Apr 12, 2011 at 2:49 AM
Join Date: Apr 9, 2011
Location:
Posts: 376
Age: 32
I can't verify its validity, but I keep hearing of something called a polyphasic sleep schedule. Most people have one bulk section of rest for the day (i.e. night), in which you cycle through the five sleep phases. REM sleep is the most 'essential' stage of sleep; brain activity shoots through the roof as it takes all the information taken in for the day, analyzes it, sorts it, stores it, etc. etc.
If you discipline and condition yourself correctly, supposedly you can split your sleep schedule throughout multiple parts of the day. By laying down more often to sleep, you get less hours of sleep a day, but your brain rushes through the cycles a bit faster to get that delicious stage five REM sleep. You still feel pretty awake, giving you more hours of the day to work with.
At its simplest, you take a nice little nap in the afternoon. Pretty simple, and more on the believable side. Humans are actually designed to take a small little sleep in the afternoon, it's a throwback to ye olde days when we lived in huts and went out hunting. The day is hottest in the afternoon; why waste energy in the heat when you could take a rest and let it cool down? 'Course, we've sort of forced that out with the whole "GAAAAARGH WE MUST BE FULLY EFFICIENT IN THE DAY BECAUSE COMPLEX SOCIETY DERPA HERP BLARH" spiel. Well, except the Spanish, they take time out of their schedule to nap. BUT. I. DIGRESS.
The most extreme example is called the Uberman's sleep schedule, where I get a little more skeptical, but DAMN it sounds cool. It consists of 20-30 minute naps every 4-5 hours. Basically, you've split up your sleep schedule so much that you skip over most the stages and go straight to REM sleep. Could you imagine running off two hours of sleep a day and still feel wide awake? Though, if you're not super punctual and miss one of those naps, you'll feel like utter shit for DAYS.
Again, I can't verify if it's true or not, and I'm not about to guinea pig myself into trying it. So don't take my word for it. But hey, it sounds cool, amirite?
If you discipline and condition yourself correctly, supposedly you can split your sleep schedule throughout multiple parts of the day. By laying down more often to sleep, you get less hours of sleep a day, but your brain rushes through the cycles a bit faster to get that delicious stage five REM sleep. You still feel pretty awake, giving you more hours of the day to work with.
At its simplest, you take a nice little nap in the afternoon. Pretty simple, and more on the believable side. Humans are actually designed to take a small little sleep in the afternoon, it's a throwback to ye olde days when we lived in huts and went out hunting. The day is hottest in the afternoon; why waste energy in the heat when you could take a rest and let it cool down? 'Course, we've sort of forced that out with the whole "GAAAAARGH WE MUST BE FULLY EFFICIENT IN THE DAY BECAUSE COMPLEX SOCIETY DERPA HERP BLARH" spiel. Well, except the Spanish, they take time out of their schedule to nap. BUT. I. DIGRESS.
The most extreme example is called the Uberman's sleep schedule, where I get a little more skeptical, but DAMN it sounds cool. It consists of 20-30 minute naps every 4-5 hours. Basically, you've split up your sleep schedule so much that you skip over most the stages and go straight to REM sleep. Could you imagine running off two hours of sleep a day and still feel wide awake? Though, if you're not super punctual and miss one of those naps, you'll feel like utter shit for DAYS.
Again, I can't verify if it's true or not, and I'm not about to guinea pig myself into trying it. So don't take my word for it. But hey, it sounds cool, amirite?