24 ms·

Four billion years of evolution? Professor Russell Foster from Oxford University has no clue, evoluton learned us to sleep polyphasic, like babies, where you ne

by 5partan 12y ago

Four billion years of evolution? Professor Russell Foster from Oxford University has no clue, evoluton learned us to sleep polyphasic, like babies, where you need far less sleep than the 8 recommended hours. I'm sure even Thomas Edison took regular naps.

mercer 12y ago
On the one hand, I think you're probably right. I've had good experiences with implementing unorthodox sleeping habits. On the other hand, I think we as a species have proven ourselves to be remarkably good at adapting ourselves to different circumstances, and 8 hours also seems to be a working approach, as well as one siesta during the day. The biggest problems I faced with polyphasic sleep was that 1) the world assumes 8 hours nightly, so it was hard to maintain after being a student, even as a freelancer, and 2) it required more conscious effort than 'normal' sleep to maintain, partly because of 1. It often resulted in me getting too little sleep in the end, because life would throw a wrench in the schedule... Still, it's utterly fascinating. In case you haven't read them yet, the blog posts by Steve Pavlina on his experiences implementing polyphasic sleep are quite fascinating (much as I'm pretty sure I don't like the guy, to put it mildly).
- 5partan 12y ago
  See my above answer why you need less sleep when you sleep segmented. As you realize correctly, its a social thing, not a evolutionary thing that we don't sleep segmented anymore. I read Steve Pavlinas blog, still don't get it why he couldn't win over his wife to adapt to his sleep cycle, with all the benefits he pointed out :)
normloman 12y ago
The idea that you can be healthy, productive and sleep less practicing polyphasic sleep is controversial and deserves empirical study. I just sleep whenever I feel tired, wake whenever I wake up. Big surprise: I naturally sleep for around 8 hours a day.
- 5partan 12y ago
  maybe i should have used the term biphasic sleep, see my answer above with some studies.
5partan 12y ago
Calling Professor Russell Foster having no clue was a little bit harsh, sorry about that. I wanted to point out that a biphasic sleep pattern (which is also a polyphasic sleep-pattern) is the natural way to sleep. Due to the segmented sleep (at least 90 minutes between sleeps) the body produces prolactin, which makes the first sleep have more SWS and the second sleep more REM, therefore you sleep more efficiently and get along with less sleep: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9709935 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9709935 In this article Professor Russell Foster even admits, that a biphasic sleepcycle is the norm: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783 study about natural biphasic sleepcicle in winter: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034 this study suggests that monophasic sleeping was introduced with artificial light: http://web.archive.org/web/20110629110723/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/106.2/ah000343.html http://web.archive.org/web/20110629110723/http://www.history...

by 5partan 12y ago

mercer 12y ago

On the one hand, I think you're probably right. I've had good experiences with implementing unorthodox sleeping habits. On the other hand, I think we as a species have proven ourselves to be remarkably good at adapting ourselves to different circumstances, and 8 hours also seems to be a working approach, as well as one siesta during the day. The biggest problems I faced with polyphasic sleep was that 1) the world assumes 8 hours nightly, so it was hard to maintain after being a student, even as a freelancer, and 2) it required more conscious effort than 'normal' sleep to maintain, partly because of 1. It often resulted in me getting too little sleep in the end, because life would throw a wrench in the schedule... Still, it's utterly fascinating. In case you haven't read them yet, the blog posts by Steve Pavlina on his experiences implementing polyphasic sleep are quite fascinating (much as I'm pretty sure I don't like the guy, to put it mildly).

5partan 12y ago
See my above answer why you need less sleep when you sleep segmented. As you realize correctly, its a social thing, not a evolutionary thing that we don't sleep segmented anymore. I read Steve Pavlinas blog, still don't get it why he couldn't win over his wife to adapt to his sleep cycle, with all the benefits he pointed out :)

normloman 12y ago

The idea that you can be healthy, productive and sleep less practicing polyphasic sleep is controversial and deserves empirical study. I just sleep whenever I feel tired, wake whenever I wake up. Big surprise: I naturally sleep for around 8 hours a day.

5partan 12y ago
maybe i should have used the term biphasic sleep, see my answer above with some studies.

5partan 12y ago

Calling Professor Russell Foster having no clue was a little bit harsh, sorry about that. I wanted to point out that a biphasic sleep pattern (which is also a polyphasic sleep-pattern) is the natural way to sleep. Due to the segmented sleep (at least 90 minutes between sleeps) the body produces prolactin, which makes the first sleep have more SWS and the second sleep more REM, therefore you sleep more efficiently and get along with less sleep: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9709935 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9709935 In this article Professor Russell Foster even admits, that a biphasic sleepcycle is the norm: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783 study about natural biphasic sleepcicle in winter: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034 this study suggests that monophasic sleeping was introduced with artificial light: http://web.archive.org/web/20110629110723/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/106.2/ah000343.html http://web.archive.org/web/20110629110723/http://www.history...