The 8-hour rule is bunk: Why conventional wisdom about sleep is stressing us out. Sleep Patterns - Polyphasic, Biphasic & Monophasic. A good sleep pattern is the cornerstone to getting great sleep. A messed up sleep pattern is one of the main causes of insomnia. The key to getting it right is to choose a sleep pattern and stick to it like glue. Don’t think you’re limited to just one sleep and wake time.
With an understanding of the stages of sleep and the sleep cycle, you can sleep multiple times during the day and effectively feel great on as little as 3 hours of sleep per day. It’s possible, but it’s not for the faint hearted! To have any chance of succeeding you need to know the theory behind what you’re doing. In this article we’ll take a look at the theory behind sleep patterns to see exactly how they work and what creates a great sleep pattern. How Sleep Patterns Work Your sleep pattern is like a timepiece which your body uses to understand when it’s time to sleep and when it’s time to wake. How long you have been awakeThe regular timing of your sleep You quickly develop a sleep wake cycle from birth. Alternative Sleep Cycles: You Don’t Really Need 6-8 Hours! Most people only think that there is one way to sleep: Go to sleep at night for 6-8 hours, wake up in the morning, stay awake for 16-18 hours and then repeat.
Actually, that is called a monophasic sleep cycle, which is only 1 of 5 major sleep cycles that have been used successfully throughout history. The other 4 are considered polyphasic sleep cycles due to the multiple number of naps they require each day. How is this possible? How is this healthy? Well the most important of every sleep cycle is the Stage 4 REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which has been shown to provide the benefits of sleep to the brain above all other stages of sleep. This way, you still get the benefits of 8 hours of sleep without wasting all of the time it takes to get to REM cycles, resulting in a much more efficient sleep cycle. Uberman Cycle: 20 to 30 minute naps every 4 hours, resulting in 6 naps each day. Everyman Cycle: One longer “core” nap that is supplemented with several 20-30 minute naps. Dymaxion Cycle: Polyphasic Sleep Log – Day 1.
I’ve completed my first day on the polyphasic sleep schedule, napping for 20-30 minutes every four hours. It’s been almost 36 hours since I last awoke from a full night’s sleep. “Day” is a relative term on this schedule, since the daytime sleeping schedule is no different than the nighttime one. I’m not sure whether to think of today as “day 1″ (the day after my first night of sleep deprivation) or “day 2″ (the second day after I officially started this sleeping pattern). I opted to call it “day 1.” No serious problems thus far aside from some fatigue, lower concentration, and occasional sleepiness. I’ve stuck to the plan, always beginning my sleep periods within 10 minutes of the target times and never oversleeping. Yesterday seemed tougher than it should have been, as I experienced some tiredness even though I was initially getting more sleep than usual by beginning the nap schedule after having a regular night’s sleep.
Polyphasic Sleep Long-Term Consequences. One long-term consequence of the polyphasic sleep experiments I did in 2005-2006 is that I still retain the ability to fall asleep very quickly. Enough time has passed that I suspect this is a permanent change. These days when I decide to go to sleep, I can typically fall asleep within 30 seconds or less. Sometimes I can be asleep within just 2-3 seconds.
As Rachelle can attest, this is no exaggeration. This isn’t narcolepsy. I don’t drift off during the day, and I don’t fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. Unless I’m unusually super-tired, the decision to sleep is under conscious control. This is true for falling asleep at night as well as for taking naps if I so desire. On many occasions I’ve been startled awake while Rachelle and I were lying in bed together. This sometimes happens 2-3 times in a row.
This has happened more times that I can count. Normally I start dreaming immediately as I’m falling asleep, sometimes even before I’m asleep. Polyphasic sleep.