I agree that Pavlina has some really great info, but also the person who invented the polyphasic sleep schedule also gives some decent information.  Information on polyphasic sleep is kinda scattered all over.

http://www.puredoxyk.com/

I have her book too, Ubersleep, if anyone's interested.  Her book really helps give a good understanding of the entire process.

Jonathan

Brian Cottingham wrote:

It's hardly a legitimate scientific journal, but do read the journal of Steve Pavlina's experiment with polyphasic sleep ( http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/ ). He went with it for nine months and suffered no adverse physiological effects. It's probably the most informative work on polyphasic sleeping you're going to find, and a good read too.

-Brian

On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 6:14 PM, Alex < akdom2001@gmail.[redacted] <mailto: akdom2001@gmail.[redacted] >> wrote:

That's interesting, do you know what journals the polyphasic sleep
studies were done in?  I'd be interested in reading them.

On the sleep cycle time: you are right about the 1.5 hour sleep
cycle as far as I remember.  I got thrown off because my natural
sleep period is 3 hours (this was found through the "natural
length" of a full nap and the sleep time if I decide to "go back
to sleep" on a weekend).


On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 5:56 PM, Jonathan Vogel

< jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted] <mailto: jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted] >>
wrote:

It's interesting you have determined that as my research has
shown me a normal person's complete sleep cycle is 1.5 hours
in which case 3 hours would be two full cycles.

I believe you are misunderstanding the point of polyphasic
sleep.  It doesn't work out of the box and actual has a
difficult adaptation process.  This is because you must train
both your brain and body to compress that 1.5 hour sleep cycle
into something smaller which has been (through
experimentation) determined to be 20 minutes (on the money).
Besides people with narcolepsy, monophasic sleepers need
about 60 minutes to hit REM sleep.  A polyphasic sleeper on
the other hand, hits REM sleep within 1-2 minutes.  A lot of
people don't believe me, but there have been research studies
that show this.  I often experience vivid dreams during my
naps.  I never used to remember dreams very much before.
Also to answer your question about why most people sleep
monophasically.  I'm pretty sure that's just because it is
natural.  It makes sense, doesn't it?  Especially in a world
like today.  Polyphasic sleep is *not* practical long-term and
there are no only a few documented cases of it lasting in
excess of years (mind you the concept of polyphasic sleep is
fairly new).

The 1.5 still holds true for Everyman as the Everyman 'core'
sleep is always in multiples of 1.5 hours (1.5, 3, or 4.5).
Where 20 minute naps fulfill the remaining multiples of 1.5
hours to get 7.5 hours of sleep.  Uberman eliminates the core
sleep and only consists of 20 min naps.  *Note to everyone:
*If you read anything about the 'Dymaxion' schedule online,
listen to me and ignore it now--it doesn't work.  Trust me.

I hope that sheds some light on the subject.

Jonathan

Alex wrote:

Honestly, my experience with sleep is that I feel most
rested and conscious with the longest single stretch of
sleep possible.  Though I applaud some people's choice to
be test subjects in this regard (thus pushing forward our
understanding of sleep) I would like to just throw out a
warning:

Given _my_ current understanding of sleep, 20 minute sleep
segments won't bring the same benefit as sleep periods
broken into something which fits cleanly with your natural
full sleep cycle (mine is almost exactly 3 hours).  20
minute sleep periods don't allow for the full depth of
sleep that a full cycle will, which as far as I remember
translates into significantly reduced rejuvenational
benefits from sleep.  Do your own research, but just keep
in mind that there _are_ reasons most everyone sleeps
during one single period....

Also, I'd be curious to hear the experiences of those who
actually do try to pull of polyphasic sleep for more than
14 months.

~Alex Kesling

On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 5:19 PM, Jonathan Vogel
< jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted]
<mailto: jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted] >

<mailto: jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted]

<mailto: jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted] >>> wrote:

For those who don't know, I'm an adapted polyphaser.  I
have been
on the Everyman (3 hour core, 3x20 min naps) schedule
for almost 3
months now.  I intend to hold this schedule through at
least the
fall semester.

You can find me on on freenode/#ncsulug (jvogel) if you
have any
questions.  There is also an active polyphasic sleep
IRC channel
#polyphasers which you can find on freenode.

Although I haven't been to a lug meeting, I'd be happy
to go to
one to answer any questions about my
experience/knowledge on
polyphasic sleep.

@ Brian: The everyman schedule is fairly flexible, if
you'd like
to talk about it more on IRC just let me know.

~ Jonathan


Alexander Ray wrote:

Interesting topic that's come up (at least for me)
online, in
Wired
Magazine, at the most recent BarCamp RDU and most
recently in IRC.

Polyphasic sleep is in a nutshell, breaking up your
sleep
schedule so
you sleep for shorter periods more often (as
opposed to one huge
stretch per day).
The end goal is that you sleep LESS overall time
than you
would in one shot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep

I'm definitely interested in trying a Month-long sleep
experiment on
myself sometime during the spring semester (no way
that'd work w/
marching band in the fall semester).

Is there any other interest in the group for doing
something
on this?
We could definitely have a talk/session on
polyphasic sleep
and what
resources there are currently out there as well as
what people
have
already found.

~Alex