Switching to Biphasic Sleeping? Start here.

[Poutanen]

Hey,

I didn't realize there was a name for the way I sleep when I'm working shift work. I'm on call on certain weeks to work at any given time, and my regular job is a 7am-5pm m-f drill. During the big snow storm up in the Toronto area a few weeks ago I was working midnight to noon every day for about nine days. Quite monotonous work I must add.

Anyway, I typically slept from 4-10 PM, and then caught about 1 hr of sleep between 2 and 5 am on a regular basis. I had GREAT energy that whole week! I realize it's not an extended pattern at all, but I was surprised how much an hour nap would do.

One tip: if you typically shut off your alarm clock without knowing it, put it on the other side of the room. Mine's loud and annoying and I have to get up and walk a few steps to turn it off... work's every time!

[LaGrange123]

How is it that biphasic sleepers can get by on 4.5 or 6 hours of sleep every night --I mean every day? I mean, even if they're sleeping in increments that match up with the natural sleep cycle--which does help a lot--they're still not getting more than a few of these cycles. Basically what I'm wondering is why splitting up your sleep time into two blocks could ever reduce your needs. Why would it be any better than just getting the same total sleep time, but in one block? I know that personally, if I slept for 4.5 hours at night in one block, even though that period coincides with my natural sleep cycle, I probably wouldn't feel very refreshed. Why is it different for biphasic sleep?

Thanks in advance.

[Trustme]

I was bi-phasic for some time and it really worked well for me. I asked myself the same question - why do I feel better with 4.5 hour core and and a nap of around 45 min to 90 min compared to sleeping 6 hours core? I came up with the following answer to myself: When you look at the typical sleep cycle of a monophasic sleeper you see that each wave gets less deep. So it looks like the quality of sleep diminishes with the total lenght of sleep.



When you sleep bi-phasic you get more quality sleep but less sleep in total. That's just my theory, I am not a doctor nor did I really read up on the topic. I just tried to figure out why I feel less tired when I am biphasic compared to just core sleep.

[Trustme]

Another question to the group? Is anyone here on a 3 hour core / 1 hour nap cycle? That's something I would like to try. I would even implemenent another nap, say 3 hour core, 2 naps but my problem is I work from 8:00 am to until 6:00 pm and I can nap in between. So two naps don't really make sense.

[Razo]

ahhh the biphasic schedule... saved me during my high school exam period. May consider switching back if my work hours weren't so horrible.

[LightWork]

As of last night, I just began a biphasic routine of 8-9.30 (I group cook in my halls, sleeping before this is a major problem to my friends) and 3-6. I swim at 7 in the morning and have always had a problem with "waking up" in my first few lengths! Maybe this will help.

I have a few concerns involving digestion at the time of the nap, as I usually eat around 7. I also realised instantly that this late, it's a good idea to brush ones teeth and pretty much pretend you're going to sleep before the nap and forget about that routine at 3am!

At the moment, PRETTY tired and forcing myself to go swimming

[verbors]

How flexible is this schedule?

I go to school and the period where I can't sleep is from 7AM to 4PM.

Is there someway to adjust the biphasic sleeping schedule to fit my needs?

[LightWork]

I don't see the problem, then, with biphasic sleeping?

I've adapted it an hour ahead to suit my housemates' eating habits, I don't see any problem in adjusting it according to how you like it. I personally feel a larger gap between nap and sleep may be helpful as this seems to be my most productive time so far, but it's only been a week. Then again, any later than 3am is probably pushing it...

As an update - I'm getting better at this! The nap feels quite out of place and I'm not really tired when it comes to it, but I'm tired when I get up instead. Getting up after 3 hours sleep is HARD. This is the first time I've had problems with actually getting up. I've noticed that my eating habits are DIRECTLY correlated to this. Not so much what I eat, but how much. Eating lighter, in general, makes this so much easier. And less sugar. Much less sugar...

[verbors]

How flexible is this schedule?

I go to school and the period where I can't sleep is from 7AM to 4PM.

Is there someway to adjust the biphasic sleeping schedule to fit my needs?

