It is no secret that many noble figures in the history practice polyphasic sleep. One of the significant ones is leonardo da vinci. This guy sleeps only 1.5-2 hours a day.

Others being Nikola Tesla, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Sir Issac newton, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and many many more. Averagely having only around 3-4 hours sleep per day giving them more time to continue their research /work.

I wonder how they do it because scientist said that an average adult needs 7-8 hours sleep per day and anything less than that will harm your health. Why is it so that by just changing your sleeping habits will allow you to have more awake hours per day? In fact, you will not be able to enter deep sleep with such sleeping habits because one can only enter deep sleep after 1.5-2 hours of sleeping. And we all know that deep sleep IS the most important part of sleeping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep

Wikipedia did cited such sleeping habits as a sleeping disorder. And patients are found to have less awareness, alert to surrounding and concentration.

So, how did polyphasic sleep allows a person to sleep less and still able to maintain a sustainable health while still retain the focus on their job? I have lots of doubts.

Quality of the sleep?

so your suggesting that we should increase the quality of the sleep, than the quantity?

One of the requirement of the quality of the sleep is to sleep 6-7 hours per day zzzzz.

This isn't true. At least in my case.

I can skip one night's skip. It might get a bit uncomfortable around 5am to 9am, but after that, it's just a normal day.

I could get by on just 3 to 5 hours sleep for 2 or 3 days, but any longer than 3 days, performance would start to suffer. I wouldn't be as alert. Response time will slow down. I will be more stupid than usual, not realizing things I would normally see immediately. Most noticeably I would be irritable, jumpy, and generally foul mood.

If it goes on for 5 days or so, I would start to doze off (unintentionally) in day time. This is the point where I stop driving. It gets too dangerous. This is the interesting part. If I doze off for 10 minutes, and you wake me, I might be interrupted in mid-dream. REM sleep after just 5 to 10 minutes.

but ur not suggesting ppl to skip sleep all few days just to get into REM sleep faster than usual right

Rather the reverse. If you are already sleep deprived, maybe you can get into REM sleep faster. Perhaps if you operated in a permanently sleep deprived state, you could get into REM sleep in just 15 minutes.

But I doubt it would be healthy. Which is why I'm not planning to experiment with polyphasic sleep myself. I sleep when I get sleepy. If I am not, I don't sleep. If I find myself awake at 3am, I will not lie in bed awake, trying to force myself to go to sleep. There are plenty of other things I can do. Like post here.

I doubt those thinkers were living a healthy life anyway.

How does it feel to have equations and problems circling in your mind even when you're in dreamland? To the point, it's no different from awake and sleep; might as well stay up and start working

One credible story i've heard in my circle was former Deputy Governor of BNM, TS Lin usually went few days without sleep.

they sleep less... but take nap for refreshing their brain/body..

Yup, the napping part is what they never told you. These people cant sleep because they are always tensioned. They only way to make up for it is 40 winks.

FLampard,

I am NOT a noble person. I slept on the average of 4 hours per day for 6 years while I was doing my BSEE and MSEE. I took 20 semester hours per semester plus working 2 part-time jobs at 40 hours per week. I was just TOO BUSY and TOO MUCH work to do in order to sleep more than 4 hours per day.

Dreamer

so how did u find out how to cope with less sleep?

FLampard,

My CGPA at BSEE was 3.2X. My CGPA at MSEE was 3.5X.

I was a VERY EFFICIENT and PRODUCTIVE learner. I absorbed 90+% of material during class lecture. I did my homework and project. Then, I hardly had any time to do my revision and review before exam. But, my CGPA was okay. I am a speed reader too. I learn how to LEARN, READ, and THINK very fast. I am VERY FOCUSED.

The closest that I can explain to you is like you are addicted to computer games and you can play the games non-stop and never out of energy. I was addicted to LEARNING as much and as quickly as possible. I LOVE learning.

The years gone by in a blur but the knowledge and learning stay behind. I was very happy and contented.

Dreamer

thanks, the way u use caps lock to highlight important words, hahahaha..... i can imagine how effective you are...

Dreamer :

Wow... Your story inspired me. I am too disciplining myself to be more focused and efficient. It's cool to hear a fellow forumner have the same passion and already excel magnificiently

Thanks what i read ... actually i done 3 to 4 hours sleep daily but requires a nap time in the afternoon about half an hour or so ...
But, that was when i was still studying ... If i have my way i will do it again but job commitment doesn't actually give you that flexibility to change your bio clock ...

A question is is there big difference between falling into deep sleep and close your eyes lie down and rest? How does the body recuperate under these 2 situations?

I can say in terms of mind clearliness, falling deep sleep is no good, just like computer restart takes longer time to load & you need to open up all the applications compared to hibernation where you turn on the PC everything is just like before you hibernate.

so what it has to do with your sleep?

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Added on July 8, 2011, 7:50 pmIn my opinion, I think our body will learn from our habit. Body know how to react and evolve themselves in order to help you survive and staying alive. That is the very nature of life form.

This post has been edited by miraclejustin: Jul 8 2011, 07:50 PM

Nap is goodings. You know it when you sleep for a few minutes but when you wake up you feel like... "OMG? Feels like I've slept for so many hours. Refreshing!"

Seriously; sleep is really absolutely necessary (no compromise). (At least for me.)

Without it; performance will drop, as well as health & lifespan... (I will not play a fool...)

I will sleep for no less than eight hours; unless there are really urgent timelines to meet; where I will have to go with less sleep for that particular day...

Sleep is also very rewarding & refreshing. (It is probably the best medicine & cure.)

According to some articles; while you are sleeping, the mind actually solve its problems - which would otherwise be difficult to solve when you are awake...

There is some magic performed in your mind & mental state while you are asleep; which benefits & increases the potentials of your mental & physical state... (Definitely you will be a much happier & joyful person...)

Regards.