 at 9:11 PM

    ^ That. Either that or stay up all night for a night or two and then you'll be tired when you go to sleep. Pretty much instant reset on your sleep schedule.

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  17. EddJanuary 13, 2011 at 9:45 PM

    Sick guy :D

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  18. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2011 at 9:45 PM

    interesting

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  19. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2011 at 10:03 PM

    That sounds neat, lemme know if it works out, haha. Now following!

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  20. Some GuyJanuary 13, 2011 at 11:25 PM

    If it works, definitely post about it. If you gained 4 hours per day of awake time that's like living 10 more years total. Crazy stuff.

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  21. GrimlockJanuary 14, 2011 at 5:42 AM

    Ive tried this. It is difficult as hell to keep it up. Well I did have a lady friend distracting me, which wasnt too bad... at the time... I paid for it later with no energy to do anything whatsoever for missing a nap.


    on the plus side i can now instnantly recharge with a 10 minute nap!

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  22. AnonymouseJanuary 14, 2011 at 6:45 AM

    yeah i hear if you miss one of the naps you get totally exhausted, especially on the uberman schedule where you just take 6 naps and don't get any core sleeping time at night.

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  23. systemAdminJanuary 14, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    Interesting. I'm currently on the sleep whenever however long schedule. Not having a job helps with that though...

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  24. AnonymousJanuary 15, 2011 at 4:42 PM

    yeah, not having a job is nice for that.

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  25. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2011 at 11:41 PM

    cool post, always wanted to try this.

    ReplyDelete

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