Sorry, I meant is there like a maximum amount of time you can spend awake between the core sleep and the nap. Like would the entire schedule collapse if you spend more then 6 hours between the two sleep.

[LightWork]

Wow, I just wrote a reply and realised I'm still not sure as to the nature of the question.

What I would say, though, is assuming you are planning to nap before core sleep i.e Monday evening nap, Tuesday morning core sleep would be your "monday sleeping pattern" (I don't count it as Tuesday until I've had core sleep and that goes for any activities I happen to do on Monday nights etc). I would make sure there is at least 5 hours between the nap and sleep; or the patter is becoming close to monophasic. Plus, 4 hours or less in between is, in my opinion, slightly pointless. It's fine for polyphasic because it's a consistent 4 hour waking time. Splitting it 4 : 15.5 or 4 : 14 is probably too weighted one side.

However, I don't see a problem in making your "monday evening" nap alot earlier or "Tuesday morning" sleep later (e.g 4-7: I was tempted by this - 4am, 5am, 6am are the most unused and least productive waking hours for me. Period) if that's what you're implying you want to do? I know your schedule won't allow it, but I don't see a problem with even splitting your sleep equidistantly throughout the day. Perhaps two sets of 3 hours would be a more effective option there though.

[verbors]

Thanks Lightworks

My scheudle is going to be 4 to 4:30 PM and 12:00AM (or 00.00) to 5AM

[Kaspian]

I see no problem with the amount of time between the core sleep and your nap, Verbors.

If you have trouble waking up at 5am, you might experiment with the length of you core a little. Most people's sleep cycles average 90 minutes, so if they wake up at a 90-minute interval (4.5 hours or 6 hours), they wake up feeling more alert. My sleep cycles are slightly shorter; I feel great after 4.25 hours, but a complete zombie if I wake up after 4.5. When experimenting with the length of your core, adjust by 10-15 minutes at a time, and try each length for 4-7 days.

[jennifer]

is anyone who converted to bi phasic a year ago still doing it? how do people find it in the long term?

[Scott Bird]

Originally Posted by jennifer

is anyone who converted to bi phasic a year ago still doing it? how do people find it in the long term?

Hi Jennifer,

I switched over in Sep 2006 - and still enjoy the biphasic schedule. Once my body got used to the initial changes, everything was fine. There haven't been any long-term effects one way or the other.

cheers,

Scott

[HenryJDaniels]

Hi everyone.
Well, I read all about bi-and-polyphasic sleeping patterns some months ago, and was interested, but then continued in my regular pattern, the information receding to the back of my mind, only coming out every once in a while. Recently, disturbed sleep has prompted me to look into it once more (this forum being one of the foremost sources of opinion; that being why I've now registered), and I've decided to make the transition into a biphasic pattern.

Today's my first day, and I'm in-between my nap and my longer session. It's currently 2:54am, here in Sydney, Australia, and my nap was between 11:45pm and 1:15am. I will be shifting my sleeping to earlier in the night, as it's currently late due to, say, immaturity.

Just one thing I haven't read on as-of-yet - is there an optimal amount of time to be awake between the two stretches of sleep?

Thanks

[gossipgirl11]

wow. this is really interesting--- i cant believe there's a science to this!!

[gossipgirl11]

Also, how do you date someone or live with someone that only sleeps once per day? it seems lke that would be impossible

[Kaya]

I have recently started a biphasic sleep schedule and I am curious if anyone has had a situation where they regularly have to change their sleep times and if so, has this caused problems and how have you dealt with it?

I have a pretty crazy schedule (full time work, full time school and an additional 20 hr. contract job) and have found that I have to move my initial sleep cycle start time around during the week - anywhere from 5pm to 8pm.

Thanks!

[toasterwater]

Okay, so I just read this ENTIRE thread!!... 7 pages seemed like a daunting task at first, but really what I found is that it was a bit like time travel. I got to see people start their routines, troubles they encountered/fixed, and long term success (over a span of about 2 years!!!).

