Sleep is a basic need of being a human—you spend about one-third of your life doing it. Quality sleep is as essential to survival as food and water. Without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it’s harder to concentrate and respond quickly. Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how neurons communicate with each other. In fact, your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep. Research suggests that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake.
Everyone needs sleep, but its biological purpose remains a mystery. Sleep affects almost every type of tissue and system in the body – from the brain, heart, and lungs to metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance. Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity (Ninds.nih.gov, 2017).
Everyone needs sleep, but its biological purpose remains a mystery. Sleep affects almost every type of tissue and system in the body – from the brain, heart, and lungs to metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance. Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity (Ninds.nih.gov, 2017).
Sleep Stages
There are two basic types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep (which has three different stages). Each is linked to specific brain waves and neuronal activity. You cycle through all stages of non-REM and REM sleep several times during a typical night, with increasingly longer, deeper REM periods occurring toward morning (Ninds.nih.gov, 2017).
Stage 1:
non-REM sleep is the changeover from wakefulness to sleep. During this short period (lasting several minutes) of relatively light sleep, your heartbeat, breathing, and eye movements slow, and your muscles relax with occasional twitches. Your brain waves begin to slow from their daytime wakefulness patterns.
Stage 2:
non-REM sleep is a period of light sleep before you enter deeper sleep. Your heartbeat and breathing slow, and muscles relax even further. Your body temperature drops and eye movements stop. Brain wave activity slows but is marked by brief bursts of electrical activity. You spend more of your repeated sleep cycles in stage 2 sleep than in other sleep stages.
Stage 3:
non-REM sleep is the period of deep sleep that you need to feel refreshed in the morning. It occurs in longer periods during the first half of the night. Your heartbeat and breathing slow to their lowest levels during sleep. Your muscles are relaxed and it may be difficult to awaken you. Brain waves become even slower.
REM sleep:
first occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. Your eyes move rapidly from side to side behind closed eyelids. Mixed frequency brain wave activity becomes closer to that seen in wakefulness. Your breathing becomes faster and irregular, and your heart rate and blood pressure increase to near waking levels. Most of your dreaming occurs during REM sleep, although some can also occur in non-REM sleep. Your arm and leg muscles become temporarily paralyzed, which prevents you from acting out your dreams. As you age, you sleep less of your time in REM sleep. Memory consolidation most likely requires both non-REM and REM sleep.
Stage 1:
non-REM sleep is the changeover from wakefulness to sleep. During this short period (lasting several minutes) of relatively light sleep, your heartbeat, breathing, and eye movements slow, and your muscles relax with occasional twitches. Your brain waves begin to slow from their daytime wakefulness patterns.
Stage 2:
non-REM sleep is a period of light sleep before you enter deeper sleep. Your heartbeat and breathing slow, and muscles relax even further. Your body temperature drops and eye movements stop. Brain wave activity slows but is marked by brief bursts of electrical activity. You spend more of your repeated sleep cycles in stage 2 sleep than in other sleep stages.
Stage 3:
non-REM sleep is the period of deep sleep that you need to feel refreshed in the morning. It occurs in longer periods during the first half of the night. Your heartbeat and breathing slow to their lowest levels during sleep. Your muscles are relaxed and it may be difficult to awaken you. Brain waves become even slower.
REM sleep:
first occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. Your eyes move rapidly from side to side behind closed eyelids. Mixed frequency brain wave activity becomes closer to that seen in wakefulness. Your breathing becomes faster and irregular, and your heart rate and blood pressure increase to near waking levels. Most of your dreaming occurs during REM sleep, although some can also occur in non-REM sleep. Your arm and leg muscles become temporarily paralyzed, which prevents you from acting out your dreams. As you age, you sleep less of your time in REM sleep. Memory consolidation most likely requires both non-REM and REM sleep.
Sleep Hygiene - The foundation of restful sleep
Sleep is not simply a "switch-off" period for our bodies—it's an essential process intricately linked to our overall health and well-being. During sleep, our bodies and minds engage in restorative activities: consolidating memories, enhancing cognitive functions, bolstering the immune system, regulating hormone production, and supporting mental health.
Occasional sleepless nights happen to everyone, but chronic sleep deprivation can have far-reaching consequences on both physical and mental health. Whether caused by sleep disorders like sleep apnea or poor sleep hygiene, insufficient sleep disrupts the body's ability to function optimally.
