Are Alternative Sleeping Patterns Effective?

shmookey asks: "Some people have adopted some unusual sleeping habits, which they believed help them work. The concept is simple: be active for a few hours, sleep for half an hour, wake up and then repeat. This supposedly maximized your effective REM sleeping time and cut back on wasted hours of idleness. Hack-a-day has a nice article and some links on this, which re-ignited my interest. Does anyone on Slashdot actually do this? How do you make it fit in with earning a living? What sacrifices do you have to make to live this kind of lifestyle?" Called polyphasic sleep, or "The Uberman's sleep schedule", this is not something to dive into lightly, as it requires rigid scheduling, and there may be unexpected complications and other issues. Has anyone tried this? What were your experiences?

More info on Uberman

[TripMaster Monkey]

An excellent writeup on the Uberman sleep schedule can be found here [everything2.com].

In the past I've restricted my sleep to as little as three hours a night for several weeks without ill effects, but I've never tried the Uberman sleep schedule. Now that I'm older, I seem to need my sleep much more desperately than I used to (I get physically ill if I get less than five hours sleep per night), so I doubt I'll be trying it anytime soon.

I have a friend who decided to try it during his long period of unemployment (in fact, I first heard of it from him), but he dropped out after a few weeks. I suspect that he just enjoyed sleeping too much to give up so much of it. ^_^

Re:Hmmm.

[Scott Lockwood]

Because, our bodies have a fairly good idea of when it's light, and when it's dark. It's not that our bodies know it's midnight, it's that they know it's dark, and typically, it's between these hours, somewhere in that 2 hour span, that we process melatonin.

The six most important words in the English language are, "May I please see the report?" Rather than just being skeptical, read the research. :-)

Warm jacuzzi brain?

[Fluffy the attack ki]

Am I the only one who is alarmed by the phrase "it sort of feels like my brain is soaking in a warm jacuzzi" or by the idea that one might constantly feel like they just woke up in the morning?

Don't we drink coffee because it gets rid of those sensations?

Re:Solo Circumnavigators

[fbjon]

Polyphasic sleep is used by Solo Circumnavigating sailors.

Solo circumnavigation is an occasional extreme circumstance though, not a day-job.

sleep is a good thing

[sjames]

There is no question that a nap has a great deal of restorative power. However, I'm not so sure that nothing but naps is best.

The best thing I have found for memory, sharpness of mind, general energy ved my level, and productivity is to NEVER use an alarm clock. Of course, I telecommute so it's somewhat easier for me to get away with that. Interestingly, once I gave up on the alarm blasting me out of bed, AND on staying up at night after I get tired, I found that I settled into a natural rythem where I sleep approximatly 8 hours a night. After still longer, it became ALMOST reliable. That is, if I need to get up an hour earlier in the morning, going to bed an hour earlier will do it.

It also greatly improved my general outlook (which was around the borderline of depression before).

I do know that sleep deprivation is insideous and causes it's sufferers to underestimate their impairment.

Re:Warm jacuzzi brain?

[lowe0]

Agreed. If I were to spend most of my waking hours the way the first one goes, I'd be unemployed. I specifically go to work an hour early so my boss doesn't have to see me in that state, as he arrives just as my productivity is starting to ramp up.

And hey, it gets me out at 4 pm. You can't beat that.

Re:a pharmaceutical rather than behavioral approac

[AlterTick]

I have a friend who worked for a defense sleep research lab, before Provigil was available via prescription. ... There are two remarkable qualities to the drug. First, you can use it for days at a time, and it only loses effectiveness after about 120 waking hours. At that point you need to sleep - but you never crash; you just sleep a normal 8 hours, wake up refreshed, and swallow the next pill.

Oi. I'd say that's a bit of an exaggeration. I found that Provigil (or Alertec) was better than Ritalin, but not nearly as effective as frequent, very small, carefully metered doses of methamphetamine. The problem is, Provigil really only staves off the groggies, the slackjaw, the blearies. When you do finally crash (and nothing can prevent the eventual crash-- nothing), you don't wake up refreshed after 8 hours so much as merely "mostly de-tired". Most people-- I'd say close to 95%-- don't know what it feels like to be truly well rested. Nobody gets enough sleep. 8 or 9 hours a night is ideal. We can do with less, but it's not enough. What people think of as "rested" is really just "adequately functional". Provigil manages to keep you at "functional" for quite a while, but it that's about it. Really, I think people need to take a week or two off and actually get enough rest before they describe the effects of sleep regulating meds like these.

I'm on it

[foonus]

I've been doing the Uberman sleep schedule for the past month. So far it's going great. Obviously my knowledge is all subjective, but based on my performance in school, I haven't lost any mental faculties. After spending some time on the schedule, it becomes less rigid (which seems to be the primary complaint here). Just during the past week I've started moving my naps around by as much as 1.5 hours, with no ill effects. So far this is working better for me, as I can take less time between naps at night, when I'm drowsier, and more time during the day, when I'm more alert.
I don't know if this will eventually cause me to die or go insane (I guess that's part of the fun of trying new things), but I can report that polyphasic sleep is possible and sustainable, at least for a month. After the adaptation (for me it took two weeks or so), it's not really hard to maintain. And since I can shift my naps, I don't see any reason to give this up.