Biphasic Sleep Update (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Biphasic Sleep Update

[Andreas]

The daily rhythms of when I feel alert vs. drowsy are totally different than what I’m used to on monophasic sleep. It’s strange to feel so wide awake after 10pm. This part takes some getting used to. I feel like I have this whole extra productive period after the time I used to go to bed.

Kinda feels like you're getting 1.5 or 2 days each day doesn't it? I was biphasic for a while when I was in college, and it felt like I was getting 1.5 days per day.

It’s a fairly complicated alarm clock that includes an iPod docking station, so it was very timely to discover this feature now.

Oh come on now, Steve. Now you're just being modest. It's pretty obvious you manifested that new feature on your dream clock, isn't it?


I'm especially looking forward to what you learn when Rachelle returns. As you know, social environment can have a profound effect on your sleeping patterns. It would be interesting to hear her impressions of it, from the outside looking in and from the inside looking out, as well.

Anyway, thanks for the update, Steve. It's good to hear that you're grooving into it gracefully.

[Tobias Zimpel]

Steve, that sounds absolutely great!

I've been curious about biphasic sleep for ages, and my interest renewed while I studied The 4-Hour-Body by Tim Ferriss.

Now that I don't have social pressure around me, I'd love to try it when I'm done with my current 30DT.

[Dan Adrian]

I'm doing this too. I naturally tend to stay up late, and I LOVE getting up early in the morning (before 7 at least), it just fills me with energy. When I get less than 7 hours of sleep I get sleepy around 2 PM and if I nap, I feel so refreshed, it's amazing. I usually find it much easier to get up if I nap for under 30 minutes, but 90 minutes sounds better if you plan to sleep only 4.5 hours at night. I took a 90 minute nap today and I felt very refreshed, although it was very hard to get out of bed. I had the feeling I didn't have free will about it, it took me about 5 minutes to be able to decide to get up

[jasonb]

Steve, Do you still meditate daily? If so, what time with your new sleep schedule?

[SarahLuvzYu]

This is quite interesting & I think I might look into changing my own sleeping patterns. At the moment I get up at 10 & by the time it's 6 my energy goes way down. At about 9-11 my energy goes up again but I need to go to sleep at 11 because I need 10 hours at least of sleep or I'll crash somewhere around midday the next day. Maybe I should take a nap at around 7 or so so I can go to bed later

[Andrew Brunelle]

Well, I'm glad it's going well. The biggest problem I would have is taking that nap. I have trouble taking naps, especially when others are in the house. AT least you're mostly by yourself, so it should be easy to lie down when you are tired and just take that nap. I don't think it matters when you take it, but it does matter that you are tired enough when you do take it. Simple enough...

[strawzombie]

I was seriously considering trying biphasic sleep after reading your first post about it, but after reading your older article about one week on, one week off the other day, that seems like a better approach to focus on first. At least for me.

I like the extra waking hours you get with biphasic sleep, but right now I think I prefer the on/off cycling approach. Where during a work week I can pull all-nighters and pretty much go to sleep whenever I feel like it and for as short/long a period as I need to. Whether it be a 10-minute break lying down or a 10-hour power snooze. (I'm doing that kind of thing naturally anyway without even trying to, but the "mandatory" off week for renewal is a great idea, and makes the whole process much more sustainable.)

So maybe during the following renewal week, I could take a more structured approach to sleep, such as biphasic. Mainly to line up my most alert waking hours with everyone else around me.

I don't know, haven't tried any of this yet, but maybe cycling the biphasic sleep process itself might allow for the best of both worlds. At least for those who are most productive doing creative work in quiet isolation, but also like having a social life and simply prefer being around other people when not working. (Personally, I love the whole vibe and diverse energy of a crowded city street or packed social event, but it's definitely not very productive and hard to think clearly as an individual. Which is probably the point! But I also love the flow-inducing experience of relaxed single-minded focus that comes from isolated concentration with minimal distraction.)

Steve, are you still doing your on/off work cycles while experimenting with biphasic sleep?
Or did you stop the whole on/off cycling before starting the biphasic experiment?

I really liked your on/off work cycle blog post. So maybe in the future you can write about how you are using on/off now or why you decided to move on from it?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by strawzombie

Steve, are you still doing your on/off work cycles while experimenting with biphasic sleep?
Or did you stop the whole on/off cycling before starting the biphasic experiment?

I still apply on/off to some degree, but the cycles tend to revolve around my travel schedule. So it depends on whether or not I'm at home or on the road.

Next week Rachelle and I are going to Napa Valley, and after that we'll be going to L.A. and taking my kids on outings while they're on spring break (science museum, Six Flags), so I won't be worrying about work during those times.