Want to master polyphasic sleep - any pointers?

I want to learn how to practice polyphasic sleep and still remain high functioning in day to day life. The reason for my interest in this sort of sleep pattern is because there are simply not enough hours in the day for me to complete all my goals. I'm in a phase of my life where I'm highly motivated and am working on about a dozen various projects. I want to complete them all.

I have a friend that did this for about a year, he would take 20 minute naps every 4 hours, including night time. He said that the first 2 weeks of adjustment were the most severe, but afterwards his body would immediately learn to fall asleep essentially on command and wake up without an alarm 20 minutes later. Unfortunately he had to stop when he participated in Burningman because of responsibilities he had to his camp.

I'm curious if any members have interest, knowledge, or experience with polyphasic sleep that they could share with me. I know there are various schools of thought, one of which states we need 8 hours of sleep every 24 hours. The 20 minute nap schedule only provides 2 hours of sleep a day, so there is a huge gap there. What should I be concerned about as I go down this path? Should I keep a certain diet or exercise routine? My friend that did this was raw vegan, drug & alcohol free, as well as a professional Poi performer - so he stays in ridiculous shape. Are there better times to take these naps / any ideal sleep schedule? What are some good resources to learn more? I plan to start by May 30. Just doing my research for now.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

Tim Ferris in his book 'the four hour body' has a chapter devoted to different sleep patterns, including this one. maybe scan it at a book store and see if there's enough useful content for you. Some have made it work for them, not sure it's optimal for recovery for athletes in training.

i've often found 20 minute cat naps very useful during all-nighter's.

 

Two things you should know.

1) Various government agencies and militaries around the world haves studied this for decades and not found it to be effective. And trust me NASA and the SEALS would LOVE for it to be true.

2) Most of the websites out there that talk about it are full of myths, distortions, half truths and assorted bunk.

Knowing the above, I've tried it as has almost every young go getter... IMO you're only fooling yourself. YMMV

 

I think there's a Seinfeld episode where Kramer tries it out as well. Doesn't turn out so well for him.

On the other hand, I'd probably accomplish more of my goals if I stopped wasting time watching Seinfeld reruns...

Gio P

 

I'm in the same boat -- many projects, too little time. I've found, though, that my fairly extreme activity level plus my mental output makes it so that I HAVE to have 8-9 hours or I'm just a miserable person. My productivity definitely goes down with less. That said, I've had pretty good experiences with 15 minute "power naps" on days when I'm dragging a bit.

I think the only real solution is time management...but I too wish there were more hours in the day!

 

Thanks. He's actually a friend of mine. I'll shoot him a text. I'm still trying to finish 4 Hour Work Week, lol. I'm not the best at finishing books.

That's so true about mental exhaustion. I would rather be physically exhausted versus mentally. I've been practicing meditation to learn how to do nothing. It's tough.

Thanks for the other info too about research done by NASA. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens and how my body and mind react to the change. Definitely nervous, hoping to have some friends around for support and to monitor me.

 

Big +1. I find it's even more difficult to sleep when I'm mentally shot.

Good luck...and if you find yourself with a seriously altered view of reality and decide it is a good idea to put a chicken sandwich in the microwave for 13 minutes, you may want to get some sleep. Oh, college...

 

This is your answer right here! It goes to the same thing that is said elsewhere on this board near daily. If you want better lap times, don't upgrade your car, take driving lessons.

If you want to get more stuff done, read Tim's book and of course GTD is the seminal tome on this topic. Doing goofy things to your body will probably have a deleterious effect on productivity in practice.

I actually spent a few minutes last night realizing how sloppy my work habits had become. Time to dust off GTD.

 

I'm usually pretty good at getting things done - I'm super high functioning and driven. Unfortunately I've been going through some very emotionally draining and concerning times for the past several months. I'm trying to move on, but unfortunately things keep happening that pull me back into the circumstances. It's led to me taking legal action, and I will say that I am not enjoying working with attorneys, even though my team is great, our legal system is a joke. I wish it was a justice system, but it's not. Once I can move on from the negativity I'll be able to focus better on self development and growth.

 

I think you should (be concerned).........
I always feel worse for short naps, myself.....

Maybe time management would help you with scheduling..???..

Sorry to hear of the legal issues, not sure you see much relief in the actual Court System.
Maybe binding arbitration???

