AmyJoHines.com

After reading about Steve Pavlina’s Polyphasic Sleep Trial last year, I have considered the idea of trying it myself. Instead of 6 to 9 hours of sleep at night, in polyphasic sleep (also called Uberman sleep) you take a 20-30 minute nap every 4 hours, for a total of 2-3 hours of sleep in a day. Read the original article for more information. Steve Pavlina writes:

Polyphasic sleep completely rewrote my whole concept of time, and I was totally unprepared for that. I no longer think of time in terms of individual days — now it’s a continuous and never-ending flow.

I did research (there is very little information) and always concluded that I couldn’t control my schedule that closely, especially with very young children. While it would be nice to have more quiet time to work, the schedule wasn’t realistic.

Something Has to Change

I decided earlier this week I had to do something to increase my energy. I am sick and tired of being tired and sick everyday. My sinuses are causing trouble and I have a constant cough. I looked at my life and decided the top things to change would be my sleep patterns or my diet. I have already begun changing my diet, and I feel that a little more time is needed to make those changes habits. My current sleep patterns are horrible: due to remodeling last month I have been sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress, plus my bedtime and wakeup time vary by several hours. I haven’t felt rested in a month, and my productivity is non-existent.

Biphasic Sleep

I attempted to switch to biphasic sleep a few times last year, but was unsuccessful. Biphasic sleep consists of a nightly core sleep (usually 3 or 4.5 hours) and a daily nap (usually 90 minutes). I just could not fit a 90 minute nap into my schedule, even when I tried to nap I seemed more tired afterwords. Plus I really hated missing out on what the family was doing.

In case you are wondering, the sleep times are in 90 minute increments because of studies showing that is a full sleep cycle. Waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle will leave you feeling groggy, whereas waking up at the end leaves you rested and alert. At least its supposed to.

The Everyman Polyphasic Sleep Schedule

While browsing information about polyphasic and biphasic sleep I came across references to a different kind of polyphasic sleep: the Everyman Schedule. Instead of eliminating the core sleep you shorten it and supplement with multiple 20-30 minute naps. Typical schedules include a 3 hour core with 3-4 naps and a 4.5 hour core with 2-3 naps. The adaptation period is much shorter than the Uberman schedule, and the schedule is more flexible. I tried a short nap yesterday and it was very restorative.

30 Day Trial

So today (April 10) I began my 30 day trial. The plan is to sleep from 1 am to 4 am, and then to take a 30 minute nap at 9 am, 2 pm and 8 pm. I will post updates of my progress and thoughts throughout the trial.

No Comments »