Fudge Muffin start's Polyphasic Sleep

F

Fudge Muffin

Fudge Muffin
Registered Senior Member
I have been reading about 'Polyphasic Sleep' for about a month now, and I'm ready to convert to it. Right now.

If you do not know what I'm talking about, basically... It's a sleep pattern change that allows me to only get 2 hours of sleep a day. This gives me a heck of a lot of free time.
I'll be using the 'Uberman Sleep Cycle' ; which is taking 20-30 minute naps every 4 hours. This means taking 6 naps every 24 hour period.

I have heard a lot of famous people have slept like this; Einstein, Napoleon, Buckminster Fuller... and since I am to be famous like them one day, this seems a good way to start :p

There's 2 big concerns, one of which is my age... I have heard this is not recomended to anyone under the age of 18.
Well I am 16, I turn 17 in under 2 months. I'm not sure what affects this will have on my health until I try it... but again, I have heard this isn't overally dangerous.

Another one is school, I'm starting my A-levels in September (is that year 13 in America?) which is to say, I have 2 full years of 'yawn' before I can finally go to university. This will be hard to fit round my school schedule, since I leave my house at 8 AM and get back at 4 PM. I'll find a way around it when I get to it and I don't start school until the end of this month.

Now there's also the fact that I'm going to be mentally braindead for a week to adjust me to it. My sleep times, are as follows:

I will be taking 20 minute naps every 3, 7, and 11 o clock (a.m and p.m). Some concerns arise in social situations (like I'm going to a Skrillex concert on the 15th) but I'll delay my laps around that...

"But Fudge Muffin, don't you have a social life?" Hahahaha, guys, I love science. I don't need a social life. I recently had a big fall out with a group of friends after breaking down emotionally and telling a girl how much I liked her, she didn't feel the same, I flipped out, my friends called me stupid, blah blah blah... So NOW, I have around 3 very good friends. I know it's healthy to interact with other people, and usually I see them on average every 2 days. But I'm willing to put that off until I get used to this sleep cycle.

I also have the goal of becoming fluent in German and Spanish by the 27th of September. I know during the first few days of polyphasic sleep learning new phrases and expanding my knowledge of them will be virtually impossible. But after I adjust, I'll have so much more time to work on them.

If you're skeptical and can't see how this sleep pattern could work, read this http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/. That's where I got most of my information anyway. Basically your body get's enough REM sleep by the naps you do, it's enough to function on. Some people even find themselves more alert by trying it.

I really hope one of you who is reading this is an expert on polyphasic sleep or has ever tried it. My quesitons are as follows:

What activities can I do to keep myself awake during the gaps between cycles? (particularly 3-7am, and do keep in mind I'm only 16 )
Is there any horrible side effects of someone my age attempting Polyphasic Sleep? (I doubt this is answerable though, I am probably the youngest to try it, yaaay)

I hope you guys can help me out here. I'll be starting this pattern tonight, it's just seven so I'll hold my nap of till 11 am, or maybe even 3 am, probably 3 hehe. I'll keep you guys posted on who I'm doing, but for the next few days I won't be 'at all here', I'll be mentally distant, if you know what I mean...
 
I'll also use the extra time to improve my english ( 'Start's' ??? ) probably by reading all the books I can.
 
Ok this is a lot more difficult than I first expected. After falling asleep at 3am and waking up 20 minutes later, it is insanely difficuly to get out of bed. The first night I slept straight through to 12 noon. Last night however, i was feeling extremely tired, so I slept from 20 past 2 until half 3. then I slept further from 7 to 10 (2 and a half hours oversleep, was not my intention). Althought perhaps I should slowly adapt to this strange form of sleep. Now I'm feeling groggy.
I'm also doing this experiment without any caffine. OOOOOH I do miss the taste of coffee sooo...

But 20 minute sleep cycles... When I lie down I don't go to sleep immediately. I just sort of lie there alone in my own thoughts. Should that time be counted as part of the 20 minute nap or not?
 
This is by far the most difficult thing I've ever done. As soon as I'm about 5 sleep cycles in, i begin to actually sleep through my arm clock. Or turn it off in my sleep, either way, keeping up with the sleep cycles is flipping heck.
On the bright side, I've noticed that alcohol really improves my ability to do this. If I come in drunk, I have no problem staying up all night and getting the right sleep cycles. Anyone have any idea why this is? haha
 
Fudge Muffin said:
This is by far the most difficult thing I've ever done.
Click to expand...

That’s because the whole exercise is a load of rubbish! :rolleyes: You simply cannot get by on 2 hours sleep a day. Forget urban myths about Einstein or <insert famous person here> functioning in such a way. They didn’t, they got some decent sleep. Yes, there are examples of some people who sleep only a few hours a day (or sometimes not at all), but they are a tiny minority who have abnormal neurological functioning. They didn’t undertake the 'Uberman Sleep Cycle', or any other pseudoscientific practice, to achieve it. And to top it off, now you’re incorporating alcohol as part of your routine.

Please, forget this whole exercise before you do yourself some damage.
 
Last edited:
I don't advise this; it's not healthy, particularly at your age.

Old people need less sleep; they tend to cat nap anyway- but that's not necessarily why they accomplished what they did (if the stories are even true).

