Polyphasic Sleep
Polyphasic sleep is a system of limiting daily sleep time to
2-5 hours by taking a 20-45 minute nap every four hours. People who practice
this technique claim to be more alert and healthier than before they started.
Little scientific experimentation has been done on polyphasic sleeping.
However, throughout history, many brilliant minds have practiced and enjoyed its
benefits. Leonardo da Vinci and Buckminster Fuller used this exact strategic
method and, while continually astonishing the world with brilliance, both lived
double the expected life spans of their times. Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison
experimented with similar sleep patterns throughout their most inventive
phases.
Some people are still skeptical of splitting daily sleep
into several sections as it goes against the social norm and, with lack of
scientific proof, they cannot be certain of its effects. Doctors warn that lack
of sleep can be fatally harmful, which is one reason people are reluctant to
experiment with it. Polyphasic s...
Contents
The Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming claims that a sleeper
will first enter the REM stage then go successively down to the deepest stage
of NREM,...
However, the UCLA Department of Psychiatry, Neurobiology
Research has published numerous papers and books, several of which agree with
Carskadon....
Thesis
Polyphasic sleep is a system of limiting daily sleep time to
2-5 hours by taking a 20-45 minute nap every four hours. People who practice
this technique claim to be more alert and healthier than before they started.
Little scientific experimentation has been done on polyphasic sleeping.
However, throughout history, many brilliant minds have practiced and enjoyed
its benefits. Leonardo da Vinci and Buckminster Fuller used this exact
strategic method and, while continually astonishing the world with brilliance,
both lived double the expected life spans of their times. Nikola Tesla and
Thomas Edison experimented with similar sleep patterns throughout their most
inventive phases.
Some people are still skeptical of splitting daily sleep
into several sections as it goes against the social norm and, with lack of
scientific proof, they cannot be certain of its effects. Doctors warn that lack
of sleep can be fatally harmful, which is one reason people are reluctant to
experiment with it. Polyphasic sleeping can also be difficult to practice for
people running regular daytime schedules or working full 8-9 hour shifts.
Modern civilization has adopted the monophasic sleep cycle
as a strategic method to keep everyone on the same schedule. History shows that
animals of all kinds, including humans, are better adapted to taking naps. However,
those who oppose the idea of splitting daily sleep into several sections are
concerned with the potential risks of losing sleep due to lack of scientific
proof.
The question then is this: What are the real benefits or
detriments of polyphasic sleeping?
With a large support base growing in the online community,
many people have dedicated blogs to documenting their experiences with
polyphasic sleep. I expect to find that, although difficult to manage and
maintain, polyphasic sleeping allows a person to be more cognitively alert
during waking hours while having many more waking hours to spend.
An Essay
Late on a Tuesday
evening I curiously read some aspiring web journalist’s weblog on personal
sleep modification. It’s an intriguing concept that I’ve wondered about for a
long time. Can a person reduce daily sleep by chopping up a nights sleep into
short naps? Would this process adversely affect a sleeper or do the benefits
outweigh the detriments? With very limited scientific research available, the
best way to learn about sleep optimization is to try it. That night I stayed
awake until 7am, took a nap until 7:20am and then began my day. My research had
begun with a hypothesis that polyphasic sleeping is more advantageous but I
needed background information on a normal sleep schedule to have a significant
comparison.
One important
contrast between polyphasic and monophasic schedules is the pattern of sleep
stages. The easiest way to understand the five stages of sleep is to first
separate them into two classes. The first stage of sleep is called Rapid Eye
Movement (REM). This stage is unique, requiring a classification of its own,
and it is against this stage that all other stages of sleep are compared and
defined. After the first stage, a sleeper only experiences Non-Rapid Eye
Movement (NREM) sleep, which classifies the last four stages, conveniently
named NREM 1, NREM 2, NREM 3 and NREM 4 (Horne Why 34). However, there is still
much disagreement on the duration of each stage, how many times each stage
occurs in a night, the pattern these stages form, and most importantly, the
actual functions of each sleep stage.
