Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Polyphasic, biphasic sleep questions help!

silicon toad2000 · 11-17-2007, 03:46 AM

I found it easy to fall, into a biphasic sleep schedule. Maybe think about moving your nap time later. I nap 8:30pm till 10pm and then core sleep from 2:30am-7.

Polyphasic seems to be 4 half hour naps equally spaced. This takes time to adjust to. Your body needs to change its sleeping cycle from 90 minutes to 30 minutes.

Biphasic sleeping works on the principal that as you sleep progresses, each sleep cycle contains less delta sleep and more REM sleep. (I hope that’s right). By having a nap you are completing a sleep cycle with the greatest percentage of delta sleep, enough to cover the amount of delta sleep in two sleep cycles at the end of a normal sleep. By having a nap for one sleep cycle you can remove two sleep cycles from the end of your core sleep.

Delta sleep is the sleep the body needs to recover, there seems to be a consensus on this. The only consensus on REM sleep seems to be that it is essential for developing brains but no one seems to have a definitive
Explanation for what use it serves the fully developed brain of an adult.

I did find myself groggy after the nap sometimes, but you need to experiment with the length of your naps, start with 100 minutes and work backwards to 90 minutes, 85, 80... You will eventually find a time which will leave you much less groggy.

I found following a biphasic sleep schedule that I was much more productive and alert, also that the mid afternoon low disappeared.

11-17-2007, 03:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
silicon toad2000 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 728	I found it easy to fall, into a biphasic sleep schedule. Maybe think about moving your nap time later. I nap 8:30pm till 10pm and then core sleep from 2:30am-7. Polyphasic seems to be 4 half hour naps equally spaced. This takes time to adjust to. Your body needs to change its sleeping cycle from 90 minutes to 30 minutes. Biphasic sleeping works on the principal that as you sleep progresses, each sleep cycle contains less delta sleep and more REM sleep. (I hope that’s right). By having a nap you are completing a sleep cycle with the greatest percentage of delta sleep, enough to cover the amount of delta sleep in two sleep cycles at the end of a normal sleep. By having a nap for one sleep cycle you can remove two sleep cycles from the end of your core sleep. Delta sleep is the sleep the body needs to recover, there seems to be a consensus on this. The only consensus on REM sleep seems to be that it is essential for developing brains but no one seems to have a definitive Explanation for what use it serves the fully developed brain of an adult. I did find myself groggy after the nap sometimes, but you need to experiment with the length of your naps, start with 100 minutes and work backwards to 90 minutes, 85, 80... You will eventually find a time which will leave you much less groggy. I found following a biphasic sleep schedule that I was much more productive and alert, also that the mid afternoon low disappeared.