Polyphasic sleep: good idea or not?
During our trip to the US we had a discussion about the hours of sleep we all need. It turned out that I needed the most hours (8+) of everybody. Someone even told me he could get by on only 5 hours a night! I said I would love to need only that little sleep. Just think of all the hours I could spend working! Life is to short to sleep.
So when we returned I decided to look into it and found a solution: Polyphasic sleep. There is an extensive article on WikiPedia which has the following information description:
Polyphasic sleep (also known as Da Vinci sleep or Uberman sleep) is a sleep pattern intended to reduce sleep time to 2–5 hours daily. This is achieved by spreading out sleep into short naps of around 20–45 minutes throughout the day.
The process of adapting to a polyphasic schedule involves a physically very difficult one- to two-week transition period. Thereafter, independent testers claim to experience no apparent drop of cognition or alertness, despite the few hours of sleep attained each day. On the other hand, polyphasic sleep requires a rigid schedule, which makes it infeasible for many people.
Little scientific research has been performed on polyphasic sleeping. Much, if not most, of the information about it comes from the claims of independent testers.
So now I’m seriously considering trying this out for a while. The prospect of needing only 2 tot 5 hours a day sounds very promising to me. The two week adjustment schedule seems very tough and the rigid schedule isn’t my thing either. But just think of what I could do with all that extra time!
A few interesting links:
Vietnam man handles three decades without sleep
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12673
Sleep Less, Do More
http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2004/08/26/sleep_less_do_more.html
How To Sleep Less and Get More Done
http://www.rampantgames.com/blog/2006/05/how-to-sleep-less-and-get-more-done.html
