Why Polyphasic sleep? | A simple and compelling answer

November 18, 2009 · 14 comments

I’m 54 hours into my exciting polyphasic sleep experiment. For the past two and half days I’ve been sleeping for 20 minutes every 4 hours around the clock. As you can imagine, I’m getting a lot of “but… why?” type questions in various forms. On my first blog post that kicked off the experiment I jokingly cited the reason “because it’s weird.” I’m having a lot of fun subjecting myself to this sleep experiment, but the truth is there really is a compelling argument for the “why” question.

polyphasic-sleep

Here’s my understanding explained in a fairly basic way that I think captures the why.

As I understand it, people general have two energy reserves: our primary energy reserve and what people know as our “second wind.”  The primary energy reserve doesn’t last very long, 4-5 hours perhaps, while the second wind kicks in later to provide enough energy to stay up for 16+ hours. From what I understand (and it makes sense to me based upon my experience, not because I understand the biology), the primary energy reserve doesn’t last long but is quickly recharged with a relatively small amount of rest.  The “second wind” energy, in contrast, lasts longer but takes much longer to replenish with sleep.

This makes sense based on my experience, and I think you’ll agree.  Imagine that you normally get 8 hours of sleep and for whatever reason you only get 6 or 7 hours in a particular night.  You may notice that you feel fine during the morning but crash in the afternoon. This is because you are starting with a full (or nearly full) primary energy reserve but once that runs out you find that your “second wind” doesn’t kick in as strong as it should. Coffee anyone?

The idea behind polyphasic sleep is to abandon the second wind altogether. It takes too much sleep to recharge that puppy and it’s not worth it. In polyphasic sleep, you don’t spend hours of sleep trying to charge the second wind because you never stay awake long enough to need it (napping every 4 hours, in my case).   By using only the primary energy reserve, you actually require less sleep, because the primary energy reserve can recharge with dramatically less sleep than it takes to charge the second wind. The result:   I’m running on about 2 hours of sleep per 24 hour period.

It’s as if I’ve slowed time, added hours to the day, or extended my life – pretty awesome however you want to look at it.

Catering to the primary energy reserve isn’t a new concept. Many people take mid-afternoon naps, which serve to quickly replenish the primary energy reserve instead of worrying about the stubborn (and unreliable) second wind.

For the last 54 hours since I began this experiment I’ve been repeatedly depleting and recharging my primary energy reserve. So long second wind – you take too long to recharge! If you need to get caught up, see the index below for a list of the posts about this experiment and don’t forget to subscribe by rss or by email to easily receive future updates (about once per day during this experiment).  I suggest subscribing by email because it’s easiest – and unsubscribing is a snap if you find the updates boring.

My goal is to continue the experiment until I am fully adjusted (two week minimum) at which point I will continue indefinitely.

What do you think? Does this sound like pseudo science mumbo jumbo, or am I on to something? (between you and me, my main reason for trying this is more along the lines of “because it’s weird” and “I’m curious – can it work?”)  Let the experiment continue! :-)

EXPERIMENT INDEX:

  • http://geekbully.blogspot.com eabarquez

    Sounds a little complicated, this polyphasic terminology. But you are essentially napping at 4-hour intervals, right? My thoughts, if you may:

    1. You are napping. So it doesn’t really count as sleep. That makes it a little vague and confusing. I think we should agree on the term: polyphasic nap.
    2. I know the interest in trying to lessen sleeping hours. Some people tend to think that by doing so, they can have more time to do work stuff. Fair enough. But personally, I can never be productive, much less function as a human being, with less than 7 hours of sleep. I’m sorry, that’s just how it goes for me.
    3. This only applies for people who work for themselves, and not to the average person who has a daytime job.

    Good luck though on the experiment though. I hope you don’t stab anyone with a pencil, or start senseless fights with people, or kick your dog. I am like that when I only get 2 hours or so of sleep time. :)

  • http://geekbully.blogspot.com eabarquez

    Sounds a little complicated, this polyphasic terminology. But you are essentially napping at 4-hour intervals, right? My thoughts, if you may:

    1. You are napping. So it doesn’t really count as sleep. That makes it a little vague and confusing. I think we should agree on the term: polyphasic nap.
    2. I know the interest in trying to lessen sleeping hours. Some people tend to think that by doing so, they can have more time to do work stuff. Fair enough. But personally, I can never be productive, much less function as a human being, with less than 7 hours of sleep. I’m sorry, that’s just how it goes for me.
    3. This only applies for people who work for themselves, and not to the average person who has a daytime job.

    Good luck though on the experiment though. I hope you don’t stab anyone with a pencil, or start senseless fights with people, or kick your dog. I am like that when I only get 2 hours or so of sleep time. :)

  • Caitlin

    Here’s a new thought of mine. Have you kept track or thought about the finances of this experiment? When one sleeps during the night, that’s ~ 8 hours of electricity that they aren’t using, and no food or water consumed. Now that you are up all the time, you have 4 hours of less electricity used, or even less since you are awake more at night when you use it. Also, you are eating more often. This could result in a more expensive lifestyle. Plus you could get fat :) Just a ponder I pondered.

  • Caitlin

    Here’s a new thought of mine. Have you kept track or thought about the finances of this experiment? When one sleeps during the night, that’s ~ 8 hours of electricity that they aren’t using, and no food or water consumed. Now that you are up all the time, you have 4 hours of less electricity used, or even less since you are awake more at night when you use it. Also, you are eating more often. This could result in a more expensive lifestyle. Plus you could get fat :) Just a ponder I pondered.

