Bi-phasic Sleeping
http://www.straighttothebar.com/2006/11/biphasic_sleep_resources.html
Basically it's splitting up the normal one-big-sleep-through-the-night into two: a 90 minute sleep at another time (eg afternoon/early evening) and then a 3 or 4.5 hour sleep later at night. It's based on the belief that the average sleep cycle is 90 minutes so sleeping in multiples of that will leave you feeling the most refreshed and rested.. meaning the sleep you get is better quality, and you can get more waking hours out of a day.
Has anyone ever heard of this/tried it?
One of my best friends has started doing it and reckons that after the adjustment period of a week or so it's actually quite amazing. It sounds to me like just the sort of strange idea that I could try, as I've always had a very disfunctional relationship with sleep. So I'm thinking of giving it go (no harm in trying these things out) and wondered if anyone has any experience/insight?
P was very interested in polyphasic sleeping for a while. It was like 3-4 hours awake, and then 30 minutes sleep. It's really interesting, but not practical for most people. You definitely have a ton more time in the day/night. He did it for several days, but 1. was bored 2. was tired.
I've never heard of it but it sounds like something one of my husband's strange friends would be very into so I might pass the link on to him.
I need more sleep than that, I used to go on 5-ish hours a night as a standard and then stay up all night and straight into work the next day at least one day per weekend, but now I'm old and boring and need something close to 8 hours or I can't deal with stuff!
That sounds perfect for me. I don't sleep like a "normal" person and this sounds kind of like how I am (and what I need). I'm going to give it a go as well.
i read about a long time ago and was tempted to do the polyphasic sleeping pattern. haven't heard of the term biphasic sleep, but i did it for a very long time, and i quite enjoyed it (this was sans kids and no job at the time, but going to early/long classes). although it isn't really practical for me at the moment... (thinking in my mind how i could swing it.... sleep after work, and before work, tell the midget to fend for herself.... )
tell how you like it if you do try it out theo :)
Sleep cycles vary, when you sleep at night, your sleep cycles are not always 90 minutes. The first sleep cycle is like 3 hours, then the second one is 90 minutes, then the last one is shortest......or do I have that backwards? Anyway, it just seems to deviate from what people are supposed to do. We have evolved to sleep at night, and to me that is when we should sleep. Now, taking a nap during the day on a regular basis, half hour or an hour, I think would be a great idea if you have time, I think that is also part of our evolution.
But breaking up sleep like that just doesn't seem right to me. Humans are not designed by evolution to eat meat, and because so many people eat meat, people die from it, and have lots of health problems. Wouldn't a sleep schedule like this be similar and could it potentialy cause health problems as well, or worse, psychological problems? To me it seems like it would reduce REM sleep, since that is our lightest sleep cycle and easiest to wake up from, and there is bokoos of research saying that lack of REM sleep causes lots of problems, including hallucinations, anxiety, depression, etc.
Wait till you hit around 60 or over, and polyphasic is the only kind of sleep there is. Most older people simply can't pound the old pillow for 8 hrs straight. They wake up after 4 hrs or so, unable to continue sleeping. Then they are awake by say 5 AM, and by noon they are tired again. So they have to have a nap.
I'm not yet 50 but my problem is dropping off. It can take me 90 min to 2hrs+ to fall asleep. And if I stay up, reading or sewing or whatever, I can't go to sleep at all. I must lie quiet in the dark for as long as it takes. The tinnitus isn't helping matters.
This is the first I've heard of it and for me, trying it would be an exercise in futility since I'm in a cycle of not sleeping for 2-3 days in a row, followed by a complete crash for 5-6 hours and then it starts again. Sleep isn't something I do well or seem to have any control over without chemical assistance.
:'(
You know YG, you may be right there, I hadn't thought of that.
For me, I have no problems falling asleep, and I could sleep 8 hours if my darn back didn't start hurting after 5-6 hours. I am only in my early 30's! I so so so wish I could do a 6 hours of sleep and a 2 hour nap everyday schedule. Unfortunately, with work, that isn't possible.
And Storm, not sleeping for 2-3 DAYS then only sleeping for 5-6 hours when you do sleep? Did I get that right? So you sleep about 5-6 hours per every 2-3 days? Wow. And here I try to get 6-7 hours of sleep per DAY. You sound like you would be lucky to get that in a week.