Good sleep hygiene involves creating conditions and adopting habits that promote high-quality, restorative sleep. While consistent sleep schedules and a relaxing bedtime routine are cornerstones, sleep hygiene encompasses far more:
Irregular sleep schedules, such as those faced by shift workers or jet-lagged travelers, can disrupt natural sleep patterns. In such cases, maintaining sleep hygiene becomes both more challenging and more critical. Helpful strategies include:
By adopting and maintaining healthy sleep hygiene practices, you empower your body to enter deep, restorative sleep cycles. This not only promotes physical recovery but also enhances mental clarity, emotional resilience, and overall well-being.
Whether you’re facing everyday sleep challenges or unique disruptions, prioritizing sleep hygiene is a simple yet transformative step toward improving your health and quality of life.
Occasional sleepless nights happen to everyone, but chronic sleep deprivation can have far-reaching consequences on both physical and mental health. Whether caused by sleep disorders like sleep apnea or poor sleep hygiene, insufficient sleep disrupts the body's ability to function optimally.
Good sleep hygiene involves creating conditions and adopting habits that promote high-quality, restorative sleep. While consistent sleep schedules and a relaxing bedtime routine are cornerstones, sleep hygiene encompasses far more:
- Light Exposure:
- Beneficial exposure to natural light early in the day helps regulate your circadian rhythm.
- Reducing blue light exposure at night, such as from phones, tablets, and bright overhead lighting, supports melatonin production.
- Daily Routines:
- Limiting caffeine and alcohol consumption in the hours leading up to bedtime.
- Engaging in physical activity, but avoiding intense exercise close to bedtime.
- Sleep Environment:
- Creating a cool, dark, and quiet space for sleeping.
- Investing in comfortable bedding and limiting noise disturbances.
Irregular sleep schedules, such as those faced by shift workers or jet-lagged travelers, can disrupt natural sleep patterns. In such cases, maintaining sleep hygiene becomes both more challenging and more critical. Helpful strategies include:
- Timed exposure to bright light to recalibrate the circadian clock.
- Limiting daytime naps to avoid disrupting nighttime sleep.
- Using tools like earplugs, blackout curtains, or melatonin supplementation to enhance sleep quality.
By adopting and maintaining healthy sleep hygiene practices, you empower your body to enter deep, restorative sleep cycles. This not only promotes physical recovery but also enhances mental clarity, emotional resilience, and overall well-being.
Whether you’re facing everyday sleep challenges or unique disruptions, prioritizing sleep hygiene is a simple yet transformative step toward improving your health and quality of life.
Tips for Better Sleep
If your sleep could use some improvements, here's the chronological list of tips, starting with when you wake up and continuing until bedtime.
1. Start Your Day with Sunlight - Open Your Shades
Exposure to bright light first thing in the morning stops production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and signals to your body that it's time to wake up. Outdoor sunlight is best, so you might even want to take a quick walk outside. Light exposure plays a pivotal role in regulating your circadian clock. Here’s how to use natural light to improve your sleep:
2. Consistency is Key
Wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. Go to bed when you first feel sleepy. Delaying sleep can lead to nighttime awakenings, such as waking at 3 a.m. and struggling to fall back asleep.
3. Make Your Bed
This is a psychological trick aimed at making your bedroom less cluttered — and therefore easier to relax in — come bedtime. You can also quickly put away any junk cluttering your nightstand and dresser.
4. Exercise
Exercise leads to better sleep at night. Many people schedule their full workouts for morning, which makes it easier to also exercise while fasting (an added benefit). If you don't have time for a full workout, at least do some quick stretching or bodyweight exercises.
5. Take a Walk Outdoors After Lunch
Not only will this increase in physical activity help you sleep later, but taking your walk outdoors gives you more exposure to bright sunlight. Light intensity is measured in lux units, and on any given day, the outdoor lux units will be around 100,000 at noon. Indoors, the typical average is somewhere between 100 to 2,000 lux units — about two orders of magnitude less. The brightness of the light matters, because your pineal gland produces melatonin roughly in approximation to the contrast of bright sun exposure in the day and complete darkness at night.
If you are in relative darkness all day long, it can't appreciate the difference and will not optimize your melatonin production. This, in turn, can have some rather significant ramifications for your health and sleep.
6. Cut Off Your Caffeine
If you're a coffee drinker, take your last caffeinated sip in the early afternoon (this applies to caffeinated soda, too). The caffeine can linger in your body for 8-14 hours, blocking a brain chemical called adenosine that would otherwise help you to fall asleep. To avoid sleep disruption, abstain from caffeine within 8–10 hours of bedtime (no later than 2 pm as a general rule of thumb). For sensitive individuals, a longer window (12–14 hours) may be necessary.