If you succeed at this sleep schedule, you'll have more hours, but each hour will be less productive than usual (what with waking up and going to sleep all of the time, and being drowsy, and planning your schedule meticulously to not miss a nap) so at best it will be a wash.
 
The problem with such cycles are if you do manage to keep to them. Let's say your body adapts, you could end up suffering "Narcoleptsy" which can be dangerous.

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia, characterized by excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks at inappropriate times, such as while at work. People with narcolepsy often experience disturbed nocturnal sleep and an abnormal daytime sleep pattern, which often is confused with insomnia. Narcoleptics, when falling asleep, generally experience the REM stage of sleep within 5 minutes; whereas most people do not experience REM sleep until an hour or so later. [source:wikipedia]
Click to expand...

If for instance you were driving a long distance and you happen to go beyond the time period in which you require a nap, you could find your body just shutting down into an REM state, the next thing you know "...If you can awake...", you find yourself in the wreckage of your car in a ditch.

I had an uncle that took a nosedive off some scaffolding because of this condition.

There is also the point of where or not the person that came up with the cycle was an undiagnosed Narcoleptic. Their brain likely was already in the process of having REM events occur throughout the day, so the cycle would of seemed natural and work with them, however if you aren't Narcoleptic then that period of REM isn't until deeper sleep, so you'll just end up making yourself tired and likely suffering effect that could eventually be psychologicallyneurologically damaging.
 
Last edited:
Fudge Muffin,

What you are doing can cause permanent neurologial damage. It has 0% chance of a positive outcome.
 
I knew a guy in college who would stay awake for three hours and then sleep for an hour, and he seemed to be fine. But of course, that was 3x as much sleep as Fudge Muffin is talking about.

The guy claimed that it was a much "better" schedule. He didn't use his bed, he just laid down on his couch to nap and then got up and went on with whatever he had been doing. He did most of his studying at night, when everyone else was sleeping.

I wonder if FM is still alive and sane?
 
yeah i'm still here. Ok, ok i guess that type of sleep cycle wouldn't be the best way to start...

I'm either thinking of doing what Nasor just said, which would be like 6 hours a day...

Or even biphasic sleep...

Now though, I wake up at about half 1. And sleep at about 4am. Like a normal teen. But, I feel unpresidentedly tired for some reason.
 
Promo said:
13 hours? You havent met my Rottie, I'd be happy if he slept that much.
Click to expand...

He's probably sleeping every minute you aren't around (at least that's what a lot of pets do out of boredom during the day or when the owner is gone).


Nasor said:
I knew a guy in college who would stay awake for three hours and then sleep for an hour, and he seemed to be fine. But of course, that was 3x as much sleep as Fudge Muffin is talking about.
Click to expand...

Right, that comes out to six hours, which is within the recommended amount of sleep (6-8 hours).


I like the "sleep 16 hours every other day" approach, personally.
 
Hello Fudge Muffin. Your thread on polyphasic sleep caught my eye because I have been keeping very unusual sleep patterns for several years now. I started working graveyard shift, retail grocery, seven years ago and just over three years ago, I took a second job during the day, two mornings a week, and reduced my graveyard shift to three nights per week. I was able to arrange their scheduling so that I am off work at 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning and do not return to work until 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

This effectively gives me 12 hours longer between shifts than those who work a standard 5 day week, time which my body needs for recovery because I change sleep phases every week, twice.

The following is a fairly typical sleep schedule for me:

Tuesday: Sleep from 11:00 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. (Wednesday now) 6 1/2 hours
Wednesday: Sleep from 11:00 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. (Thursday now) 6 1/2 hours
Thursday: Sleep from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. (Work 1-9:00 a.m.) 3 hours
Friday: Sleep from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. (Work 1-9:00 a.m.) 3 hours
Saturday: Sleep from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. (Work 1-9:00 a.m.) 3 hours
* I stay awake 10:00 p.m. on Saturday until 9:00 p.m. on Sunday to 'reset' to day shift hours.
Sunday: Sleep from 9:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. 10 hours
Monday: Sleep from 11:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. 8 hours

Total hours of sleep per week: 40 hours divided by 7 equals 5.71 hrs per day

I did some reading on the first link you posted and observe that Steve gave up on the experiment after a year.

Eventually I abandoned the pattern and returned to monophasic sleep, mainly due to social reasons as I explained in my final post of the series: The Return to Monophasic. The rest of the world simply isn’t polyphasic. However, returning to my original sleep pattern wasn’t quite the same after that experiment. Something came back with me
Click to expand...

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/03/polyphasic-sleep-one-year-later/

As a teenager, your body is undergoing a lot of change and development and you may well require more sleep than previously to support this change. This is also a time of life when most are doing more socializing and forming networks and relationships that will be helpful to their future choices in life.

Sleep is fundamental to our health and well-being. The amount required varies between individuals and the body is capable of much adaptation when required. The world is largely a 9-5/Mon-Fri pattern where employment/education is concerned although essential services operate 24/7/365.

I do not think that the sleep pattern outlined in your opening post has any potential for improving human health. Not suggesting that some cannot do this, but it is certainly not a course that I would pursue or suggest to anyone to try. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top