Thanks for the input guys!
Minke, do you want to form a little biphasic trial support group?
At the moment my biggest obstacle to trying it is the nights I don't stay at my own house... ;)
But I am thinking if I combine it with starting p90X then I have something to get up for at ridiculously early hours of the morning and they might help each other out.
Yabbit and Storm - I have really dysfunctional sleep too, seems to go in cycles: months when I can't fall asleep, then months when I fall asleep ok but wake up in a few hours, months where I have nightmares and get no rest... This has been lifelong (I wouldn't even nap as a baby). But I am kinda keen to see if trying it this way is more natural for me.
But I am thinking if I combine it with starting p90X then I have something to get up for at ridiculously early hours of the morning and they might help each other out.
if it works for you and gets you more sleep than you're able to at the moment then that's super awesome, but yeah, if you're giving a full strength attempt at p90x as well as all your amazing dancing you're going to need to make sure you're definitely well-enough rested.
For shizzle. One of the positives about having crazy sleep issues is I've ended up with a very good awareness of how rested or tired I am and what I can safely do in that state. So I'll be keeping a close eye on it :)
: )
aside from being young and stupid and just staying up too late, I used to have serious issues with getting to sleep/staying asleep but since I've been exercising way more I find it so much easier to go back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night, and I definitely get a much better quality sleep.
Similarly to knowing whether you're rested enough etc, my body won't let me oversleep/rest and I am always up by 6 now even on weekends and usually even if I've had a late night. It's like: this is how much rest you need AND NO MORE so get up now!! : )
Minke, do you want to form a little biphasic trial support group?
Absolutely! I kind of have a similar plan like you. I want to start an exercise routine but don't like to exercise in front of people so if I get up at weird times I can do it while everyone is asleep and hopefully the exercise will help me to sleep better. I have terrible insomnia and end up getting very tired and mentally fatigued. I really would love to try this.
One of the blogs I was reading mentioned something about this. Sometimes he would need to do things at the times when he was supposed to be sleeping so he would adjust the time for that day and go back to his regular sleep cycle after that.
hmmm, interesting. I am currently reasonably lucky and have a good sleep cycle. I only have one day every few weeks where I wake up at midnight/1am and can't sleep again until 4/5am. This used to happen all the time.
Or it would take me about 4-5hours to get to sleep. Now it takes me maybe half an hour if that.
Working full time has helped me get into sleep routine, also not being depressed any more has helped no end!
eta: that doesn't really help anyone or relate much to the title of this thread, but whatevs.....I know you were all extremely interested in my sleep routine ::)
eta: that doesn't really help anyone or relate much to the title of this thread, but whatevs.....I know you were all extremely interested in my sleep routine ::)
I am! :)
Sounds like we should try it, Minke! :D
I definitely am. I just need to plan out when I should sleep/what times work best for me.
My friend was doing 5.30pm to 7pm then 1am to 5am. I'm thinking my nap will have to be late afternoon rather than early evening as I always have things on from 6 onward. I'm mainly scared about getting up at 5 or so. Early morning time is not my strong point...
This sounds like my sleep schedule.
Just I don't make them actual times. soo. not exactly.
And Storm, not sleeping for 2-3 DAYS then only sleeping for 5-6 hours when you do sleep? Did I get that right? So you sleep about 5-6 hours per every 2-3 days? Wow.
Sadly, you did get that right. I always try to go to bed around 10pm. After a couple of hours of attempted sleep I generally get up and read or quilt for a couple of hours and then try to lie down again. After a couple more hours I just get up and shower and go to work. (The nice thing about my job is I can make my own hours so I'm in before 6am and out by 2pm.) Generally by the third night I can sleep a few hours. What I really hate about it is that I'm tired during the non-sleeping time and I want to sleep and it feels like I could sleep, but I can't shut my brain down.
That's my problem too...my brain won't let me sleep. I would tell the doctor except they would hit me with major narcotics or something and those create more problems than they solve. The tinnitus makes it worse. I used to lie there and tell myself stories (and concentrate on that to shut the thinking down) but now with the noise I sometimes can't hear myself if you know what I mean, so my thoughts take over and drive me crazy.
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