7. Avoid Alcohol and Sleep Medications
8. Consider a Nap
We are biologically programmed to nap during the daytime, typically in the middle of the afternoon. The key is to avoid napping for too long, as this may disrupt your circadian rhythms, which would hurt your sleep instead of help it. The ideal nap time for adults appears to be around 20 minutes (any longer and you'll enter the deeper stages of sleep and may feel groggy when you wake up). Naps can refresh your energy but must be managed carefully:
1. Start Your Day with Sunlight - Open Your Shades
Exposure to bright light first thing in the morning stops production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and signals to your body that it's time to wake up. Outdoor sunlight is best, so you might even want to take a quick walk outside. Light exposure plays a pivotal role in regulating your circadian clock. Here’s how to use natural light to improve your sleep:
- Morning Light: Go outside within 30–60 minutes of waking.
- On bright, clear days: Spend at least 10 minutes outdoors.
- On cloudy days: Aim for 20 minutes.
- On very overcast days: Spend 30–60 minutes outside.
- Afternoon Light: Get another dose of sunlight in the late afternoon before sunset.
- Before Sunrise: Use artificial lights until natural sunlight is available, then step outside.
- Tips: Avoid sunglasses (if safe), skip brimmed hats, and don’t rely on shaded areas. Glasses and contact lenses are fine.
- Safety Note: Never look directly at the sun or any painfully bright light, particularly when the UV index is high (solar noon).
2. Consistency is Key
Wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. Go to bed when you first feel sleepy. Delaying sleep can lead to nighttime awakenings, such as waking at 3 a.m. and struggling to fall back asleep.
3. Make Your Bed
This is a psychological trick aimed at making your bedroom less cluttered — and therefore easier to relax in — come bedtime. You can also quickly put away any junk cluttering your nightstand and dresser.
4. Exercise
Exercise leads to better sleep at night. Many people schedule their full workouts for morning, which makes it easier to also exercise while fasting (an added benefit). If you don't have time for a full workout, at least do some quick stretching or bodyweight exercises.
5. Take a Walk Outdoors After Lunch
Not only will this increase in physical activity help you sleep later, but taking your walk outdoors gives you more exposure to bright sunlight. Light intensity is measured in lux units, and on any given day, the outdoor lux units will be around 100,000 at noon. Indoors, the typical average is somewhere between 100 to 2,000 lux units — about two orders of magnitude less. The brightness of the light matters, because your pineal gland produces melatonin roughly in approximation to the contrast of bright sun exposure in the day and complete darkness at night.
If you are in relative darkness all day long, it can't appreciate the difference and will not optimize your melatonin production. This, in turn, can have some rather significant ramifications for your health and sleep.
6. Cut Off Your Caffeine
If you're a coffee drinker, take your last caffeinated sip in the early afternoon (this applies to caffeinated soda, too). The caffeine can linger in your body for 8-14 hours, blocking a brain chemical called adenosine that would otherwise help you to fall asleep. To avoid sleep disruption, abstain from caffeine within 8–10 hours of bedtime (no later than 2 pm as a general rule of thumb). For sensitive individuals, a longer window (12–14 hours) may be necessary.
7. Avoid Alcohol and Sleep Medications
- Alcohol disrupts sleep quality, particularly REM sleep.
- Sleep medications often interfere with natural sleep cycles.
8. Consider a Nap
We are biologically programmed to nap during the daytime, typically in the middle of the afternoon. The key is to avoid napping for too long, as this may disrupt your circadian rhythms, which would hurt your sleep instead of help it. The ideal nap time for adults appears to be around 20 minutes (any longer and you'll enter the deeper stages of sleep and may feel groggy when you wake up). Naps can refresh your energy but must be managed carefully:
- Keep naps under 90 minutes.
- Aim for 30–45 minutes in the afternoon to avoid disrupting nighttime sleep.
9. Exercise in the Early Evening (If You Haven't Already)
The importance of exercise for sleep cannot be overstated, so if you didn't fit in your workout in the morning, be sure to do so later. There is some debate over how close is too close to bedtime to exercise. For some people, exercising too close to bedtime may keep you awake, but for others even late-night exercise seems to help (not hinder) sleep. One poll found that 83 percent of people said they slept better when they exercised (even late at night) than when they did not, so even if it's late, you may still want to exercise (National Sleep Foundation, 2013).
