4 ms·

That article is about biphasic sleep cycles, not polyphasic.

• Anderkent 13y ago
  Biphasic is a form of polyphasic. And if two segments are better than one, why would you think three segments are definitely worse than one?
  • bashinator 13y ago
    Well, I'm certainly not an expert in the field, but from that same wikipedia article it seems as though a large number of human societies have practiced biphasic sleep cycles, but there's no historical reference to having more phases than that. If it were that advantageous, why haven't there been entire societies practicing it?
    • Anderkent 13y ago
      Not necessarily. First of all, what 'advantageous' means has changed a lot. Our priorities and needs nowadays are completely different then back in early history. Food is abundant, physical work is much less common, etc. The benefits from having more awake time might not be enough to propagate such a change. Or the lost flexibility might have mattered much more back then. I'm not claiming everyman is clearly and strictly better than mono or biphasic sleep. We have to find out, and the only way we can find out is by people actually trying it. But saying that monophasic sleep is the only way to sleep is silly.
  • Pitarou 13y ago
    Yup. That's why my desk fan has 11 blades, and my car has 16 wheels and a 1024 valve engine.