Polyphasic Sleep Dangers?

[Seven]

I have done a LOT of reading on the subject without finding an answer that satisfies me. There is a general cautioning going around the internet that people who are 18 years of age or younger should not be trying to sleep polyphasically. Im 17 myself, and would like to know what this is based on.

Currently a full-time grade 12 student, I plan on switching during February break (later on in Feb), where I'll have 9 days off in a row. A few of my friends are going to do it with me, so that should be more fun and I assume it will make adjustment easier. This is going to be happening unless somebody can give me a good reason why we shouldn't do it.

Good reasons do not include:

- "It will stunt your growth."
Unless it is explained what exactly will happen to me and it dissuades me. If I'm just not going to get any taller, then I don't really mind. I'm 6'2 and I think that's probably enough. If it's something like I will not physically look any older, then that might be a bit of a concern. Still, if that's the case then we found the secret to everlasting youth, so that's great.

- "Not enough research has been done in this area."
:Yawn:

- Anything that isn't factually based in general. I have a fairly good idea of how this is going to go down after reading so much, but if you're going to tell me anything really alarming then please link to the page where you heard that.


Other than that, general tips are appreciated. I'm all set up with Placebo's sleep track (the 27 minute one to start would be best I think). I have a ton of things I plan on getting done and I'm really excited to get started. I'll probably talk a little about my experiences once I get going, unless it turns out you guys are really mean to me . I'll let you know if I suddenly shrink into a midget or something.

[Xeno]

Hey there. I'm no expert, and I don't really have anything to say that directly addresses your questions and concerns, but I am on day 2 of my own polyphasic trial-run, so I thought I would chime in.

I am definatly more tired in the second 24 hour period than I was in the first. As so I have heard and read, probably similarly to how you have, that the 4-8th days are the most difficult. I know I might be posting some desparate messages about how I am unable to stay awake.

So far so good though. I am trying the Dymaxion schedule (30min every 6 hours) and so far, I have been very strict and ridgid with sleep and wake-up times. I feel groggy when I get up, but the feeling generally wanes within an hour or less as I put my hand to some active task, even just walking around or taking a shower or something. Also, as what seems to be a quirky thing that has come out of it is that when I have my naps I end up drooling all over my pillow. I know I have done this before when I am on a normal schedule, but really only once in a blue moon. Since I have started, it has been almost predictable that I will wake up with a smear of saliva on my pillow. I don't know if you want this level of detail, but it stood out to me as something that has been different than what happens on a normal sleeping schedule.

Much like the warnings that I read from others who had blogged their experiences, it has been difficult to find things to do to occupy my time in the wee hours of the morn. I think I will try to simply dislocate myself to do normal tasks, so I will have to factor in walking travel time, and thus burn up some time that would be difficult for me to come up with something to do during.

Also, I have had an insatiable urge to type and type. Some normal e-mails that I would have written a few lines have become paragraphs and paragraphs (to include this post) I don't know if it is because it just takes time, and I have more time, so I am less restrictive as to how I use it, but once again, it's just something that I have noticed is dramatically different than my modus operandi.

I hope that you are successful in your attempt, and we will see if I am. I don't know how the next few days will go, but I hope they go as well as the last two!

[Seven]

Well the details are amusing at the very least

I've heard that Dymaxion is tougher to adapt to than Uberman, so good luck with that.

I chose Uberman because 20 minutes just seems like substantially less time to be asleep for. I could see myself more easily explaining to somebody, like my boss for instance, that I need to go take a quick sleep for 20. Factor in the quicker adaption period and the choice was easy for me (Steve was starting to feel better by day 3 apparently).

I'm sorry, but Everyman just sounds stupid 4+ hours asleep in a day? Psh,

[Brutha]

- "It will stunt your growth."
Unless it is explained what exactly will happen to me and it dissuades me.

Nobody knows exactly what happens during polyphasic sleep.

Lack of sleep might reduce the production of growth hormons (Growth hormons get produced while you sleep).

The other reason would be:
People under 18 generally aren't excepted to fully understand the consequences of their actions. For that reason society sets age limits on substances like beer or cigarets.
Because of the unknown risk of polyphasic sleep, it makes sense to treat it similary. (I know that this won't persuade you )

[Calculusaurus]

Originally Posted by Seven

There is a general cautioning going around the internet that people who are 18 years of age or younger should not be trying to sleep polyphasically. Im 17 myself, and would like to know what this is based on.

