A College Student & Polyphasic Sleep: The Who, What, Where, Why, and How

What would you do with an extra 6 hours every day?

What if something everybody thinks is true is actually wrong?

I am going to find out in my latest experiment, Polyphasic sleeping.

The premise of the idea is that there are different sleep schedules that people throughout the world adhere to. Most people are monophasic, meaning that they get the all of their sleep over night in a recommended 8 hour block (ha!). A lot of people in Europe are biphasic, meaning they sleep for 5 hours at night, and rejuvenate with a 90 minute nap in the afternoon.

But wait, there is a third alternative: Polyphasic sleeping!

What is Polyphasic Sleep?

Polyphasic sleeping is actually a pretty vague term, it simply means that you nap multiple times throughout the day. I’ll include an infographic of different ways people divide their naps. The variant I am interested in is Uberman sleeping, the only one of which that doesn’t include a core sleep.

Uberman goes like this: six 20-minute naps, every 4 hours.

From what I have been reading this is a pretty highly controversial topic, believe it or not. Most people shudder at the thought of not getting a full night of sleep (even though they themselves generally don’t) and don’t even get them started on only two hours. The science mostly speaks out against it too, but there is enough anecdotal evidence out there of people succeeding that leaves me to believe it might be possible.

It’s not that the science says this is harmful, just that it’s impossible- which is actually comforting.

How this sleep schedule can succeed

Alright, now let me give it to you straight. An oversimplified explanation of sleep science says that REM sleep is the only essential sleep cycle; it is the cycle that’s happening when you dream. Most adults only spend about 20% of their sleep in REM, it can last as short as 10 minutes. Now if I’m not mistaken, this polyphasic sleep schedule will condition my body to enter REM sleep immediately upon napping. So in short, the first week I can expect to be sleep deprived since I won’t be getting much REM sleep, but soon enough I should get into the rhythm.

It has been fascinating to read other people’s experiences with this schedule. I’ve seen some successes with reports of tremendous benefits. Some of them include a much better dreaming experience where dreams are more vivid and lucid. Other benefits I have read about include increased alertness through the day, a different feeling of consciousness, no more insomnia, and the ability to go along without caffeine.

You seem to run into problems when you deviate from your (rigid) nap schedule. Most of the time, people oversleep and even sleep through multiple alarms. This is something I am going to watch out for in particular and hope I don’t mess up with. If I do, it can prolong the adaptation period and thus, my sleep deprivation- which can get real ugly.

This experiment requires a lot of self discipline as well as a flexible schedule. I am currently on a summer vacation from college right now and working a summer internship from 9-5; I am very thankful to have the support of my employers at Colliers while I do this.

Why I’m doing this

My reasoning is quite simple. When I first read of this sleep schedule, I cannot express how excited I was at the idea of it and how eager I was to try it. I have such an unrelenting curiosity to see what this would be like and if it’s possible. I don’t have a clear idea of what the ends I am trying to achieve are, or if polyphasic sleep is the end itself. Many successful people have been noted to have lived like this: Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Napoleon Bonaparte, and more recently, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg- who claimed he created WordPress under this sleeping habit. This isn’t to put myself in the same category as them, but it seems more legitimate than saying some college kids on the web say that it works.

The big drawback from doing this is the inflexible schedule that will ensue. I will have to learn to schedule around my naps, which I can foresee being pretty inconvenient. Hopefully the extra 30-40 hours per week makes it worth it. I am not that concerned about getting bored, I am generally good at making myself busy and filling my time with projects. My aunt told me when I was younger that you’re only bored if you’re boring.

I woke up this morning at 7 AM and I will take my first nap at noon.

My nap schedule will be the following: 4AM, 8AM, 12PM, 4 PM, 8PM.

I am not sure what’s left to say, you don’t hear too often about college students voluntarily and intentionally depriving themselves of sleep. I will be posting updates everyday to track my progress and hopefully be of help to anyone who wants to try this for themselves.

Click Here to Read Wikipedia’s Article on Polyphasic Sleep

I decided to gather a table of contents for this experiment. Just to keep everything in one place

Polyphasic Sleep Day 1

Polyphasic Sleep Day 2

Polyphasic Sleep Day 3: Observations and Reflections

Polyphasic Sleep Day 4

Polyphasic Sleep Day 5

Polyphasic Sleep Day 6

Polyphasic Sleep Day 7

Polyphasic Sleep Day 8

Polyphasic Sleep Day 9

Polyphasic Sleep Days 10-14

Polyphasic Sleep Day 20

Polyphasic Sleep 1 Month Update — From Uberman to Everyman

The Return to Monophasic Sleep