The Encyclopedia
of Sleep and Dreaming claims that a sleeper will first enter the REM stage then
go successively down to the deepest stage of NREM, then back up to REM,
continuing this pattern throughout the night in approximately 90 minute cycles.
During this process, REM sleep increases on each occurrence, while NREM sleep
decreases in duration with each occurrence (Carskadon 360). Most sources agree
with this point. However, as shown in Figure 1, the Complete Home Medical Guide
claims that after the second occurrence of NREM 4, both NREM 4 and NREM 3 fall
out of the sleep cycle (Dorling Kindersley 283).
However, the
UCLA Department of Psychiatry, Neurobiology Research has published numerous
papers and books, several of which agree with Carskadon. Figure 2 visualizes
human sleep patterns in three age groups.
Sleep consumes
about one-third of the average person’s life (Dement 23).
It’s no wonder why so many people attempt to regain precious
hours, days or even years by cutting down on sleep. Most people who attempt
this process usually try to sleep less while retaining a monophasic schedule.
That is, they cut down the number of sleep hours at night and stay awake for a
longer block of time before sleeping again. By the time these people go to
sleep, they have been awake for upwards of 17 hours, which is like running a
marathon everyday without regular pit stops. Monophasic sleep reduction can
lead to sleep deprivation, which is detrimental to both physical and mental health
(Eversen 148). However, there is an
alternative means of sleep reduction, which may not lead to deprivation. As a
contrast to monophasic sleep, it is called polyphasic sleeping, sometimes
called the überman schedule because of its promise of optimization.
The polyphasic
system is a strategic method of cutting down nightly rest to 2-5 hours by
splitting up daily sleep into 20-40 minute naps, spread throughout the day. It
is difficult to immediately jump into a polyphasic schedule so most people choose
to begin with a modified version, which allows a 3-hour “core-session” at night
and requires 3-6 twenty to forty minute naps throughout the day (Stampi 13).
This is what I set out to practice, in hopes of gaining more alertness during
waking hours and getting better sleep during sleep time. I settled into a core
sleep time of 3 hours from 12am-3am. Then, I tried to take as many 20-40 minute
naps during the day as I could squeeze in. Unfortunately, this experiment only
lasted 16 days, by which time I realized that my daytime schedule was too busy
to include added napping—even with the benefit of 4 extra hours from 3am-7am
each morning.
For the first
couple of days, I only rested during the evening naps, but soon I started to
feel the effects of sleep deprivation and thereafter sleep came easily whenever
I had an opportunity. Sleep deprivation came in the form of brief feelings of
approaching hypothermia (hot flashes) followed immediately by hyperthermia
(cold flashes), similar to the feeling of being sick. When my naps fell short
and I was forced to awaken from the deepest stage of NREM, it was quite
apparent that my brain was not immediately producing the neurotransmitters
histamine or serotonin. It had to kick itself back into the mode of producing
these chemicals. This confirms the theory that it is best to awaken from REM
rather than NREM, especially NREM 4, lest a sleeper risk jarring the brain into
a state for which it is unprepared. After about two weeks, I noticed it was
much easier to wake up from naps and my dreams were becoming more intense,
which implies that I was experiencing more REM sleep than NREM during these
sessions. On this plan, I averaged 4.2 hours of sleep per day and on days that
I was able to complete all of my naps, I felt more alert when awake and it was
much easier to fall asleep whenever the opportunity arose.
One of the
effects of splitting sleep up into naps is that the normal monophasic pattern
of approximately 90 minute sleep cycles, from REM to NREM 4 and back, shorten
down to 20-40 minute cycles. Because 20-40 minutes is not enough time to go
from waking to the deepest sleep state successively, the human brain quickly
adapts by extending the patterns across multiple naps. Some naps are entirely
REM, while most naps bring the sleeper to NREM 4 almost immediately. Along with
this shift, REM sleep condenses to almost nothing (Vogel 1533). Polyphasic
sleeping has the advantage of shortening total REM time while increasing NREM 4
time. This is beneficial because REM sleep, being so similar to the waking
state, is less necessary than NREM sleep. During stage 4 NREM sleep, the brain
cuts down production of many neurotransmitters that are constantly produced
during waking and REM sleep. Scientists believe this is a way for the brain to
take a break from using these chemicals, thereby preventing desensitization,
which would make those chemicals useless (Jacobs 189).