The Google groups polyphasic group put an age restriction on its membership "just in case." At 17 your brain is in a fragile growth state, which might be a reason to play it safe.

Other than that, general tips are appreciated...

Well, I did Uberman for about 2 months during a semester at college. It was interesting. Mostly, it was a pain in the ass just to stick to the schedule.

On Uberman, my moods were pretty volatile. Often I'd feel a mild euphoria from the having the "just woke up" feeling around the clock. Other times I seemed more prone to depression. I mean, polyphasic sleep was cool because I felt noticeably different. I felt more "in the present moment." And I could meditate very easily (i.e. I could spend 20+ minutes sitting without my mind even muttering a word).

This is something that few polyphasic sleepers mention (probably because they're too concerned with polyphasic sleep being a wholly positive experience, which it isn't), but my creativity dropped like hell while on Uberman. That semester, I had a lot of brain-intensive work: I had two 400-level physics classes and two 400-level math classes. I found it very difficult to study those subjects. Not to be an elitist *******, but 400-level physics classes require a certain amount of brain power (focus, attention, creativity, abstract thinking, etc) that most people aren't familiar using. It's the exact opposite of a routine task. And using that level of brain power was a huge, huge struggle while on polyphasic sleep.

If you're doing more routine work like writing papers or reading books that don't require rereading every paragraph 5 times just to understand what the hell's going on, then maybe this won't be such a huge issue.

In Stampi's Why We Nap book, an Uberman sleeper gave an account of his 6 months on Uberman and his main complaint was that his creativity dropped as well (he was an artist, I believe -- note: this wasn't the same guy who Stampi did research on). The guy stopped having dreams (counter to what other polyphasic sleepers report), and his artistic creativity was severely stunted.

Anyway, I guess I'm just rambling now. Good luck. Don't get cocky.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Calculusaurus

400-level physics classes require a certain amount of brain power (focus, attention, creativity, abstract thinking, etc) that most people aren't familiar using. It's the exact opposite of a routine task. And using that level of brain power was a huge, huge struggle while on polyphasic sleep.

...

In Stampi's Why We Nap book, an Uberman sleeper gave an account of his 6 months on Uberman and his main complaint was that his creativity dropped as well (he was an artist, I believe -- note: this wasn't the same guy who Stampi did research on). The guy stopped having dreams (counter to what other polyphasic sleepers report), and his artistic creativity was severely stunted.

Well this is rather troubling... This is something I definitely do not want. Although it seems that this directly contradicts what happened to Steve.

Originally Posted by Steve's Day 21 Blog entry

I’m still getting used to this sensation, but I believe it to be a positive change. Now when I sit down to work, I feel as if I’m working with deeper focus, clarity, and speed of thought than ever before. I wonder if these were benefits Da Vinci experienced from polyphasic sleep as well.

I’m beginning to notice that challenging mental work seems easier for me, especially writing

Today I did some database programming work, which is something I’d normally find very mentally challenging, especially crafting queries. I hadn’t done any original database work in about a year, so it certainly wasn’t fresh in my mind. But I found that I was able to complete the work very easily, almost effortlessly. And all my queries worked perfectly the first time with no need for debugging, which is pretty rare for me.

Did you notice anything similar to the above when you were around day 20-30? Either way, this is something that I'm still kind of interested in seeing for myself.

[Calculusaurus]

I do think it's important to emphasize that it takes about a month of Uberman to fully adapt. Sure, it's 1-2 weeks before you can comfortably follow the schedule, but your mental clarity and your mood, etc, keep improving until about a month in; from there everything (for me, anyway) tends to stay the same.

It's difficult to explain just how my brain felt after 1 month. Because it some ways I did feel mentally clearer. For one, I could meditate easier. I could get in the flow state easier. I felt "happier" doing routine work. This is because my mind was calm, so I had no internal distractions to disrupt my thought processes. This made things like writing and reading fiction books slightly easier. In a way, it did feel like a small mental boost.