I've actually been posting all over these forums lately about trying to fix my sleeping habits (mostly oversleeping and inconsistant times, etc), but the thought of a dramatic change (such as biphasic or polyphasic) seemed too big of a risk (there will be serioius reprecussions if I ever don't make it to work on time). But after reading all of that, and realizing that I sleep way more now than even bad days on the biphasic schedule, I'm thinking I should give it a try.

Today is saturday. Last night I slept pretty well, so I'm quite awake. I don't work tomorrow. My current plan (this may change depending on how I feel throughout the remainder of the day) is to jump right into it tonight. If I make it to midnight - without debilitating fatigue setting in - I'll just sleep for 4.5 hours (that seems to be the most common method to yield positive results). A major part in this experiment for me will be the initial "get the ♥♥♥♥♥ out of bed" and stay awake challenge. My solution to this problem is to mandate a first-thing exercise session for myself (maybe a 3 mile run or something similar). I think that is the key to jumpstarting my day.

Being that I do not work tomorrow, I will simply see when I become too tired to overcome (through some sort of stimulation such as exercise/exciting activities). At that point I will try the 90 minute nap.

Hmmm... maybe I will need to rearrange some alarm clocks to make it easier to set an alarm for my 90 minute nap... I guess having 6 or so devices that can be used as alarms may come in handy

Well, I know I'm the first post in about a month, but hopefully I can recieve the same encouragement I've seen for others throughout this thread.

Thanks for this wealth of information and encouragement! I look forward to becomeing a member of this biphasic culture!!

[The Smiling Spirit]

So, you posted on the 7-5. How did switching to biphasic go? You didn't post any updates, so I'm assuming it didn't work out as you'd wanted.... I tried polyphasic a few times and a biphasic once. Poly never worked for me for more than 3-4 days before I had a MAJOR oversleep and lost my mojo. Biphasic worked well, but it's summer vacation for my little ones now and I can't go nap for a couple hours during the day. They'd kill eachother LOL. I hope to go back to biphasic in the fall when school resumes. I REALLY enjoy having the quiet of the night to myself.

Whether it worked well or not, I'd love to hear what happened for you.

[toasterwater]

Originally Posted by The Smiling Spirit

So, you posted on the 7-5. How did switching to biphasic go? You didn't post any updates, so I'm assuming it didn't work out as you'd wanted.... I tried polyphasic a few times and a biphasic once. Poly never worked for me for more than 3-4 days before I had a MAJOR oversleep and lost my mojo. Biphasic worked well, but it's summer vacation for my little ones now and I can't go nap for a couple hours during the day. They'd kill eachother LOL. I hope to go back to biphasic in the fall when school resumes. I REALLY enjoy having the quiet of the night to myself.

Whether it worked well or not, I'd love to hear what happened for you.

Ah... First of all, I appologize for not having updated here until now. I honestly didn't think that anyone was watching this thread anymore.

My first few days of biphasic went great. I slipped up a couple of times, but managed to ensure that the combination of my two naps equalled 6 hours a day. The exercise first thing helped alot, and adding more fruit into my diet seems to have helped as well.

Unfortunately, I did fall off the wagon around day 4. I woke up from a nap, and didn't have much to do, so boredom got the best of me and I just went back to sleep. This act just spiraled into very bad sleeping habits again (many hours/day). However, Seeing as how it is Sunday now - 1 week after my first attempt - It seems like a good time to try and get back in the saddle.

I learned a few lessons from my first experience and I will try to add some new strategies into my plan to help this attempt work better.

Lessons Learned:

-Exercise first thing in the morning is a great kickstart to my day
-A healthy diet including lots of fruit provides energy
-Quality sleep is a MUST, therefor all measures should be taken to ensure that there are no rude awakenings (i.e. unplug phones, turn off lights, etc.)
-Properly plan each sleep period to ensure that there is enough time to fall asleep and complete the desired number of FULL sleep cycles.
-Sedentary activities (reading, studying, writing, etc.) are tiring and should be supplemented by physical activities
-Environment has a large influence over energy levels (i.e. music playing, lighting conditions, room temperature, etc.)
-Conciously attempting to fall asleep helps alot. I read someone's post about relaxing one part of the body at the time from toes to head, and counting breaths... both helped tremendously

New strategies:

-set music to start playing at a loud volume when alarm goes off. This should help energize me and keep me from snoozing back to sleep.
-keep a daily log of sleep times and lengths. This will help me see progress and record lessons for myself and others
-Find worthwhile projects to keep myself occupied. Boredom kills.