10. Take 15 Minutes to Unwind
If you're stressed, it's harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Taking 15 minutes (at least) each day to relax may help your sleep significantly. You may try listening to music, journaling, meditation, or stretching. Do whatever works best for you.
The importance of exercise for sleep cannot be overstated, so if you didn't fit in your workout in the morning, be sure to do so later. There is some debate over how close is too close to bedtime to exercise. For some people, exercising too close to bedtime may keep you awake, but for others even late-night exercise seems to help (not hinder) sleep. One poll found that 83 percent of people said they slept better when they exercised (even late at night) than when they did not, so even if it's late, you may still want to exercise (National Sleep Foundation, 2013).
10. Take 15 Minutes to Unwind
If you're stressed, it's harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Taking 15 minutes (at least) each day to relax may help your sleep significantly. You may try listening to music, journaling, meditation, or stretching. Do whatever works best for you.
11. Eat a Light Dinner and Stop Eating Three Hours Before Bed
If you eat a heavy meal too close to bedtime, your body will have to devote energy to digesting your food when it should be recharging during sleep. It is recommended that you stop eating three hours before bed and don't have your first meal until 13 to 18 hours later.
12. At Sundown, Dim Your Lights or Use Night Shift
In the evening (around 8 p.m.), you'll want to dim your lights and turn off electronic devices. Normally, your brain starts secreting melatonin between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., and these devices emit blue light that may stifle that process. After sundown, shift to a low-wattage bulb with yellow, orange or red light if you need illumination.
A salt lamp illuminated by a 5-watt bulb is an ideal solution that will not interfere with your melatonin production. If using a computer or smartphone, install blue light-blocking software like f.lux, which automatically alters the color temperature of your screen as the day goes on, pulling out the blue wavelengths as it gets late. Another easy solution is to simply use amber-colored glasses that eliminate virtually all blue light. This way you don't have to worry about installing programs on all your devices or buying special light bulbs for evening use. Once you have your glasses on, it doesn't matter what light sources you have on in your house.
13. Turn Down the Volume
In the evening hours, you'll also want to keep noise to a minimum. Noise louder than a normal conversation may stimulate your nervous system and keep you awake. You may want to use a fan or other form of white noise to drown out noise disturbances while you sleep. The exception is listening to soft, soothing music, such as classical, which may actually help you to sleep (Jespersen, Koenig, Jennum & Vuust, 2015).
14. Take a Warm Bath About 1.5 Hours Before Bed
Thermoregulation — your body's heat distribution system — is strongly linked to sleep cycles. When you sleep, your body's internal temperature drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleep, since it mimics your body's natural temperature drop. This is also why taking a warm bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime may help you sleep; it increases your core body temperature, and when it abruptly drops when you get out of the bath, it signals your body that you are ready for sleep.
15. Adjust Your Bedroom Temperature
While there's no set consensus as to what temperature will help you sleep the best, in most cases any temperature above 75 degrees Fahrenheit and below 54 degrees F will interfere with your sleep. Some experts suggest 65 degrees F is ideal for sleep.
16. Sip a Cup of Chamomile Tea
Chamomile has sedative effects that may help with sleep, which is why chamomile tea is often sipped before bed. One study found that people with insomnia who took a chamomile supplement had improvements in daytime functioning and potential benefits on sleep measures as well (Zick, Wright, Sen & Arnedt, 2011). Try sipping a cup prior to bedtime to see if it helps you sleep.
17. Get Ready for Bed
A nightly ritual of washing your face, brushing your teeth and getting into your pajamas signals to your mind and body that it's time for bed. Try to stick with the same hygiene ritual, at the same time, each night.
18. Dim the Lights at Night - Sleep in Complete Darkness
Minimize bright light exposure between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. to protect your circadian rhythm.
19. Use Sleep Hypnosis for Relaxation
If you struggle with sleep disturbances, insomnia, or anxiety, consider self-hypnosis. Try the Reveri app’s sleep protocols (10–15 minutes) three times a week to retrain your nervous system to relax.
20. What to Do if You Wake Up at Night
Waking up once during the night is normal. If you struggle to fall back asleep:
21. Don’t Panic About the Wakefulness Spike
Approximately one hour before your natural bedtime, you may experience a brief spike in alertness.
22. Consider Supplements
Supplements can support relaxation and sleep, but they’re not a one-size-fits-all solution.