Again, not to sound elitist, but I honestly don't think many people are familiar with the level of thinking that goes into understanding something like solid state physics, or nonlinear chaos, or the proof of Godel's incompleteness theorem. When you read a difficult math or physics book, you can literally spend 10 minutes (or more) per page, struggling to get your brain to internalize the information. There's nothing routine about doing a take-home test in, say, mathematical logic. Your brain must go into hyperdrive, and there's no predicting how long the test will take.

Now, if you're left-brained, 400-level math/physics work isn't always hard in a sense -- it's just that it requires a certain type of thinking that involves a lot of brain power.

In college the longest paper I wrote was 55 pages. It was a research intensive paper that took probably 100-150 hours to research and write. It was "hard" in the sense that it took so much time, so much planning. But for me, writing papers feels a little more routine than solving math problems.

Why?

Well, when you face yourself with a math problem, you 1) have no idea how to solve it, 2) have no idea how long it'll take you to solve it, and 3) have no idea how many times you'll fail at solving it before you succeed.

Taking on a hard math problem is like sitting in a pitch-black maze with a flashlight that's only as bright as your creativity, and trying to find your way out of the maze. Even if you're brilliant, you'll have to back up several times before you find a solution that works.

Writing a paper is more like constructing a maze. It requires a different level of creativity, but it's less of a mental struggle. It's more of a routine task.

While on polyphasic sleep, I think I would've been OK at writing a 50 page paper. In fact, it might've been easier considering I had more time and less internal mental chatter to distract me. A 50-page paper is a big, daunting task, but you know from the beginning what it takes to finish it, and it's just a matter of finishing it.

Unfortunately, ALL of the work I had to do when I was on Uberman was specifically non-routine. Back to the analogy, it was like I was constantly dumped in several pitch-black mazes and had only my creativity-flashlight to guide me. Only in this case, my flashlight was about 25% as bright as normal, which made finding the solution an unbearable struggle. This not only applied to solving math problems (in assignments and exams), but also to reading physics textbooks, internalizing abstract concepts, and understanding lectures (full of ~100 equations per lecture, no doubt).

This mental struggle continued until I went off Uberman because I got sick (incidentally, I got sick not because of my sleep schedule, I presume, but because a sickness was going around campus, and literally 80% of students were affected.)

[Seven]

Thanks for the input. Polyphasic sleep is sounding more and more neat. I start calculus next semester. Only high school, so probably nothing on the level of what you're talking about. I really hope I don't see too terrible of a drop in performance. I've always been a very good math/science student and I would prefer to keep it that way.

Still, I have to know for myself what it feels like.

[Xeno]

Although my post might not have the same high-caliber technical specs as the others on this thread, I figure that you might glean something from my telling of my continuing experience with originally attempting the Dymaxion schedule:

I am now on day four, and as I have read on other's accounts of their attempts at switching to polyphasic, day four is one of the most difficult to pass as you adapt. I am definitely in agreement up to this point.

I stayed very strictly to the Dymaxion 30min/6hr for the first two days and I didn't have any trouble over-sleeping as I have heard that is a common problem. I jumped right into the schedule one night with a 30min nap at 12am after being up for the whole day prior. Like I said before, the next two days were by-the-book Dymaxion, and I slept with no lights on in my room (my windows are blocked so almost no natural light gets in as well).

The over next two days I have adapted my schedule a little bit to accommodate my schedule, so it can be a little more flexible. I have read up on the difficulties that ensue after you get off of your Dymaxion schedule by even a few minutes, and that it can sometimes take day, even a week to recover from missed naps. After reading up on other threads about bi-phasic patterns and how they approach the length and flexibility of naps I made some modifications to my Dymaxion schedule. Now, instead of doing 30min at 0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 I now alternate between 30min and 90 min and I basically adhere to the same times that I just listed, but I am not so worried about getting it right to-the-minute. I have not noticed any dramatic change in my energy level or alertness/wakefulness since I have changed, nor have I found it that much more difficult to haul myself out of bed after 90min instead of 30.

