

“I Sleep Two Hours Per Day” - Arsene
http://www.danceproof.com/2009/12/28/dymaxion-sleep-intro/

======
dylanz
I've known 3 people who gave this a serious shot. All tried different
variations, and all are very bright individuals who recorded their sleep to
the hour. One has a family and a business, the other two are extremely bright
engineers.

2 eventually gave up on their own, as it was too intense.

1 almost killed themselves when they blacked out driving, then gave up
immediately.

~~~
himmel
Interesting point about driving.. Since I'm a driver, I wonder how many
'polyphasic' zombies I encounter out on the road? My dad has always told me
that sleep deprivation is a significant cause of car wrecks. I'm sure there's
research to support this if you google around.

So basically I hate these people. They should do something else with their
free time, instead of endangering others with their zombie-driving.

~~~
Psyonic
Not many, I'm sure, as it's EXTREMELY hard to maintain polyphasic sleep if
your life is anything close to what people call "normal." You can barely go to
a movie theater. That said, driving does seem a little reckless, at least
until you're absolutely sure you're safe to do so.

------
jon_dahl
When I was younger (college), I really wanted to sleep less. I thought that if
I could get by on 6 hours, 4 hours, or 3 hours of sleep, I'd live a better
life, and would have more time to get things done.

No more. First, there is a lot of research that most people need 8+ hours of
sleep, and that this is determined genetically. As in, not everyone can move
to a 4 hour sleep night without side effects.[1]

Second, I'm happier and more productive when I'm well rested. Better 16 good
hours a day than 20 bad hours.

[1]
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/research/14sleep.ht...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/research/14sleep.html?_r=1)
(registration req'd)

~~~
flatline
There's lots of data supporting this, sleep research has gotten big in the
last 50 years. I haven't studied the rationale behind the polyphasic sleep
system but it sounds like a couple slip-ups and you're hosed, whereas if most
people go without much sleep for a few nights they'll be tired but able to
rebound with a regular night's sleep. It sounds dangerous to leave yourself
constantly on the verge of sleep deprivation.

------
Jach
I've tried the Uberman three times, failing each time. I don't recommend the
Uberman to anyone. In a population where almost everyone does it, it'd be
great, but for most people now it's just not possible. The world is run by
monophasic sleepers. I'll be interested if this guy succeeds.

I've done the 3-hour core sleep with three 20-minute naps variant of the
Everyman, and that lasted (fairly well) for a little over a month. But even as
flexible as that was, between school and other activities I just couldn't
manage to do all my naps on time, and I had to give it up.

I started the 4.5-hour core sleep with two 20-minute naps variant of the
Everyman a couple days ago, since this coming semester I can actually
accommodate the naps. I sleep from 2am to 6:30am, with naps at 12:30pm and
6:30pm. I think it's fairly hard to fail this one, and the adjustment period
isn't so bad. My monophasic schedule (when school's in) is 4-8 hour sleeps
(average 6) with 12+ hour recharges on the weekends, and I'm sick of that.

------
chaosmachine
He just started yesterday. Someone repost this in a month. From what I've
heard, most people don't make it very far.

------
stilist
<http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/>

~~~
prodigal_erik
Note that he quit the next year:

[http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/polyphasic-sleep-
th...](http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/polyphasic-sleep-the-return-
to-monophasic/)

I thought it might have affected him mentally, but from his writing he already
believed reality is subjective when he started.

------
anigbrowl
HN is not here for you to post your blogspam. Please stop.

(this and also <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1019785> which has even
less relevance to HN readers).

edit: I'm not objecting to self-linking at all, or indeed to the
meaninglessness of the article being based on intentions rather than results.

I'm objecting to the simultaneous posting of this with 'The real meaning of
Christmas: seeing through the bullshit' (at the link mentioned above) from the
same author, who has 0 comments to their credit. Posting multiple stories at
once is spammy, and happens a lot on the new page.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
It's pretty well established that it's fine to submit your own articles to HN,
provided they meet the standard HN criteria for story submission. The fact
that this is less than an hour old and nearly at the top of the front page
would seem to indicate that people find it interesting.

EDIT: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=129291>

------
protez
I heard Buckminister Fuller tried something similar. He recounted he had
gained more energy out of his reduced sleep cycles. But I wondered why he
didn't keep the practice to his death, if that was indeed the case.

~~~
billswift
What I read Fuller did was simply catnap whenever he felt the urge. I also
heard he never slept regularly again after starting this. I worked for an
architect who spent a summer at Black Mountain, he said Fuller would just lie
down and take a nap anywhere, even in the middle of giving a lecture (which I
think was an exaggeration, being active, even just lecturing, is the best way
I know of to stay awake and alert).

------
darjen
I'm a pretty light sleeper. I can usually only get one decent night of sleep a
week. Might as well spend it being up and doing stuff.

------
tlrobinson
I wonder if something like WakeMate would be beneficial in polyphasic sleep,
or are you not asleep long enough?

