Back on the Polyphasic Routine ... sorta

So I obviously haven't posted anything here in a while. My former polyphasic routine is in shambles because I simply gave it up due to work. I had a big grant I was working on with an approaching deadline, so I gave work the priority and went back to a monophasic routine that would get me through the writing process. Sadly, the grant still ended up in disaster for a handful of reasons, including a fiasco with the company's CEO, but that's a discussion for another time. If I had known the outcome, I would have stuck with adapting to the 3-hr Everyman.

Moving on, what I'm working on now is essentially the 6-hr Everyman. Most of the polyphasers seem to toss this one with being biphasic, but I'm starting to have reservations about the whole "2-4 hrs of sleep each night and everything is wonderful." Am I denying their systems don't work? No. But I am saying that a major variable is individual, with what the body needs and can tolerate.

 Note this pic, courtesy of the National Institute of Health (NIH). This is their example of a "typical hypnogram from a young, healthy adult." Light-gray areas are NREM sleep and the dark areas are REM sleep. Note the period post 6-hrs. Almost every graph I've seen mimics this general pattern, even though the REM / NREM oscillations tend to variate. By the beginning of the 4th REM cycle, you're persistently hitting REM and the lightest stages of sleep (1 and 2). It seems like your body gets the deep slow-wave sleep it needs within the first 6 hours.

Again, another one showing the lightness of sleep after 5-6 hrs of sleeping. Most of the graphs that I can find are emulations of either this one or the NIH graph further above.

So to cut to the chase, I'm going to stick with 6-hrs of sleep at take 2-3 naps throughout the day. Simply put, naps kick ass. They feel wonderful and are surprisingly restorative. When I was on the 3-hr Everyman, I was taking wonderful naps almost every time by day 4. I could remember dreaming to some degree and the 20 minutes felt like an hour. Since these naps are short in duration, and I know I was dreaming most of the time, I'm inclined to believe that the naps are indeed progressing to REM at some point. Ergo, the naps fulfill the missing lighter phases / REM from sleeping only 6 hrs compared to sleep a full 8 hrs each night. And take it from me, for someone who normally "needs" 8 hrs of sleep but only gets 6 hrs ends up accumulating a massive sleep debt fast. Just check out Stanley Coren's book, "Sleep Thieves." He tried cutting sleep back by 30 minutes each week for about six weeks. He was noticing decreases in work performance after only cutting back sleep to 7 hrs each night. The conclusion (mine, not his): if you want to cut down that core nightly sleep period, you NEED to get those naps in. There's no way around it.

Back to the Uberman, 1.5, 3, or 4.5-hr Everyman. Since these routines cut into the deeper slow-wave sleep that one normally gets at night, I'm worried that there are consequences for its absence. Some polyphaser blogs, including a facebook convo with another successful adapter, mention metabolic difficulties, particularly weight gain. The body is indeed quite active during the night - just check out the NIH again. And although no one really understands sleep fully, I'd posit that if we didn't need slow-wave sleep, we would never bother with it in the first place. Therefore, I say get it and supplement the missed REM and lighter sleep throughout the day with some good naps.

I anticipate that this could be the true "Everyman" routine for the typical 8-hr sleeper, shaving off at least one solid hour from a typical day's worth of sleep without any major consequences. Unfortunately, I still feel a bit tired and can't wait until the upcoming nap, but hey, this is only day 1. Stay tuned to see how this works out!