23. Adapt Sleep Needs Over Time
Your sleep requirements can change with age, seasons, and lifestyle.
If you eat a heavy meal too close to bedtime, your body will have to devote energy to digesting your food when it should be recharging during sleep. It is recommended that you stop eating three hours before bed and don't have your first meal until 13 to 18 hours later.
12. At Sundown, Dim Your Lights or Use Night Shift
In the evening (around 8 p.m.), you'll want to dim your lights and turn off electronic devices. Normally, your brain starts secreting melatonin between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., and these devices emit blue light that may stifle that process. After sundown, shift to a low-wattage bulb with yellow, orange or red light if you need illumination.
A salt lamp illuminated by a 5-watt bulb is an ideal solution that will not interfere with your melatonin production. If using a computer or smartphone, install blue light-blocking software like f.lux, which automatically alters the color temperature of your screen as the day goes on, pulling out the blue wavelengths as it gets late. Another easy solution is to simply use amber-colored glasses that eliminate virtually all blue light. This way you don't have to worry about installing programs on all your devices or buying special light bulbs for evening use. Once you have your glasses on, it doesn't matter what light sources you have on in your house.
13. Turn Down the Volume
In the evening hours, you'll also want to keep noise to a minimum. Noise louder than a normal conversation may stimulate your nervous system and keep you awake. You may want to use a fan or other form of white noise to drown out noise disturbances while you sleep. The exception is listening to soft, soothing music, such as classical, which may actually help you to sleep (Jespersen, Koenig, Jennum & Vuust, 2015).
14. Take a Warm Bath About 1.5 Hours Before Bed
Thermoregulation — your body's heat distribution system — is strongly linked to sleep cycles. When you sleep, your body's internal temperature drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleep, since it mimics your body's natural temperature drop. This is also why taking a warm bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime may help you sleep; it increases your core body temperature, and when it abruptly drops when you get out of the bath, it signals your body that you are ready for sleep.
15. Adjust Your Bedroom Temperature
While there's no set consensus as to what temperature will help you sleep the best, in most cases any temperature above 75 degrees Fahrenheit and below 54 degrees F will interfere with your sleep. Some experts suggest 65 degrees F is ideal for sleep.
16. Sip a Cup of Chamomile Tea
Chamomile has sedative effects that may help with sleep, which is why chamomile tea is often sipped before bed. One study found that people with insomnia who took a chamomile supplement had improvements in daytime functioning and potential benefits on sleep measures as well (Zick, Wright, Sen & Arnedt, 2011). Try sipping a cup prior to bedtime to see if it helps you sleep.
17. Get Ready for Bed
A nightly ritual of washing your face, brushing your teeth and getting into your pajamas signals to your mind and body that it's time for bed. Try to stick with the same hygiene ritual, at the same time, each night.
18. Dim the Lights at Night - Sleep in Complete Darkness
Minimize bright light exposure between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. to protect your circadian rhythm.
- Use only the amount of light necessary for safety.
- Opt for dim lighting or candlelight instead of bright, overhead lights.
- Blue-blocking glasses can help but are not a substitute for dimming lights.
19. Use Sleep Hypnosis for Relaxation
If you struggle with sleep disturbances, insomnia, or anxiety, consider self-hypnosis. Try the Reveri app’s sleep protocols (10–15 minutes) three times a week to retrain your nervous system to relax.
20. What to Do if You Wake Up at Night
Waking up once during the night is normal. If you struggle to fall back asleep:
- Try a Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) or Yoga Nidra protocol. Search YouTube for guided sessions of varying durations and styles.
21. Don’t Panic About the Wakefulness Spike
Approximately one hour before your natural bedtime, you may experience a brief spike in alertness.
- This is normal and will pass.
22. Consider Supplements
Supplements can support relaxation and sleep, but they’re not a one-size-fits-all solution.
- Start with one supplement and add others only if needed.
- Recommendations (30–60 minutes before bed):
- 145-200mg Magnesium
- 50mg Apigenin
- 100–400mg L-Theanine (avoid if prone to intense dreams, sleepwalking, or night terrors)
- Optional: 2g Glycine and 100mg GABA (3–4 nights/week)
23. Adapt Sleep Needs Over Time
Your sleep requirements can change with age, seasons, and lifestyle.
- Teenagers may lean toward being night owls.
- Adults might transition into morning preferences over time.
- Seasonal changes might necessitate more sleep in winter than summer.
