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The way I understand it, Polyphasic sleep is designed to trick your body into skipping the first two stages of sleep, so you spend all the time in the last two,
by skolor 17y ago
The way I understand it, Polyphasic sleep is designed to trick your body into skipping the first two stages of sleep, so you spend all the time in the last two, where the biggest benefits are.
- absconditus 17y agoIs there any proof of this or is this just what polyphasic sleepers tell themselves?
- skolor 17y agoYou're right, I can't find any evidence other than several polyphasic sleepers' blogs. I can find a handful of articles on polyphasic sleep, but all of them are behind pay-walls and I can't get to any actual data. The only actual data I could find related to sleep periods evening out to a similar daily distribution after 45 days.
- thirdusername 17y agoI could probobly help you access the journals if you want to investigate further, I'd be interested in hearing the answer.
- skolor 17y agoAt this point, I don't think there is much in the way of real work behind it. From what I can tell there has been one paper written about it (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface?content=a782431473&rt=0&format=pdf http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface?content=a782431...), which is a "field study", not a laboratory test. All I seem to find are pseudo-science and anecdotes supporting both sides of the argument, with no actual evidence.
- dzlobin 17y agoThat seems a bit off, trick your body into skipping the first two stages by...staying awake?
- dkersten 17y agoNot quite, you try and sleep at set times and after some time you adjust to actually sleep during those times. Since the sleep period is typically very short (~30 minutes), the idea is that your body adjusts. From what I've read, people who've tried it (for longer than a month or two, ie they actually adjusted properly) found they were just as rested as everyone else. Having said that, who knows what negative effects it may have on them...
- Luc 17y agoI tried it for six weeks, but never got it to settle down into a reasonable schedule. I'd have a few days of pretty good sleep, followed by a hard crash, then a struggle to get back onto the schedule etc. Especially falling asleep quickly was very difficult for me (whereas I fall asleep very easily on a normal schedule).
- dkersten 17y agoFrom what I read, it took quite a long time. Between one and three months, depending on the person. I guess three months would be pretty painful. I've never tried it personally, so...
- scott_s 17y agoI've read multiple accounts of people who tried it and claimed they were just as rested. But I emphasize try because they no longer do it, and I bet the reason is they were not just as rested. edit: polyphasic sleep discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=652650 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=652650
- dzlobin 17y agohttp://www.supermemo.com/help/faq/polyphasic.htm http://www.supermemo.com/help/faq/polyphasic.htm This was a great find, thanks for the link. Pretty much proved all my thoughts true
- 17y ago
- a-priori 17y agoUnless you know something I don't, there has been zero research into this topic, and anything you read on blogs is a wild guess. Please prove me wrong by citing some research. I just did a search (terms: "polyphasic", "sleep", "sleep architecture", "REM", "SWS"), that didn't turn up anything.
- euccastro 17y agoSome Claudio Stampi made some research on this. His findings are summarized in a hard-to-find, expensive book: "Why We Nap: Evolution, Chronobiology, and Functions of Polyphasic and Ultrashort Sleep" (1992) http://tinyurl.com/n86q3d http://tinyurl.com/n86q3d
- a-priori 17y agoAccording to that article, this guy is "founder, director and sole proprietor of the Chronobiology Research Institute which he runs from his home". Forgive me, but my quack-o-meter just redlined. Can you point me to something that has been peer reviewed?
- gwern 17y agohttp://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Claudio+Stampi&btnG=Search http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Claudio+Stampi... But hey, don't let me interfere with your blind application of heuristics.
- a-priori 17y agoThanks, I did that search too, and yes, the guy's published a paper or two. What I meant was, show me something that's been peer reviewed and relevant to this topic... an EEG study of people following polyphasic schedules, for example.
- skolor 17y agoYou certainly look too hard at it then. You apparently missed: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface?content=a782431473&rt=0&format=pdf http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface?content=a782431..., the article that I most want to read from it. Sure, it isn't an EEG of the sailors, but it sounds (from what I've heard second hand about it) like it may have some relevancy.