In general, at this point the hardest time when I experience any drowsiness is from 0500 to 1245, when I get up from my afternoon 90. Once I wake up then, I have absolutely no problem with being tempted to sleep until the following 0500, in fact I feel more energetic/productive then than I ever did while on a monophasic sleeping schedule. I have read that it is common to have a difficult time-span that is near in time to when you would be sleeping on in your monophasic schedule, so I figure that I am experiencing that kind of difficulty, which will pass as I continue to adapt. After all, I am not even a week into this whole process.

I hope you can find something in this helpful, and I will continue to post my experience here as time passes, unless there is a consensus that I should taking my postings elsewhere. Any tips, questions, or concerns are appreciated, and thanks for all of your postings, as they have helped me educate myself on this whole world of alternate sleep patterns that I previously didn't even know existed.

bt

[Seven]

Sure, put them in here.

My only thought is that it might take you longer to adjust than it otherwise would. By that, I mean you might not activate your body's survival techniques or whatever it is that aids people like us. I'm talking about the "learn to fall asleep for 30 good minutes or die" mentality that I imagine your brain would develop if you hadn't lengthened two naps by an hour like that.

This is just a guess of mine.

[shiggityjoe]

Polyphasic sleep is so very interesting. I hadn't ever heard of it before this winter break and now I'm starting to think it would be insanely convenient for college this spring. 30 days isnt too long either, I could do that.

My schedule is all loopy and has several hours offtime in between classes, so I end up going to my place for the breaks and I could easily throw in a 20 minute nap and this I would think would help my class room learning, if it does make me energized and not just tired - wont know till I try.

[Xeno]

1523 - Day Five - I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot, but I might be, we'll see in a week or so.

As I had previously noted, the most difficult time for me to get through is acutely between 0500 and 1245. I think this is still the case, but for the last two days it hasn't been an issue due to the introduction of caffeine via during that time. Thus far, it has proved nothing short of miraculous, and has enabled me to not only get by during that window, but I have been so filled with energy that I simply have to work out! Also, I have not experienced any fallout in my ability to konk out when it is time for me to at 1115 (my new noon-time 90min).

You see, I LOVE coffee, and I have a habit of getting myself addicted. Usually when this happens I try to stop, and I am able to just fine, as long as I remind myself that the perpetual headache that follows me around for then next two days or so will fade and I will be free from caffeine slavery again. I think, but I'm not sure, that I was drinking enough caffeine prior to when I kicked off this dramatic change of schedule that I would go through the kind of mild withdrawals I mentioned above. However, I simply have not.

I generally don't use coffee to wake me up or to stay awake, I just love the taste, and I could drink it all day long if I could get my hands on decaf the whole time. However, the main reason why I don't use it to make me stay awake is because frankly I don't think that it affects me all that much in the first place. This observation is why I am both surprised and confused as to how much it feels like it is aiding me in getting through the 5-12 window.

The bottom line of this is that I am not sure if it is the coffee or if it is because I am simply adapting to the schedule, and I am amazed at the level of energy I have in that timeframe in contrast to the great void that was there only 24 hours prior. As I said before, I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot by using caffeine, and thus disenabling myself to adapt as quickly as I would without.

However, with that said, it should be noted that I am on day five, and I can tell in many other ways that I am adapting just fine, so I think that it is probably pretty feasible that adaptation could be the root reason rather than the caffeine. Tomorrow morning I am going to be sure not to have caffeine to see if I can isolate the adaptation variable.

I am finding out some other amazing, surprising and beneficial affects to this schedule change in the arena of exercise. My original concern was that if I wasn't sleeping enough (meaning like, six or so hours) then my body would not have time to rebuild itself between workouts. I thought that this would play out in a way that I would just get more and more tired instead of being refreshed and ready for my next workout the next day. I have found this original fear and concern to be not only not true, but in direct contradiction to what is happening to my body!

I have been lifting and pushing myself pretty hard, relative to workouts in my past so it is not as though I am only doing wimpy workouts. I have been running a lot as well, so I have been touching both anaerobic and aerobic sides of the exercise coin, and I have been doing one or two workouts each day. Obviously, I feel physically tired directly after each workout, but in general I have felt as though I have a greater store of energy when going into the workouts. Also, I have noticed that I am never getting to the point where I am as sore as I would get while doing workouts similar in frequency, intensity and time while on a monophasic regime. In addition, my flexibility has seen a dramatic improvement since I crossed over to my current polyphasic schedule.

