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Originally Posted by placebo  This sounds cool, like charging batteries you enter in REM for 20 minutes period. |
The idea that REM sleep dominates polyphasic sleep is actually a misconception, one that I've been meaning to correct. REM sleep is no more or less important than NREM sleep, and the body does not get a higher proportion of REM sleep when sleeping polyphasically as opposed to monophasically.
EEG measurements on polyphasic sleeping test subjects show a slight decrease in the proportion of lighter sleep stages to deeper sleep stages, but all sleep stages are maintained in roughly the same proportions as compared to monophasic sleep schedules. Certain naps will often be dominated by one sleep stage. For example, one nap may be almost entirely composed of gamma wave sleep (REM) while the next one is filled predominantly with delta wave sleep (NREM). The main difference between mono and poly sleep schedules is that a polyphasic sleeper will generally enter deep sleep stages much more quickly than a monophasic sleeper.
For more information and for specific numbers, anyone interested can read
Why We Nap by Claudio Stampi. Stampi became fascinated with solo sailors who were able to reduce their sleep needs and performed scientific tests in the late 80s and published his results in that book.