Polyphasic sleep is the opposite of the standard sleep system, under which we spend 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night. By opting for a polyphasic sleep system, we break sleep into several shorter stretches, with sleep both day and night, and the total time spent sleeping is reduced. With the polyphasic sleep system, we gain more time for normal activities and are able to do more than if we slept the standard 8 hours. However, polyphasic sleep is not without its drawbacks. Nor does everyone find their way around such a rest pattern.
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What is polyphasic sleep?
Polyphasic sleep should be paid attention to by anyone who struggles with a notorious lack of time, who feels that the day has too few hours or that sleep takes up too much of their life. While traditional sleep, or monophasic sleep, consists of monotonous sleeping for 7-8 hours, polyphasic sleep consists of several stages. The name “polyphasic sleep” is a fusion of two words – “poly” (meaning many) and “phase” (meaning sequence, stage).
Polyphasic sleep most often involves a combination of basic sleep at night (about 4 hours of sleep) and 2-3 short naps during the day. Another, less common, polyphasic sleep pattern is the introduction of naps alone – throughout the day we have several sessions of light sleep lasting about 30 minutes.
Although this is the first time many of us have come into contact with polyphasic sleep, this sleep system has been known for a very long time. It was used, for example, by Leonardo da Vinci. From the painter’s own records, as well as those of his colleagues, it can be deduced that all his sleep consisted of 20-minute naps during the day and at night (every 4 hours or so). In this way, he only slept about 2 hours per day. It allowed him to be much more productive when it came to his artistic work.
Polyphasic sleep was also used by soldiers during World War I. Thanks to this system, they were able to devote a greater number of hours per day to combat, while maintaining a high level of concentration and with no fatigue effect. Polyphasic sleep has furthermore been tested by the NASA agency, the Canadian Army, the Italian Army and an institution studying the effects of spaceflight on health (the National Space Biomedical Research Institute).
Research on polyphasic sleep was also conducted by Brazilian scientist and sailor Claudio Stampi. According to his observations, in difficult situations, with reduced sleep, the human body is able to function fairly normally. However, the ultimate performance and psychophysical efficiency depends on the individual conditions of each body.
What is polyphasic sleep?
Traditional sleep is completely different from polyphasic sleep. There are 2 phases of sleep – the REM phase (the phase of rapid eye movements, or shallower sleep) and the NREM phase (deep sleep). In traditional sleep, the REM phase occurs after falling asleep, which then transitions into the NREM phase. After emerging from the NREM phase, we enter the REM phase again. The entire sleep cycle consisting of the REM and NREM phases lasts about 1.5 hours. We go through several such cycles in one night, usually 4-6. The longer the sleep lasts, the longer the REM phase, and the shorter the NREM phase (deep sleep phase).
In polyphasic sleep, the sleep phases are distributed differently. Here we are not dealing with going through several complete sleep cycles at once, as is the case in monophasic sleep. Each sleep session in the polyphasic system is: either the REM phase alone (i.e. light, shallow sleep), or one sleep cycle (REM and NREM phases), or two cycles.
What is worth noting is that polyphasic sleep forces us to “break out” of our natural sleep cycles. It is therefore very important to keep an eye on sleep schedules and wake-up times. We should set our sleep sessions so as to avoid waking up during the NREM phase. It is worthwhile here to use 90-minute sleep sessions (or multiples thereof), which allow you to go through the entire REM and NREM phases and wake up again in the shallow sleep phase. Short naps also work well, so that we don’t get hooked on deep sleep at all. Woken up in the deep sleep phase, we would be disoriented, sleep-deprived, lacking vitality and would find it difficult to recover.
Refining your sleep schedule is a very important issue if you decide to sleep in polyphasic mode and if you want the lowest possible loss of mental and physical performance. An extremely useful tool here is the so-called sleep calculator, which calculates the optimal times for sleeping and getting up, based on the parameters we specify.
Polyphasic sleep – types
The combination of naps with fundamental sleep is a way for many people to maintain concentration and high performance without having to allocate as much as a third of the day to sleep. There are several variants of polyphasic sleep, including more and less demanding ones.
Types of polyphasic sleep (starting with the most similar to traditional sleep)
- Biphasic sleep – lasts about 6 hours a night and is broken into two stages. It involves the introduction of basic sleep at night (about 5-hour sleep) and one nap during the day. Biphasic sleep is one of the most popular and easiest to implement types of polyphasic sleep. However, it does not offer the possibility of reducing the overall amount of sleep by several hours, as some other variants do.
- Everyman – is a relatively easy type of polyphasic sleep. It is universal and suitable for everyone, as the name itself suggests (“everyman”, meaning “every person”). Using the everyman system, we sleep 3 hours at night, plus introduce 3 naps during the day. However, none of them should last longer than half an hour.
- Dymaxion (four-phase sleep) – we sleep 2-3 hours a night, dividing sleep into 4 approximately 30-minute naps every 6 hours.
- Uberman (six-phase sleep) – an advanced, difficult variant of polyphasic sleep, practiced only by a few. The total length of sleep in this version is about 2 hours per night. Every 4 hours we take 20-minute naps. In total, we go through 6 naps per day.
Is polyphasic sleep safe?
Is it worth using polyphasic sleep? We can certainly try it out, especially if we struggle with not having enoughenough time to complete all tasks and if we would like to increase our productivity. However, it cannot be stated with certainty that long-term use of this sleep regime is safe for health. This is because there are no studies to prove it.
Certainly, in extreme situations, when we cannot afford a long night’s rest, polyphasic sleep can be of great help to us. However, as a basic, permanent sleep regime, it is not necessarily advisable. Let’s remember that quality sleep is as important for keeping the body fit as a healthy, balanced diet or regular physical activity.
Polyphasic sleep – opinions. What do people who have tested polyphasic sleep say?
Opinions on polyphasic sleep are not unequivocal. For some, it is a great patent for “extending the day” while maintaining a high level of focus and fullness. Their efficiency has increased, their mood has not deteriorated, and the hours spent sleeping have been reduced.
There is also a sizable group of people for whom polyphasic sleep does not work. Not everyone finds their way around a system of short naps, not everyone can function well by sleeping less but more often, and not everyone is comfortable sleeping during the day. It all depends on the body. For some, the foundation (and condition) for efficient recovery, impeccable brain function and well-being is a restful sleep lasting the prescribed 7-8 hours.
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