What is polyphasic sleep? -Polyphasic sleep means that instead of sleeping in one eight hour chunk at night, you sleep in several short naps throughout the day, thus decreasing your overall time asleep to under four hours. Wikipedia scoffs and says that it is physically impossible and sleep deprivation will lead to death. I have read bloggers who say otherwise. Steve Pavlina and Puredroxyk both did it for abotu six months; they eventually changed back to monophasic sleep only because their schedules were so hard to work around their naps. Supposedly Leonardo da Vinci was a polyphasic sleeper.
Are there different types of polyphasic sleep? – Yes, there are. The most common one, and the coolest, is called the Uberman schedule. Here, you take six regular twenty minute naps, spaced hour hours apart. So a schedule could look like this: Sleep at 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m., and 3 a.m. The disadvantage to this is that missing a nap can be disastrous to your awakeness. Uberman sleepers say that it takes at least two regular naps to get back on track. This schedule is also extremely difficult to adjust to; most people give up. As far as I know, Puredroxyk and Steve Pavlina are the only two confirmed people to have actually kept to this schedule and maintained a normally-functioning lifestyle.
The other most common type is Everyman schedule. With the Everyman, your schedule is much more flexible. You take a few hour core sleep whenever you want, and then at least three twenty minute naps spaced out the rest of the day. This is the schedule I will be trying, due to my hectic life. Supposedly it’s easier to get adjusted, although it takes longer, and if you miss a nap it’s not the end of the world. You can also space your naps more irregularly. For example, my schedule is going to look like this: Core sleep from 11:30 pm to 2:30 am, and naps at 7 am, 12 noon, and 7 pm. If I need to add another nap in there I will, but hopefully that will be enough.
Why would anyone want to try something as crazy as this?-It just sounds cool. Who wouldn’t want to be able to sleep only two hours a day? You can get so much more done with twenty-two hours a day. Just think, if you were a small business owner and you were awake almost the entire day, you would have time to work at night and hang out during the day. Imagine the possibilities!
Is this healthy?-That’s what I would like to find out too. Wikipedia says it isn’t. Steve Pavlina and Puredroxyk say that they actually felt better on the polyphasic sleep schedule. I don’t know if there are any long-term health risks or benefits to this, because I don’t think any studies have ever been conducted. I don’t recomment it to anybody under eighteen or who’s not healthy when they start.The theory behind this is that since you sleep for such a little time every day, you train your brain to go immediately into REM sleep to replenish itself. This means that you get two solid hours of REM sleep a day, more than you get on a monophasic schedule. You only sacrifice the other stages of sleep…but you get more REM, so supposedly it’s all good. I hope they’re right. I would hate to miss out on my dreams…possibly the most interesting part of my day.
When are you actually going to start doing it?-Hopefully, over spring break. I don’t want to have to drive every day while I’m trying to get used to a third of the sleep I usually get. I just got in one car accident. I don’t want to get in another. It takes awhile for your internal clock to switch, and supposedly the first week is pure hell.
My experiment begins on 3-28-08! Here is a list of some of my blogs on the epic experiment:
Backpack Europe on a Budget 
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March 23, 2008 at 8:23 am
Polyphasic Sleep « Don’t Take Life too Seriously. You’ll Never Get Out of It Alive.”
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