4 ms·

Isn't polyphasic considered a hoax? Piotr Wozniak, though his site looks rather shitty, seems to know what he is talking about: http://www.supermemo.com/article

by rednum 15y ago

Isn't polyphasic considered a hoax? Piotr Wozniak, though his site looks rather shitty, seems to know what he is talking about: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic2010.htm http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic2010.htm Specifically this paragraph sums the thing up: I received some 500 pieces of mail and got in personal touch with many polyphasic adepts. Of those attempts that I was given a chance to monitor, all were unsuccessful. Some of the critics of the original article claimed that they do sleep polyphasically, but I received no data that could serve as the basis for verification. Also I recall reading quite many stories about people who tried polyphasic and they are similar to yours - ie. after 2-3 weeks they stop for some random reason - which really sounds to me like "I can't make it, but I won't admit even to myself so I say I stopped for reason X". Also some actually stop earlier and admit they were constantly deprivated.

dkersten 15y ago
That doesn't really make it a hoax though: yes, everybody gave up after a while, but like OP, it may well just be social pressure. All polyphasic sleep accounts I read ended up with something along the lines of "its too hard to fit social events around such a strict schedule". If you're awake during the night when nobody else is and you have to nap when everybody else is awake, and you CANNOT miss a nap, then of course people are eventually going to cave in and go back to a more normal schedule so that they mesh with their friends schedules better. I think to make the ubermann cycle work, you need 1) to have a job that allows such a schedule 2) not have kids 3) have a bunch of your friends do it too so that your schedule isn't too different from the people you interact with the most. IMHO, its unlikely that people will will meet all three of those points though. The "solution" would perhaps be a less severe and strict schedule. For example, I tried a 28-hour day schedule (the one from xkcd.. am I crazy trying a sleep cycle I saw in a comic?) and it worked really well: stay up 20 hours then sleep for 8, repeat. Monday to thursday fit around my uni schedule (at the time) perfectly, Friday (which I had off) through Sunday I was basically awake at night and asleep during the day. I ended up with 6 28 hour days. Worked really well! ...until the day I had an appointment in the middle of my "I'm supposed to be asleep" time on a Friday, got knocked off course and didn't bother going back to it.
- scott_s 15y ago
  You must have read different accounts than I have. Yes, they all say that it's difficult to deal with the schedule mismatch. But then they also say that it's also difficult because they are soul-crushingly tired all the time. See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1464142 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1464142 and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=652650 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=652650
  - dkersten 15y ago
    Well, the Steve Pavlina account you linked backs up what I said. If you skip to the end: "First off, let me say that I didn’t decide to stop for health reasons. To my recollection I didn’t get sick even once while sleeping polyphasically, not even a cold. My energy and alertness were excellent once I made it through the adaptation period. A lot of people asked me about weight training and exercise — I didn’t have any problems there either. My recovery after workouts was just fine. Perhaps the post-workout nap had a positive effect." and "The #1 reason I decided to call it quits is simply that the rest of the world is monophasic. If most of the world was polyphasic, I probably would have stuck with it. Obviously when you go polyphasic, you fall out of sync with the way other people live. ..." See also http://www.puredoxyk.com/index.php/2006/11/01/an-attack-on-polyphasic-sleep/ http://www.puredoxyk.com/index.php/2006/11/01/an-attack-on-p... I haven't read a huge amount of accounts, but I've read one or two others besides Steve Pavlinas and they seemed to match up. I am no expert though and certainly don't want to claim that its a good idea, just because I've read three or four accounts online that said so. Especially since I cannot prove for sure that they are true. "they are soul-crushingly tired all the time" I have only heard people who haven't tried it say this. But I won't argue the case, because I haven't tried it either.
    - scott_s 15y ago
      I have only heard people who haven't tried it say this. I've read some reports from people who are tired all the time because they haven't "adjusted" - and the punchline is they never will. I think Pavlina's and others are in denial; while the social aspect is obviously negative, it gives them a convenient excuse. If there the only downside was not having a schedule that worked with the rest of society, there would be someone, somewhere who would not have done it, but would being doing it. But there isn't, because that's not how sleep, for us, works.

by rednum 15y ago

dkersten 15y ago

That doesn't really make it a hoax though: yes, everybody gave up after a while, but like OP, it may well just be social pressure. All polyphasic sleep accounts I read ended up with something along the lines of "its too hard to fit social events around such a strict schedule". If you're awake during the night when nobody else is and you have to nap when everybody else is awake, and you CANNOT miss a nap, then of course people are eventually going to cave in and go back to a more normal schedule so that they mesh with their friends schedules better. I think to make the ubermann cycle work, you need 1) to have a job that allows such a schedule 2) not have kids 3) have a bunch of your friends do it too so that your schedule isn't too different from the people you interact with the most. IMHO, its unlikely that people will will meet all three of those points though. The "solution" would perhaps be a less severe and strict schedule. For example, I tried a 28-hour day schedule (the one from xkcd.. am I crazy trying a sleep cycle I saw in a comic?) and it worked really well: stay up 20 hours then sleep for 8, repeat. Monday to thursday fit around my uni schedule (at the time) perfectly, Friday (which I had off) through Sunday I was basically awake at night and asleep during the day. I ended up with 6 28 hour days. Worked really well! ...until the day I had an appointment in the middle of my "I'm supposed to be asleep" time on a Friday, got knocked off course and didn't bother going back to it.

scott_s 15y ago
You must have read different accounts than I have. Yes, they all say that it's difficult to deal with the schedule mismatch. But then they also say that it's also difficult because they are soul-crushingly tired all the time. See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1464142 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1464142 and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=652650 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=652650
- dkersten 15y ago
  Well, the Steve Pavlina account you linked backs up what I said. If you skip to the end: "First off, let me say that I didn’t decide to stop for health reasons. To my recollection I didn’t get sick even once while sleeping polyphasically, not even a cold. My energy and alertness were excellent once I made it through the adaptation period. A lot of people asked me about weight training and exercise — I didn’t have any problems there either. My recovery after workouts was just fine. Perhaps the post-workout nap had a positive effect." and "The #1 reason I decided to call it quits is simply that the rest of the world is monophasic. If most of the world was polyphasic, I probably would have stuck with it. Obviously when you go polyphasic, you fall out of sync with the way other people live. ..." See also http://www.puredoxyk.com/index.php/2006/11/01/an-attack-on-polyphasic-sleep/ http://www.puredoxyk.com/index.php/2006/11/01/an-attack-on-p... I haven't read a huge amount of accounts, but I've read one or two others besides Steve Pavlinas and they seemed to match up. I am no expert though and certainly don't want to claim that its a good idea, just because I've read three or four accounts online that said so. Especially since I cannot prove for sure that they are true. "they are soul-crushingly tired all the time" I have only heard people who haven't tried it say this. But I won't argue the case, because I haven't tried it either.
  - scott_s 15y ago
    I have only heard people who haven't tried it say this. I've read some reports from people who are tired all the time because they haven't "adjusted" - and the punchline is they never will. I think Pavlina's and others are in denial; while the social aspect is obviously negative, it gives them a convenient excuse. If there the only downside was not having a schedule that worked with the rest of society, there would be someone, somewhere who would not have done it, but would being doing it. But there isn't, because that's not how sleep, for us, works.