So here it goes... I will start again tonight (either with a nap in the evening, or with core sleep later, depending on energy levels).

[silicon toad2000]

Hi all,

I was in a polyphasic schedule for a few months a year ago. It was great I was more awake, more alert than on a monophasic schedule and the mid afternoon low dissapeared from my day.
I went on annual leave and took the family on a 4500km (2800mile) week and a half road trip to see family and various other things.
Anyway, after getting back to work I struggled getting back into the bi phasic schedule so I didn't worry about it too much initially.
The problem now is that I fly a lot for work. When I fly I always fly at night and the flights are when I would normally have my naps. Even if I could sleep on the plane the flight I take most often isn't in the air for a whole sleep cycle.
I know really my only option is to have a normal sleep on those nights that I fly but is it worth pursuing a bi phasic pattern when you have to have a normall sleep 2 nights a week?

[Amanda Norris]

I'm going to be starting a new part-time job where most of my shifts will be in the evenings from about 6 - 11:30. I want to get up early in the morning and go running. So I thought biphasic might work best for me. I read several places about the 90 minute sleep cycle, so I'm going to try and make sure that my sleep times are in multiples of 90 minutes. At first I want to try and give myself lots of sleep time, like 7.5 or 9 hours total per day so that I don't feel sleep-deprived at all. Then I can probably reduce that once I get used to the schedule. I think I will try a core sleep of 6 hours from midnight to 6 am, with a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. I wonder how flexible the napping time can be. Will it still work okay if I have my afternoon nap as much as 5 hours later on some days? I would appreciate any feedback, advice, or encouragement. Thanks.

[Gnosis]

My husband is a long distance truck driver and his sleep schedule changes frequently.

[Trustme]

7.5 hours is absoluetly enough. There are studies that show that more than that isn't healthy at all. My current sleep is from 0 to 4 during the night and 6 to 7 in the evenings. I feel absolutely rested and couldn't tell the difference to earlier days when I used to sleep up to 9 hours, especially on weekends. Well, actually I feel a lot more rested now. The only problem is that I tend to slip for - lets say social reasons. It's a lot easier to get out of an empty bed in the morning than if there's someone else next to you

[foreversleep]

Hi all

I'm looking to go Everyman pretty soon, but I have a concern, which is that my naps may be too irregularly spread out. My sleeping pattern would look something like this;

10PM to 1Am Core sleep
5:30AM 20 minute nap
About 12:30PM/ 1:30PM (work finish time varies) 20 minute nap
5:30PM 20 minute nap

I could take an extra nap at work about 9AM, but it would be better if I could get by without it.

All comments/ name calling welcome

Kind regards, Nick

[doc2b]

Hi. I'm new here and was fascinated by this thread. Being a full time student, seeking a part time job. and having a family, this seems to be an interesting concept. I have had sleep issues for some time. I will try to research this further and see what happens.

[spidersilver]

Great thread. I have been sleeping like this for 5 years now, ever since my first born kept waking up and I was the one to take care of him. After a point it just seemed logical to stay awake without the hassle of waking up a couple of times a night.
I was worried at the begining because I would average 3 hours of sleep one a night for months, without any side effects I was aware of.
Lately I have been sleeping for about 90 minutes at around 9 pm and then off to my 3 hours or so at around 3 am.
Glad to know I'm not the only one out there that's doing this.

[Gdet9878]

how do you figure out how long your sleep cycle is exactly?

[mlc82]

Originally Posted by Gdet9878

how do you figure out how long your sleep cycle is exactly?

I haven't figured it out yet myself after quite a while of trying, mine seem very erratic to me. If I take a 1.5 hr nap, most of the time I'll wake up around an hour and 10 minutes into it, usually wide awake. Any longer of a nap than that (with my alarm later), and I generally just don't wake up at all, sometimes I'll end up curled up in bed with my turned off alarm and wondering what happened.