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On paper this kind of sleep cycle looks attractive for the typical geek. But I wonder what the long-term health implications are, and how this fits in with rel
by dotBen 17y ago
On paper this kind of sleep cycle looks attractive for the typical geek.
But I wonder what the long-term health implications are, and how this fits in with relationships etc.
Also, I worked with a guy who did Uberman polyphasic sleep and he seemed out of it a lot, like he wasn't firing on all cylinders, at work.
- shard 17y agoI vacillate between thinking that if our body fights this hard against polyphasic sleep, there must be something wrong with the idea, and that sometimes we need to overrule our body's natural tendencies, such as wanting to eat lots of fats, sugar, and salt, and to not exercise properly. Also, I'm concerned that I would not be able to discern any degradation in mental capacities due to my degraded mental capacities. (Confession: I tried polyphasic sleep once, but didn't make it past the third day.)
- dotBen 17y agoTo your point, I don't think my former work colleague knew he was kind of out of it.. I can only describe it if he had been up all night smoking pot and was still feeling a little of the effects the morning after. To the health point: I think polyphasic sleep may also increase your desire for high fat, sugar and salt foods because it destroys the meal cycle.
- caitlinwoodward 17y agoI can't speak for Blake, but I have a horrible meal cycle as it stands already. Inconsistent in everything, mostly nutritional value. Already, a few months ago, I tried to schedule myself into small healthy snacks every couple hours, instead of a few large and pretty unhealthy meals. With this strict schedule on sleep, I'm eating within the first hour of waking up. (Eating a couple apples seem to help for the late night snacks.) Small breakfast after the 6am nap, small dinner right after my 6pm nap, etc. Some healthy-ish snacks sprinkled it the middle (but no too close to naptime).
- a-priori 17y agoThat sounds like a good plan. Food, sunlight and physical activity are signals for circadian cycles. You should try to incorporate each into every waking period, at least in the beginning.
- blakepalmer 17y agoI'm very sun-driven. I need to find a good way to incorporate that at night. It's been much, much easier for me to stay awake when the sun is out. Thanks for the tip!
- btilly 17y agoThat's because light resets your biological clock. Full spectrum lighting may have a similar effect on you. (It is sometimes prescribed for preventing seasonal affect disorder.)