I guess when I put the pieces together after the fact, it does make some sense that I would be more less sore if I was more flexible, and more flexible if I am not getting as stiff during the night, but I am still surprised that it is happening and that my general energy level is soooo much higher than it usually is.

It just boggles my mind how GOOD I feel to be on this schedule and it makes me feel so mislead in my life prior to this change. Then, it seemed like the general consensus on the street is that you really need 8 hours a night, all in one stint, and if you are still tired, naps work but general society doesn't really like/allow for them.

I am glad that I have found myself now among those who see that there are other ways to crack this egg we know as sleep.

[KingKratom]

Hey yall, I'm getting into polyphasic sleep now myself. Been at it for a couple weeks, but it's taking longer cause I fail so often. I drink, smoke, whatever, can't hit REM, and oversleep. But I'm getting REM sleep about half the time, and slowly getting there.

I'll keep yall updated on my experiences, so that you'll be better informed should you try it yourself. Although of course, all the info you really need is already in Steve's blog. Although i still don't think he fully conveys the full extent of the difficulty in getting adjusted. He's just way more disciplined and healthy than most people, so it wasn't as much of a challenge i suppose.

[ogrekilleat]

I'm on day two of my own polyphasic thing, the 20 minutes every 4 hours one, and I'm hanging out at my school's 24-hour-computer lab for the first couple of nights. I've tried and failed polyphasic before, but this seems to be working so far--the couches aren't so comfy that I can oversleep, plus I can just browse the internet for hours when I get bored of study (which is when I'd usually sleep).

[CoryLehan]

I'll start by saying I've slept polyphasically (Everyman schedule) probably 10+ times, but only a few times long enough to matter (a month or longer). I've done Everyman three times, two times for a month long each, and once for a month and a half. Each time I stopped was simply because of social reasons. I've written a 12 page paper on it, and read all but the last two Chapters of Stampi's book.

From my experience: There aren't any long-term effects of polyphasic sleep. Of course your creativity will drop if you aren't getting enough sleep. Once you start getting enough, and stop oversleeping, you'll feel fine. That's why Steve did so well, he didn't oversleep.

It takes a long time to adapt, but eventually just about everyone can do it. My first month was miserable, and it took about 5-6 days before I was sleeping alright. The second time, about 6 months later, it took me 2-3 days to sleep right. The last time I did it, I was tired for about 1-2 days, and felt fine until I stopped a month later. I would estimate that it would take about 2 months before you won't be tired between any naps.

Social problems will most likely outweigh everything else. NO ONE will support you. Out of the 20 or so people that knew I was doing it, all of them questioned it, none of them believed it would work, and about 1/2 of them tried to talk me out of it. One friend almost tried it with me, but backed out because he was afraid of the consequences. No one will remember that you're napping, so turn your phone off if possible, because they will call you. In one month, I was probably woken up 30-40 times from calls. This was the reason I stopped the last two times (the first time was out of boredom, with too much time and not enough to fill it). When you're woken up three naps in a row, you're completely exhausted for the next few days. Also my mom would call me over to get some stuff out of her garage, or a friend just shows up at my door without calling, banging on the door. After about a month, most people will give up trying to convince you out of it, but they won't remember your nap times for at least another month.

Most people seem to want to change eating habits while polyphasic, like moving to vegetarian. Don't do that. After about 3 weeks, when you're at least mostly adapted to sleeping, you can try changing eating habits. You'll probably need to eat more while polyphasic though, and that's okay. Just don't drastically change your diet until you feel comfortable with the schedule.

Exercise when you get tired, but not immediately after a nap. It'll wake you up for about an hour or two, but then you'll be tired again. Wait until about two hours before a nap to exercise.

The first few weeks, do something that will require you to wake and walk at least 20-30 feet. I had one alarm in my room, one in the kitchen down the hall 3 minutes later, and one in the basement 2 minutes after that.

Don't sleep too comfortably. If it's cold in your room, don't bundle up in the covers, or you'll never want to leave the bed. Put a few extra layers on so when you get up, the bed might seem a little 'too' warm to stay in, and getting up will be easy.