Reducing total
REM sleep time may seem alarming to some since the function of REM sleep is not
fully understood. Questions circle the
scientific community regarding the need for each stage of sleep but little has
yet been proven. The most current belief holds that REM sleep is responsible
for maintaining and developing the body’s nervous system (Eversen 154). This
has been exemplified in studies reducing or eliminating REM sleep in rats,
which have been proven to die within weeks of REM deprivation. However, since
the rat experiments entail keeping the creatures mobile and under stress, some
speculation exists whether the rats die because of sleep deprivation or due to
lack of physical rest. A counter argument to the rat test may exist in human
testing. Some brain trauma patients require the removal of REM enabling brain
matter. These patients have not been reported to die prematurely even though
they experience no REM sleep. As long as humans get rest, REM reduction is not
fatal (Siegel Why 94).
Since polyphasic
sleeping changes the rate and occurrence of REM and NREM stages, it also
affects dreams. Some sources claim that dreams only occur in REM sleep
(Carskadon 454) while others claim that NREM dreams happen but are not
remembered because they are less lucid and more chaotic (Piotrowski 387).
During my experiment, I experienced several naps, which were light but full of
vivid dreams. These dreams started occurring before I felt fully asleep and
remained in action throughout brief awakenings. I do not recall any dreams from
naps in which I was so tired that my brain launched directly into the paralysis
inducing state of NREM-4 sleep. I found that it was easier to remember my
dreams on a polyphasic schedule, which I attribute to the frequency increase in
sleep to wake transitions. With more opportunity to experience my dreams in a
semi-wakeful state, I had more opportunities to remember those dreams. I
consider this a great benefit since I always enjoy my dreams.
Steve Pavlina is
one of the countless weblog writers who have documented claims of success with
the modified polyphasic system. He began after receiving emails from fans who
have tried polyphasic sleeping and “reported higher alertness and energy, more
vivid dreams and more lucid dreams, and of course lots of extra free time”.
Pavlina found an optimal nap length of 25 minutes, going “5-6 hours between
naps during the day and 2-4 hours between naps during the night.” Pavlina
suffered known effects of sleep deprivation during the two-week adjustment
period. However, as of the eighteenth day, he claims to have no sleep
deprivation symptoms. On the contrary, Pavlina claims to be in perfect health,
notices a lack of stress, and finds it easy to focus on tasks, productively
benefiting from saved time (Pavlina).
Although, little
scientific research has been done prior to the last decade, Mary Carskadon
notes in the Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming that “one of the most striking
scientific findings about napping is that humans have a biological
predisposition to nap at a certain period of the day.” Many countries recognize
this need and make policy to accept it into cultural normalcy. In Japan, the
government recommends a 20-30 minute nap before 3pm, recognizing health and
work efficiency benefits. Germans have a midday nap, closing most businesses to
accommodate the habit. And, of course, Spain is famous for the Siesta, which is
popular throughout many equatorial countries where weather is sometimes
unbearably hot in the middle of the day (Sullivan 217). Studies have shown that
adding a nap to the middle of a day in addition to a regular nighttime sleep
schedule improves cognitive awareness. Carskadon leaves the subject of napping
in a good light, “Daytime naps taken by otherwise healthy persons generally
have more benefits than negative consequences (Carskadon 394).”
Dana Sullivan
argues in How to Nap that 20-30 minutes is ideal while extending beyond 30
minutes pushes into deeper stages of sleep, making it more difficult to wake up
and less likely to benefit the sleeper (Sullivan 217). However, NASA conducted
experiments, successfully training participants to sleep for only 3 hours a day
by taking 30 minute naps every four hours. NASA found that the subjects
performed better and were more alert than they were with a solid block of 3
hours sleep (Fossett 221).