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm pretty good at time management actually, I just want 40 more hours of productive time each week to do more. I set my own schedule and hours so that helps me a lot.

Unfortunately binding arbitration will not work for me. I'm dealing with a stalker, harasser, con artist, and pathological liar among other things. It's been a nightmare going on since the middle of March. I have an awesome criminal attorney I've retained, but the problem is that my ex is mentally unstable and has redefined passive aggressive behavior. It's pretty creepy stuff.

 

That's what ex's are for, I suppose.

My first wife is lucky, I guess....I dropped by and helped all Saturday afternoon with Project Prom.
They said I saved the day...

If all else fails move, and run deep.....I mean REAL deep.

Good luck!!

 

A hired killer would be easier, then.....

 

I've been traveling a lot to distract myself and stay positive, also moving out of the area, not sure what you mean by running deep, but once the TRO is served I will feel a bit better since any future attacks will result in an automatic arrest no questions asked. Fortunately I've already made a couple police reports so there is a history of what's been transpiring and DA has all the records in case something happens to me in the meantime.

 

So I've been told... multiple times. I prefer to take the higher road and deal with the headache and expense that is our legal system, as exhausting and depressing as it is.

 

Reminds me of a tee shirt I saw this weekend that said...

Best tee shirt I think I've seen in 10 years.

 

Haha! Love it and so true. So many valuable lessons learned. I'm much wiser, stronger, and inspired now.

 

Jeeze, why does it seem like everyone is at odds with some psycho right now??! I'm beginning to think there really is something in the water.

Anyway, sorry to hear that...and, not to sound like your Dad, but that kind of stress and lack of sleep are seldom a good pairing. I ended up with what amounts to a partially detached retina because of that exact formula, and it is a pain in the a$$!!!

 

The human sleep cycle runs about 90 minutes, and about 5 cycles per night. Cutting it down to 20 minutes might be depriving the latter stages of sleep. I haven't any experience in study sleep besides a course and occasional lectures, but colleagues who do circadian rhythm research in animals find that altering it, whether genetically or manually, has large effects on immunity, mental processing, metabolism, aging, etc, etc. It's one of those things that are complicated enough that I wouldn't mess with what nature bestowed unless you really know what you are doing.

 

Ya, there may be something in the air, or maybe you're like me and too trusting of and giving to people that do not have pure intentions and don't deserve our attention. One of my neighbors warned me at the end of March not to sign any contracts/agreements as Mercury was in Retrograde. Not sure if any of you follow that stuff, but I did some research about it and it makes sense. At the end of the day our bodies are mostly composed of water and water carries energy, hence why it makes sense to me that we are affected by other energy around us. If your'e familiar with quantum physics, then you'll get this. Here's a resource I looked at http://www.astrologycom.com/mercret.html. I actually took her advise and it helped me in my circumstances with my ex. I won't go into details, but I essentially almost gave away my right to the 1st amendment.

Thanks for the warning. I'm thinking I may need to hold off till there is more peace in my life. I haven't even started polyphasic sleep yet and my body is worn out from my mind now. I'm going to see a doctor again. I had actually lost my voice for the first time in my life a few weeks ago as well as felt very physically ill, similar to what I'm starting to feel now, and it was all psychosomatic stemming from stress and depression due to my circumstances regarding my sociopath ex. I didn't respond to any drugs my doctor prescribed except for Ativan, and that was too much for me. I don't want to try polyphasic sleep until I am feeling mentally and physically sound again. I haven't been able to work out since February either even though I've lost about 10 lbs. I'm sure that's affecting me as well.

 

Just did some research and my ex matches at least 99% of the criteria here for Sociopath/Antisocial Personality Disorder. http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html SPRVXN fail.

 

You've nailed it; a tired and stressed mind pretty much leads to a tired and stressed body! doesn't sound like you've been able to come to terms with your response to your psycho yet. Good luck, sounds like an ugly journey.

 

It will soon be over, any day now... thankfully there's also a nice vacation waiting for me just around the corner. Going to focus on soaking up sunshine, writing, and connecting with loved ones.

 

sounds like great therapy to me, enjoy!

 

Well...sometimes their acting is top notch, oscar worthy stuff.

Sounds like you have a nice plan in place now! I agree with tjacoby - enjoy! You'll soon be in a better place to try whatever you like, including polyphasic sleep (never heard of it until this thread