Sleeping less??(polyphasic)

3foldchord

Anyone heard of/tried polyphasic sleep cycles??

Any experience to share??


My 19 yr old son (living at home with me) researched different polyphasic sleep methods. (Getting sleep in many short sessions instead of one big block of sleep)
He decided on the Uberman Sleep Schedule. Awake 4 hours then nap for 30 minutes.
I am not sure how healthy it is, but, honestly,it is summer break between classes and I can't see this working with school and ROTC schedule this fall, so I am OK with him trying it over the summer. ( he read there were 5 yr studies that people were still doing well at 5 yrs... Not sure what that means if anything, LOL, but, like I said. It's his summer break)

I wish he had a physical,recently, so he can compare now and after a few months (blood pressure, body fat,,etc... I say "bodyfat" because he is 'naturally under weight' being a 19 yr old boy with the genes for it, so he would say "weight gain' is good, but I can argue,,too fast body fat gain isn't always good (maybe) I will call our mainly doctor tomorrow for a check up, I guess.

ncmedic201

Anyone heard of/tried polyphasic sleep cycles??

Any experience to share??


My 19 yr old son (living at home with me) researched different polyphasic sleep methods. (Getting sleep in many short sessions instead of one big block of sleep)
He decided on the Uberman Sleep Schedule. Awake 4 hours then nap for 30 minutes.
I am not sure how healthy it is, but, honestly,it is summer break between classes and I can't see this working with school and ROTC schedule this fall, so I am OK with him trying it over the summer. ( he read there were 5 yr studies that people were still doing well at 5 yrs... Not sure what that means if anything, LOL, but, like I said. It's his summer break)

I wish he had a physical,recently, so he can compare now and after a few months (blood pressure, body fat,,etc... I say "bodyfat" because he is 'naturally under weight' being a 19 yr old boy with the genes for it, so he would say "weight gain' is good, but I can argue,,too fast body fat gain isn't always good (maybe) I will call our mainly doctor tomorrow for a check up, I guess.

Pretty much what happens a lot at my work. I can tell you that my coworkers and I all hate sleep cycles like that. It's very tiring and I wouldn't let him drive a car during this experiment. Sleep deprivation is very dangerous when combined with driving.

3foldchord

Pretty much what happens a lot at my work. I can tell you that my coworkers and I all hate sleep cycles like that. It's very tiring and I wouldn't let him drive a car during this experiment. Sleep deprivation is very dangerous when combined with driving.

Good point about the driving. I hadn't thought that far yet.

3foldchord

Why is he trying this, what is he trying to achieve with it, do you know?

Not sure.
He's 19 and a guy - I have no idea what he is thinking. It is something different and unconventional and worthy of trying, I guess.

bms34b

It's rumored that a highly effective professor (and composer) at my University does this. (Look her up - Chen Yi. She's rad.) She has the most energy of anyone I know and is an extremely prolific composer - and she sends emails and does work at all hours of the night, and is frequently seen napping in her car.

That being said, she also travels to China frequently, so jet lag could be at play. Good for your son to try it out - 19 is the time to do it. Good points about the driving, too.

rainbowbow

I've done that exactly. I did wake feeling refreshed overall. Eventually had to stop due to work schedule.

froeschli

gah, waking up is the worst part of the day - so count me out....

i heard Leonardo DaVinci did something similar though.

3foldchord

I think he is on hour 42. I notice when it's time to wake up, he gets up fairly quickly. I'm hoping a summer of this sleep cycle will have lasting effects, like "no more taking 45 minutes to wake up"

I was reading some guys blog who did this for awhile he said how he fall asleep right away for a 30 minute nap, has a dream that feel,like 1.5 hours, often wakes on his own a couple minutes before his alarm

When falling asleep at night he now does it quickly, his wife often wakes him from the middle of a dream, but she swear it's only been a few seconds since they stopped talking and closed their eyes.

Has lucid dreams, remembers dreams vividly.

And I told my son, that I am already like all of that... But I get to sleep all night.

When I was a kid I would talk to my mom about some event or vacation we did the year before and she would look at me funny and say we never did such-and-such, it must have been a dream.

So, if I already have lucid, vivid, remembered dreams and sleep at the drop of hat and am into dreams right away.... I wonder what would happen if I tried that crazy sleep cycle...LOL.

Thanks for advice and sharing your experiences. I hope he gives this up soon. But he'll be fine for the summer I think.

And I guess that's just one more thing my son has in common with DaVinci...LOL. ( dyslexia and that engineer artist thing being the others)