  • Caitlin

    Sorry I meant to say 4 hours more of electricity used.

  • Caitlin

    Sorry I meant to say 4 hours more of electricity used.

  • http://drewskwarcan.com Drew

    @eabarquez – You’re right, what I’m doing feels a lot more like a nap than anything else. I think polyphasic sleep is the correct term, however, because it refers to multiple sleep occurrences during one 24 hour period. So the word “sleep” in this case is not used to refer to one act of sleeping (which like you said, is more of a nap anyways) but instead is used to refer to your sleep pattern in general over a 24 hour period. Likewise, people eat food but you could say, “well, you’re really eating a meal.” So the term food can be used to refer to what you chew up and swallow in a single sitting (a meal) OR to refer to all of the meals throughout the day. It is the same with the terms nap and sleep.

    2. You’re right, trying to sleep less will always result in lower productivity IF the sleep happens all at once (monophasic sleep). The magic with polyphasic sleep happens because there are multiple occurrences of sleep spaced evenly throughout the day – thus constantly recharging your primary energy supple (what this entire blog post is about). Surely if I tried to sleep 2 hours a night, in one occurrence, I would be exhausted and worthless because my second wind would never come to my rescue.

    3. This is absolutely true. Polyphasic sleep simply isn’t compatible with 99% of people’s schedules due to the popular structure of “work.” I wonder how many people will work a standard 9-5 fifty years from now… hmm.

    Thanks for the well wishes and keep checking back to see if I end up stabbing anyone :-)

  • http://drewskwarcan.com Drew

    @eabarquez – You’re right, what I’m doing feels a lot more like a nap than anything else. I think polyphasic sleep is the correct term, however, because it refers to multiple sleep occurrences during one 24 hour period. So the word “sleep” in this case is not used to refer to one act of sleeping (which like you said, is more of a nap anyways) but instead is used to refer to your sleep pattern in general over a 24 hour period. Likewise, people eat food but you could say, “well, you’re really eating a meal.” So the term food can be used to refer to what you chew up and swallow in a single sitting (a meal) OR to refer to all of the meals throughout the day. It is the same with the terms nap and sleep.

    2. You’re right, trying to sleep less will always result in lower productivity IF the sleep happens all at once (monophasic sleep). The magic with polyphasic sleep happens because there are multiple occurrences of sleep spaced evenly throughout the day – thus constantly recharging your primary energy supple (what this entire blog post is about). Surely if I tried to sleep 2 hours a night, in one occurrence, I would be exhausted and worthless because my second wind would never come to my rescue.

    3. This is absolutely true. Polyphasic sleep simply isn’t compatible with 99% of people’s schedules due to the popular structure of “work.” I wonder how many people will work a standard 9-5 fifty years from now… hmm.

    Thanks for the well wishes and keep checking back to see if I end up stabbing anyone :-)

  • http://drewskwarcan.com Drew

    @Caitlin – Interesting point. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I suppose I’m using more resources, but if you think of my body as a system with inputs (electricity and food) and outputs (websites, blog posts, etc) and assume that the system is efficient at turning resources of low economic value (a $5 frozen pizza) into a product of high economic value (a $5k website), then it benefits society and I should eat pizzas all day long! Do you agree?

  • http://drewskwarcan.com Drew

    @Caitlin – Interesting point. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I suppose I’m using more resources, but if you think of my body as a system with inputs (electricity and food) and outputs (websites, blog posts, etc) and assume that the system is efficient at turning resources of low economic value (a $5 frozen pizza) into a product of high economic value (a $5k website), then it benefits society and I should eat pizzas all day long! Do you agree?

  • http://clintonskakun.com Clinton Skakun

    That’s Cool Drew!

    I’m like to get up super early, looks like you found a way to slow down time and get more hours, that’s sweet. Maybe I should try this hehe:) I’m an entrepreneur so I need to be at peak productivity and at the same time only have 5-6 hours really to sleep because I need a good 18 hrs in the day to get everything done.

    Cheers,
    Clinton Skakun

  • http://clintonskakun.com Clinton Skakun

    That’s Cool Drew!

    I’m like to get up super early, looks like you found a way to slow down time and get more hours, that’s sweet. Maybe I should try this hehe:) I’m an entrepreneur so I need to be at peak productivity and at the same time only have 5-6 hours really to sleep because I need a good 18 hrs in the day to get everything done.

    Cheers,
    Clinton Skakun

  • http://drewskwarcan.com Drew

    Thanks Clinton, I’m having a lot of fun with the experiment! Be sure to let me know if you decide to try this at some point (and be sure to keep us updated with blog posts).

    In regards to “peak productivity”: I found it beneficial to schedule highly cognitive tasks such as meetings, business planning, and phone calls during the late morning or early afternoon when I’m more alert; and then work on more automatic tasks like site updates late at night or early morning. I’m sure this is something that you already do, but just wanted to bring it up regardless. This is something I wrote about in my “Day Four” post. Thanks for the comment!

  • http://drewskwarcan.com Drew

    Thanks Clinton, I’m having a lot of fun with the experiment! Be sure to let me know if you decide to try this at some point (and be sure to keep us updated with blog posts).

    In regards to “peak productivity”: I found it beneficial to schedule highly cognitive tasks such as meetings, business planning, and phone calls during the late morning or early afternoon when I’m more alert; and then work on more automatic tasks like site updates late at night or early morning. I’m sure this is something that you already do, but just wanted to bring it up regardless. This is something I wrote about in my “Day Four” post. Thanks for the comment!

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