Polyphasic sleep: the rest of great minds?

For many, polyphasic sleep is the dream of the great minds, of the most creative figures.. We know, for example, that Nikola Tesla slept between midnight and two in the morning. During the day, a nap was allowed. Albert Einstein, on the other hand, had a slightly longer night’s rest, which he completed with short daytime breaks.

The list of those who practiced this type of dream is longer than we think: Mozart, Voltaire, Balzac, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Sigmund Freud… This fragmented rest spread throughout the day continues to be seen today as a strategy to be more productive. Assuming that the greatest minds of our past found it useful is reason enough for many to include it in their routines.

Now, is it healthy? Can something happen to us if we are tempted to convert monophasic sleep into polyphasic? Going from sleeping 8 hours in a row to resting spread throughout the day may not be a good idea.. Let’s see why.

Polyphasic sleep: what it is, types and possible consequences

The objective of polyphasic sleep is none other than achieve longer wakefulness and shorter, more concentrated sleep in small periods. It is clear that not all of us could achieve this rest pattern no matter how much we wanted it. After all, the most common thing is to go to bed and remain immersed in a deep dream universe that remains constant for 6 or 7 hours in a row.

However, There is no shortage of restless and hyperactive minds that consider sleep a waste of time.. Why dedicate so many hours to resting at night when we could do other things? That’s another idea of ​​polyphasic sleep: achieving greater performance by “jumping off” and altering the hours of your sleep-wake cycles.

Benjamin Franklin used to say that “He who goes to bed early and rises soon is someone wise and rich.”. The phrase would have its originality if the famous politician, inventor and scientist had not overlooked a small detail: those who sleep little wake up tired and are more likely to get sick.

Monophasic, biphasic and polyphasic sleep

One thing we certainly know is that Not everyone has the same habits or rest styles. There are those who sleep straight through, there are those who suffer from very fragmented dreams and there are also those who experience a division of rest when waking up, for example, in the middle of the night and, sometimes, at the same time.

For their part, sleep hygiene experts differentiate different styles and typologies:

Monophasic sleep. It is that rest with a normal pattern and maintained for 6 or 9 hours in a row.biphasic sleep. This type of sleep will be very familiar to us, it is the one in which we sleep between 4 and 6 hours at night, and then complete the missing ones with a daytime nap.polyphasic sleepfor its part, defines a practice in which the person can rest between 4 and 6 times a day in shorter periods and never more than 3 hours.

Types of polyphasic sleep

Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein, Sigmund Freud… None of them actually practiced the same type of polyphasic sleep. The reason is that there are many ways and strategies to do it. They are the following:

Everyman: defines a type of sleep in which you sleep 3 hours in a row at night, and then complete it with three 20-minute naps throughout the day.Uberman: It’s just 3 hours of sleep a day in the form of six 30-minute naps.Dymaxion: is the most extreme. It consists of sleeping only 2 hours a day, in the form of 30-minute naps every 6 hours.

For what purpose is this type of dream applied?

This type of rest may attract many people’s attention. After all, it means not only fragmenting sleep time, but also sleeping fewer hours. So, Advocates of polyphasic sleep claim that this improves our lifestyle and that the goal is to seek “quality over quantity”. That is, it doesn’t matter to sleep less as long as the rest is deep and restorative.

There are those who use it as a work philosophy, in order to be more productive. Likewise, we have studies such as those carried out at the University of Ottawa in which it is shown that polyphasic sleep may be beneficial in the navy. When offshore it can be helpful to set multiple shorter rest times; In this way, rotations in navigation shifts are also improved.

Is polyphasic sleep beneficial?

This is undoubtedly the most important point: is it beneficial or dangerous to start the famous polyphasic sleep? h There are a series of key points that show us that it can be clearly harmful to health.

Studies, such as those carried out by Dr. Claudio Stampi, tell us that getting used to sleeping less than 6 or 7 hours translates into a lack of accumulated sleep that has consequences. Cognitive impairment is the most important. Sleep deprivation can cause slower reaction times, which can result in traffic accidents. There are two types of electrical brain activity at night: slow waves and spindles. dream. These two electrical phenomena are key to maturation processes and the consolidation of learning. On the other hand, Sleeping less generates hormonal and metabolic changes that increase the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

How to get the most out of our hours of sleep?

Although proponents of polyphasic sleep claim that we can make the most of the hours of the day with this method, it is important to be very careful if we decide to apply it. Well, in no case should we neglect sleep health. Otherwise, we would significantly reduce our quality of life.

Whatever the case, we leave you some tips so that you can take advantage of your rest effectively:

Listen to your body. If, as you reduce your hours of rest to achieve polyphasic sleep, you notice that you wake up more tired, have difficulty sleeping, or do not concentrate enough, it is most likely that this method is not for you. In this case, try to reduce a couple of hours of sleep at night, and if it doesn’t work, go back to your usual routine.Eat well. Our diet significantly influences different aspects of our lives, including whether or not we can sleep well. In this sense, apart from avoiding consuming caffeinated drinks, it is important that you avoid foods that prevent sleep (such as chocolate, nuts, red meat…), at least a few hours before going to sleep.Adapt the environment to sleep better. Whether day or night, the ideal is to have an environment without annoying noises, without light and with a moderate temperature.

Let’s be clear, sometimes, this attempt to be more productive or use the night hours as a stage for creativity can take its toll on us. Constantly sleeping less translates into poorer quality of life and poorer health..

You might be interested…