From what i've researched, most people find that your bodily function is greater than normal and you won't feel sleep deprived at all since you're essentially tricking your brain into thinking that you're getting more than enough sleep as you only need the x amount of REM sleep.
What do you mean "only need the x amount of REM sleep"? You need some NREM sleep (or at least some of the stages of NREM sleep).
Anyway
Ultraman/polyphasic sleep always gets mentioned now and again, and I have never seen evidence that it is better or as efficient as the typical sleep pattern. On the contrary, the guy who sparked the whole debate by doing polyphasic sleep research specifically said that it shouldn't replace normal sleep under normal conditions, but that in periods of extreme sleep deprivation it was more suited than monophasic sleep. I suspect this is because with multiple short naps you're getting compression of the sleep cycle to provide the most benefit (also because prolonged sleep deprivation is normally shift work, where you can't sleep for 8+ hours)
There's suggestion that you can use polyphasic sleep under normal conditions because you're essentially sleeping just enough to power a few hours of wakefulness and then sleeping again (which is why missing a nap is so bad). So there isn't really a change in your day to day life, other than the need to nap every few hours. Unfortunately, missing key elements of sleep is probably bad for you. We know/suspect that missing deep sleep impacts on various things (immune competence, hypertension etc.) and also probably messes with your brain chemistry.
Sure, you can function on it, but then you have to decide whether the trade off is worth it.
Home
Help
Search
Login