The Italian Air
Force (Aeronautica Militare Italiana) also conducted experiments for their
pilots. Test subjects would spend 2 hours working followed by 4 hours leisure
time, repeated 4 times a day. Although sleep was allowed, subjects adopted a
schedule of not sleeping at all during the first days rest period. The AMI
published findings that “total sleep time was substantially reduced as compared
to the usual 7-8 hour monophasic nocturnal sleep” while “maintaining good
levels of vigilance as shown by the virtual absence of EEG microsleeps.” EEG
microsleeps are measurable states of sleepiness, given by usually unnoticeable
burst of sleep in the brain while a subject appears to be awake. Most nocturnal
sleepers are heavily bombarded with microsleeps during waking hours, limiting focus
and attentio (Porcu 47).
Although history
does not offer proof that napping is beneficial, records contain many amusing
anecdotes and rumors about nappers and short length sleepers. One of the more
popular and most skewed tales is of the painter Salvatore Dali who would place
a tin plate on the floor beside his napping chair, holding a spoon over the
plate, releasing it to crash down at the onset of sleep. Dali claimed that he
would awaken completely rejuvenated with only this minimal amount of rest
(Carskadon 376). Of course, legend never accounts for times when he may have
missed the plate, or failed to drop the spoon.
The Encyclopedia
of Sleep and Dreaming also details accounts of researchers who first questioned
the monophasic nocturnal schedule:
Thomas Alva Edison was another short sleeper, requiring less
than 4 hours’ rest per day. It is said that the American inventor kept a couch
in his workroom and slept only when he felt fatigued, rather than adhering to a
regimented sleep schedule. Edison also investigated the sleep habits of 200 of
his factory workers and not only concluded that they were getting ‘too much’
sleep but also succeeded in convincing many of them of this opinion (Hall,
1911).
Thomas Edison
and Nikola Tesla, two of mankind’s most prolific inventors, were both
proponents of napping as opposed to the typical monophasic sleep system of
social rest. As a contemporary colleague and competitor, Tesla scoffed at
Edison’s claim of sleeping less than four hours each day through napping,
claiming that Edison probably slept for at least 3-hours more each night.
Meanwhile, Tesla professed a mere 2 hour daily sleep requirement. Sadly for his
reputation, those who personally knew strategies Tesla claimed he would fall
into sleeping trances (sometimes standing up while hotel keepers cleaned around
his immobile body) (Carskadon 374). Falsifying rumors do not appear regarding
Leonardo Da Vinci, who worked nearly continuously by succumbing to short 15
minute naps every four hours, cutting his daily sleep down to 1.5 hours per day
(Carskadon 375).
Another modern
proponent of napping is Jim Horne, who wrote an article in 2001 for the
prestigious medical publication Psychologist titled “State of the art: Sleep”.
In his article he claims “the average sleep length, which has been confirmed
often, is 7.5 hours.” He then follows this with results from an astounding
study, which implies that oversleepers have a higher mortality rate:
Longer sleepers do not have a greater life expectancy, and
neither do shorter sleepers die earlier. A six-year prospective follow-up study
by Kripke et al. (1998) of over one million Americans found that when daily
habitual sleep exceeded seven and a half hours in apparently healthy people,
mortality rates rose. Furthermore, Kripke and Marler (2000) reported that
sleeping less than seven hours a day predicted no significant increase in
mortality when the usual confounds such as heart disease, smoking, and obesity
were removed. Surprisingly, those respondents reporting having insomnia had a
significantly lower mortality risk, unless they also took sleeping tablets,
when the risk rose significantly. Sleeping tablets are probably not the cause,
but there are interesting implications (Horne State 302).
As of this
writing, conclusive evidence has not been discovered regarding the benefits or
detriments of polyphasic sleep. However, many claims have risen to the
attention of scientists and laymen alike, who all desire answers. Although, yet
to be proven, it would seem that polyphasic sleep can be successfully
implemented and maintained to increase awareness and mental capacity while
avoiding the potential lifespan shortening risks of oversleeping. When my
daytime schedule can support it, I will attempt polyphasic sleeping again,
documenting all of my sleep times and patterns. My hypothesis still holds that
as long as a user can manage and pass the adaptation period while continuously
taking the appropriate naps, polyphasic sleeping will provide more time and
energy during waking hours.
