Polyphasic sleep cycle - Prephase

Lately, I stumbled across this article outlining patterns of sleep different to the conventional monophasic and/or biphasic sleep patterns that the majority of adults adopt. The clear advantage of picking these alternate sleep cycles is requiring less hours of sleep per day to obtain the same benefits as sleeping the conventional 8 hours. Always-short-on-time me got thinking after reading it, and thus came about the inception of this upcoming personal experiment/project.

The aforementioned alternate sleep patterns vary amongst themselves depending on whether there is a "core" block of sleep to supplement the nap-length sleep times, as well as on the number of sleeps per day (and the duration of each sleep). But for one who is contemplating adopting one of these patterns, the more important factor is compatibility - whether a routine that involves pre-planned naps during the daytime fits into your lifestyle. The Uberman sleep cycle which involves sleeping a mere total of 3 hours a day, just happens to fit into my usual schedule well, as I've outlined further down. Thus began more serious research on whether it's worth having a crack at it.

There is a lot of controversy around the interwebs surrounding polyphasic sleep cycles with low sleep hours such as the Uberman sleep cycle, not in the least being the sparsity of success stories or nonexistence of studies on the long term health effects. Everybody knows how crucial sleep is to maintaining mental and physical health, and very few people are willing to risk their health - or that of potential test subjects - by subjecting them(selves) to a pattern of sleep that is too good to be true. Next to no one actually sleeps like that in the real world, at least in modern society. And there are many reports on the web of people who have tried and failed, putting out the conclusion that it's just not humanly compatible, for whatever reason.

However, why the article I mentioned at the beginning stopped me and got me thinking, was because it actually mentions success stories of real people who have been using the Uberman cycle for many years with no reported adverse effects. However, what made me hesitant was that just being aware of these success stories didn't address some big concerns I had for trying it out myself.

That all changed when I stumbled across Steve Pavlina's blog. Assuming that it is not made up, Steve successfully applied and maintained the Uberman sleep cycle for half a year, and the best part of all, he documented his day to day experiences during that period of time in great detail. I read through his entire half year log, and what impressed upon me the most was that he declared that he had no negative health effects long term (half a year, and then five years later), and he provided possible hypotheses for why that might have been along the way. He brings up, and addresses, worries and concerns I had about trying it out for myself, and gave rational responses to commonplace skepticism surrounding the Uberman sleep cycle. These include*:

• Mentally, regular three hour sleep days is insane.
• Motivation for adjusting to a polyphasic sleep cycle.
• Adding in a block of 'core sleep' each day is easier to keep up long term than only 30 minute naps.
• More sleep each day equals more energy and alertness.
• Getting less than six hours a day means reduced energy levels.
• It's too weird.
• It will remain a chronic battle with feelings of sleep deprivation.
• If your sleep time is off by 10 minutes, your sleep regime is doomed.
• You will lose the crucial body repair stages that take place in non-REM sleep stages.
• Recovery from physical exercise (e.g. weight training) will take longer. And also here.

Not only does he address my initial concerns, but along the way he offers a list of potential factors that affect your success rate at adopting this sleep cycle.

• Eat right after a nap, not before, as digestion makes falling asleep difficult
• Implementing more naps (no longer than 30 minutes each) during the transition period
• Finding your optimal sleeping position
• Reading late at night
• Going vegetarian/vegan
• Cutting out all sources of caffeine (and also here)
• Increasing your fresh fruit and vegetable intake will decrease your sleep requirement
• Self-discipline, particularly waking up
• Accountability and support from others around you during the initial period

The above is what tipped the scales for me, and what compelled me to give it a try while I'm still in winter holidays and I can afford to fail a personal sleep experiment. This post is intended as the preface into why I began this little experiment. For the methodology i.e. what it will look like in practice, refer to my next post.

I'll leave you with a quote from Steve, taking on a different perspective to the skeptics.

"I don’t think the biggest risk of polyphasic sleep is that you’ll fail to adapt to it. I think the biggest risk is what might happen if you actually succeed."

Further insights into sleeping polyphasic cycles

• People's comments, experiences and results relating to the Uberman sleep schedule (Everything2)
• Special issue of Nature that examines sleep

* For Steve's analysis and hypotheses addressing these concerns, refer to the respective link leading to the blog post where he mentions it.