If you oversleep, don't give up. I've probably overslept about 20 times, but if I'd start polyphasic again (which I plan to soon), I might oversleep once every 10 days or so, which isn't bad at all (some even say a long sleep every once in a while might prevent potential sleep problems, which seems logical to me).

Plan ahead. Give yourself a TON to do your first week. I'd say give yourself 2-3 times more than you think you can do. 1) You'll get more done than you think. 2) You'll want extra options in case you don't feel like doing something.

Don't take 5 minutes to rest your eyes. You'll fall asleep. If you HAVE to, take another 20 minute nap ( or however long you nap). It's better to take a 20 minute nap than a 5 minute nap, because there's about a 95% chance you'll oversleep with the 5 minute nap. Also you should consistently take the same length naps. Don't take a 30-minute nap when you don't think a 20-minute will last long enough. If you really feel like you can't make it to the next nap, take another 20-minute nap. Some people need 6 naps a day, some need 5, 7, or 8.

At the end of the first week, almost everyone feels like they can't make it. Remember that studies have shown that no long term side effects form from one month of sleep deprivation (I don't remember where I read this though). So give yourself at least two weeks to try it. If you're not feeling better after 2 weeks, you're not doing it right. If you can't fix whatever you're doing wrong, then you can give up. But don't give up after a week, there's no way of telling whether you can do it just by the first week.

That's all I can think of talking about right now.

I think I'll try polyphasic again this week.

[Gozunn]

hi everyone! I've been trying to get into polyphasic sleep but I've found a few problems, my schedule for the day is school from 7 to 3 (I wake up at 7 and it takes me an hour to get ready cause school starts at 8) Anyways from 5.30 till 11 p.m I have a non-stop regimen that includes soccer related stuff on some days so I don't have many options for polyphasic sleep.

Obviously before I continue I need to point out that I need to dedicate some time to school and other ****.

On weekends I also have a night life, you know clubbing and drinking that sort of stuff which I need to have after a busy week. So I can't really see many options for polyphasic sleep. I tried the dymaxion schedule last summer and was completly bushed!! I set up multiple alarms with no success of waking up. This includes hi-fis as well!!

Recenlty I've attempted the biphasic sleep schedule of: 3hrs at night and 90mins in the evening but this was not the ideal time to try it as I had one of the biggest meltdowns of my life when I was during this schedule (not BECAUSE of the schedule)

Uberman and Dymaxion are obviously not an option in my case.

So I'm balancing my options between Biphasic, Everyman and Semiphasic/demiphasic sleep (you sleep alot for one day and then don't sleep at all the next day)

Any advice?

[Seven]

I'm back to report how it went for me when I started on Friday night of last week. Those are all great tips Cory and they meshed with what I experienced.

I initially had 3 people who were going to do it with me. One decided he's going to try at an unspecified later date due to a cold or flu or something. One decided to wait and do it with him. One decided to quit because his parents really really did not like the idea of it. I did manage to recruit another friend at the last minute who loved the idea so much that he was willing to start that very night.

First of all, from what I saw anyway, it is MUCH easier than what people made it sound like. I had a cold myself when I started (in retrospect I really should have waited) and I still didn't feel too bad throughout the whole time. I didn't experience any oversleeps until night 4, when the craziest experience of my life took place.

This is the scenario: I lie down in my own Bed, regular nighttime attire.
-My clock/radio alarm is set, just outside of arms reach of the bed.
-My cellphone is set to vibrate and I have it in my sock.
-My Nintendo DS is on alarm mode on the shelf on the other side of my room.
-My iPod is playing Placebo's sleep track and it's in my ears.

Four hours later I come to conciousness. My iPod's headphones are neatly wound up around it, set on my nighstand beside my cellphone (the sock is nowhere to be found). My Nintendo DS is wide open, still on its shelf, with the stylus pulled out and set on top of it. The clock radio must have been shut off or it would still be going when I woke up. Somehow I unconciously walked around the room and disarmed all these traps I set for myself, crawled back into bed and slept for way too long.

Anyway, when I awoke I had sinus pain and a terribly sore throat. Since I'm not a very logical thinker when I immediately wake up, I decided on a whim to quit right there and then. I regret it right now but I'm going to try again as soon as I feel well enough. I at least got a taste of the way it feels, and I don't really have a problem with trying to adjust during a school week.

