Polyphasic sleep? Am I nuts?

Why would you do this?

Seems like a dangerously low amount of sleep.

Reading a lot lately about the dangers of not enough sleep -

I do love naps though and have read for years that people are more efficient with 'cat naps'...

One thing I love about working at home - lots of naps whenever my eyes start to cross.

I looked into it before trying it.

The toughest polyphasic schedule gives you only 2 hours of sleep. But I have no intention or desire to go that far with it.

It's funny, I wasn't researching the topic today, but I came across a sleep scientist who said that people who get 7-9 hours of sleep actually have a shorter life expectancy than those who sleep 5-6 hours.

According to polyphasists (?), the key is to get into REM sleep while napping. I haven't experienced it yet, but looking forward to it. The cooler weather will definitely help me sleep more comfortably.

It will either work, or it won't. But, if at any time I feel it's going too far or becoming harmful, I will stop immediately.

All the best,
Michael

oh boy - a depends who you ask deal

Sleep Habits: More Important Than You Think

http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-d...3444/sleep-101

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11617

http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/sleepless.html


(on the other end of the spectrum I have read more than 7-8 hours is bad)

Everything is a depends on who you ask deal.

I hope you have the sense to cut that off if you start having trouble Mike. It's not been long since you tried to check out of the hotel and this might be hard on you...........
on the other hand.........

I have never slept normal hours and it's never hurt me yet...just LOOK how SANE I am.

Now if that didn't send you out for nodoze -
Thomas Edison slept 20 minutes every 4 hours. He had his cot in his laboratory and crashed every 4 hours for 20 minutes no matter what. So that's what? 2 hours in a 24 hour span if I'm counting right.

I have never slept on a schedule when I live on my own. I sleep when tired but find if I take short naps I won't sleep at night other than a few hours. I can fall into REM, have a full dream and wake up in 15 minutes. I do that often while on the computer. I just slide off my chair and lay on the carpet and snooze. I always wake up within 20 minutes if I do that during the day. If you don't allow yourself to get fully tired that's all you really need. If you have to work an 8 hour day out of the house you probably can't get that 20 minutes around noon you'd need to make it work for you. Or if there are others in the house that sleep regular schedules it can make it impossible to pull off. Dreaming during a nap requires no distractions. I find it easier to do lucid dreaming during a short spurt of sleep than when I am on a nightly schedule too. It is somehow easier to control what dream you are going in to.

Thanks Sal,

I admit I have some health concerns, so I will be monitoring the effects closely.

There have been a few times where I was almost able to dream lucidly, but as soon I try to control what happens in my dream something happens. Keep in mind, this is all natural, I don't know any lucid dreaming techniques. It would be cool to travel to the deep recesses of the subconscious though.

Thanks for the feedback, and the concern. I'll be careful; promise.

All the best,
Michael

Hey Michael,

Have been considering Polyphasic sleep myself for quite some time.

Will be interested to hear your results after a couple of weeks!

Good luck with the experiment!

This is a Seinfeld episode.

Hi Michael,

Look up Steve Pavlina's blog. If memory serves me, seems like he did his own polyphasic sleep experiment and regularly blogged about it.

Cheers,
Becky

p.s. Oh, this is a Seinfeld episode. Well in that case:

"No polyphasic sleep experiment for you!"

TTFTIRAD = That's the funniest thing I've read all day.

GITTWAEOTFO

~M~