Alternative Sleep Cycles
Monophasic Sleep
Monophasic is the most common sleep schedule in the world. Monophasic sleep consists of sleeping once per day, usually for between 7 and 9 hours per night. Monophasic is not the best way to sleep contrary to popular belief, but instead it is a byproduct of the long work hours of the industrial revolution that has remained a cultural norm even as work hours have shortened. |
Biphasic Sleep
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Triphasic Sleep
Triphasic is an efficient and simple schedule. There is little adaptation involved in a change from monophasic sleep to this schedule, and 3 to 5 hours extra are gained each day. The reason for its ease of adaption is that, similar to biphasic sleep, it aligns with the Circadian rhythm, with a nap after dusk, a nap before dawn, and a nap in the afternoon. A triphasic sleeper typically sleeps between 4 and 5 hours a day. |
Everyman Sleep
The everyman schedule is the most successful reduced-sleep schedule to date, it is constantly increasing in popularity, and people have achieved it without compromising their current health. While monophasic, biphasic, and triphasic schedules are all circadian centric schedules, everyman schedules rely on both circadian and ultradian rhythms. This makes everyman schedules have a significantly more difficult adaptation period than all of the previous schedules, as the consistency of times between sleeps matters much more. That being said, everyman is still significantly easier than any of the nap-only schedules. Everyman schedules include everyman 2 which is a with core sleep between 4.5 and 6 hours and two 20 minute naps; everyman 3, with a core between 3 and 4 hours and three 20 minute naps; and everyman 4 with a core between 1.5 and 2.5 hours, with four 20 minute naps. |
Dual Core Sleep
Dual core (DC) sleep is a derivative of the other schedules but with a core sleep around dusk, a core around dawn, and a number of naps in the afternoon. DC schedules can have the benefits of both segmented sleep and siestas and so is theoretically very healthy. DC1 is two cores totaling about 5 hours sleep, and one nap in the middle of the day. DC2 is two cores totaling about 4 hours sleep, and two naps throughout the day. DC3 is two cores totaling about 3h sleep, and three naps throughout the day. |
Uberman Sleep
Uberman is the most failed of polyphasic schedules. This is largely due to a misunderstanding of the difficulties associated with its adaptation period. Uberman is the most well known nap only schedule, and is an extension of the everyman schedules, to the point of getting rid of the core sleep entirely. While uberman is extremely difficult, it can have great benefits by increasing the amount of time in a person’s day drastically. An uberman will have 6 or 8 x20 minute naps a day, with total sleep time ranging from 2-3 hours a day. |
Dymaxion Sleep
Dymaxion is another popularly attempted schedule, although its difficulty is even greater than uberman, to the point of being nearly impossible. It’s predicted only the genetically mutated DEC2 gene ‘very short sleepers’ can be successful following such a schedule, which would includes far less than 1% of the world population. The dymaxion schedule was coined by Buckminster Fuller, and involves sleeping 4 times a day for 30 minutes. Even though the dymaxion schedule does not increase available awake time any more than uberman, it is prized for the increased convenience to the person’s social and work life. |
References
Jespersen, K., Koenig, J., Jennum, P. and Vuust, P. (2015). Music for insomnia in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010459.pub2
National Sleep Foundation. (2013). Sleep in America Poll: Exercise and Sleep. [online] Available at: https://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/RPT336%20Summary%20of%20Findings%2002%2020%202013.pdf [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Ninds.nih.gov. (2017). Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. [online] Available at: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Understanding-Sleep#dreaming [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Polyphasic Society. (2017). Alternative Sleep Schedule Overviews. [online] Available at: https://www.polyphasicsociety.com/polyphasic-sleep/overviews/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Zick, S., Wright, B., Sen, A. and Arnedt, J. (2011). Preliminary examination of the efficacy and safety of a standardized chamomile extract for chronic primary insomnia: A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-78
National Sleep Foundation. (2013). Sleep in America Poll: Exercise and Sleep. [online] Available at: https://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/RPT336%20Summary%20of%20Findings%2002%2020%202013.pdf [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Ninds.nih.gov. (2017). Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. [online] Available at: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Understanding-Sleep#dreaming [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Polyphasic Society. (2017). Alternative Sleep Schedule Overviews. [online] Available at: https://www.polyphasicsociety.com/polyphasic-sleep/overviews/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Zick, S., Wright, B., Sen, A. and Arnedt, J. (2011). Preliminary examination of the efficacy and safety of a standardized chamomile extract for chronic primary insomnia: A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-78