On the plus side, my friend is doing great. Today would be the one week marker. He has never even felt tired (I didn't either, it's the craziest thing). As best as we can figure, we skipped the hard part. Yesterday he even skipped a nap by accident without hitting a wall, as people describe it. And yet he is up every night, having no trouble getting up to his alarms and thoroughly enjoying all his free time. Neither of us went through any stage that could be described as zombie-like.

[CoryLehan]

Sweet setup. I started polyphasic again the day after reading this thread, and I've had a little trouble waking up because my dog completely flips out if any weird noises happen at night, including alarms. Then he wakes everyone up. So I basically have to do a silent approach, and I rubberband my vibrating phone to my hand. I really like your sock idea better, it'd be much harder to turn off and fall back asleep, and it wouldn't leave a red mark around my hand.

As for me, I've overslept somewhere between 2am and 5am every day since I started 4 days ago. As soon as I get out of bed I'm fine, but it's just so darn comfortable. And I have trouble falling asleep on the floor, but I'll keep trying it. If I can manage to sleep on the floor, I shouldn't oversleep again. The oversleeps have gotten about half an hour to an hour shorter each time, so I might not even have to worry about it.

I really need to find an alarm solution that won't be a sudden loud noise. I'm thinking of making an alarm for my laptop that starts out quiet, and I'd have to solve a math problem or something to turn it off. Or maybe it'd be one of those press-the-buttons-in-the-following-order games. That'd wake me up enough not to fall back asleep. I'll go work on it right now.

[Phredbasset]

This is my first post as I've just joined this forum, sso "Hi" all.
Possible dangers for polyphasic sleep could include lack of delta phase sleep, during which the physical body "repairs itself from the stressesof the day. Also, human growth hormone production is greatly enhanced during delta sleep. This hormone has to do with body healing and cellular replacement (ie. for "worn out" cells). It is important to get delta sleep as well as REM sleep. A further note for "older" people is that production of human growth hormone begins to decline as we get older (possibly due to decreased delta sleep). However this can be alleviated (How much??) by increasing delta sleep.
I'm new to the concept of polyphasic sleep, however I think these comments might be worth considering.

[LightWork]

Originally Posted by CoryLehan

Social problems will most likely outweigh everything else. NO ONE will support you. Out of the 20 or so people that knew I was doing it, all of them questioned it, none of them believed it would work, and about 1/2 of them tried to talk me out of it. One friend almost tried it with me, but backed out because he was afraid of the consequences. No one will remember that you're napping, so turn your phone off if possible, because they will call you. In one month, I was probably woken up 30-40 times from calls. This was the reason I stopped the last two times (the first time was out of boredom, with too much time and not enough to fill it). When you're woken up three naps in a row, you're completely exhausted for the next few days. Also my mom would call me over to get some stuff out of her garage, or a friend just shows up at my door without calling, banging on the door. After about a month, most people will give up trying to convince you out of it, but they won't remember your nap times for at least another month.

I feel maybe Steve had the edge here; it's essentially his "job" to do such things. It is insanely difficult to do things if nobody agrees with you - your own inner voice must be stronger than all the people telling you not to do it (who will be close friends, as you dont usually tell everyone this sort of thing.)

I'm doing biphasic sleep at the moment; university timetable will not permit polyphasic of any fashion, I'll wait until I'm older. But seriously, people have such a problem with me napping at 8-9.30 and sleeping 3-6. I don't get what the problem is? Plenty of people nap and sleep shorter in the night, it's not that unusual. I'm just doing it regularly, big deal?

I agree - it is the hardest part.

I love the idea of a program that makes you do some math equation or something to turn the ruddy thing off - is it possible you can pass something like that on? I feel very groggy after sleeps at the moment (I don't yet get 90 minute sleeps as I always have had trouble with sleeping straight away: My body is going to have to adapt in the next couple of days, I think it's getting there) and I'm a left hemisphere person - it would help alot. I also love the idea of several alarms in different rooms; if only I wasn't in halls of residence!

Tomorrow, I'm doing my clothes washing at 6am. Fresh air, and the smell of fabric conditioner whilst the sun rises. Wow, that actually sounds quite awesome: I'm looking forward to it!!