Research on sleep—the Great Sleep Experiment

Thanks to Zemanta, a previous post led me to an interesting article on sleep. I had never heard about polyphasic sleep before. Now I’m about to embark on the Great Sleep Experiment (GSE). Here’s the article that Zemanta led me to: Sleep (or how to hack your brain) + Dustin Curtis (dustincurtis.com)

His article describes a number of sleep regimes that have been extensively studied. Monophasic sleep is what people usually do. It’s the 8 hour a night thing. Then there are polyphasic regimes in which one alternates planned naps with “Core sleep.” Curtis’s post show a nice graphic and starts a trail of references that I followed. (Have I told you that I love the Internet?)

This article is a good backgrounder on polyphasic sleep. And has references at the bottom that led to other interesting articles. One is Buckminster Fuller’s “Dymaxion Sleep” program. Fuller, who has long been a personal hero, accomplished amazing amounts of work by varying his sleep schedule as cited in this article.

Another guy who’s surveyed the area, and worked on it writes a blog called “High Existence.” He discusses polyphasic sleep, here.

He also says:

If you are seriously considering making the switch over the a polyphasic sleep cycle, a really enjoyable and informative read is Steve Pavlina’s extremely in-depth report of his experience with the Uberman cycle, available here.

And finally I found this record by a guy who has been on the Everyman 3 Sleep Schedule for over four years!

He says:

Everyman, along with other types of polyphasic sleep, has accumulated quite a body of information since this article was written. I myself have been on the Everyman 3 schedule for over four years now. Updated details, instructions, and even a book discussing polyphasic sleep adaptation can all be found at http://www.puredoxyk.com.

That’s a blog written by a woman who has also written a book on polyphasic sleep, available on Lulu as a download for only a few bucks!

And Wow! Here’s her list of all polyphasic sleep resources.

Technorati Tags: Sleep,Polyphasic sleep,Monophasic Sleep,Productivity