Polyphasic sleep in med school?

PiBond said:

There was a thread on this a couple years ago but I wanted to see if anyone had recently adopted an effective polyphasic sleep schedule during med school?

I'm considering doing a "trial run" this summer. I'm attending a medical school that has class from 8am-Noon so I'm predicting that this could work with my schedule.

Has anyone adopted this long-term (ie not just for finals or boards)? I'd like to hear some comments

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I tried this during gross anatomy last fall. My biggest issue was never really feeling refreshed. I only did it for a week or two, but I was just in a haze the whole time.

I think sleep is the most important resource you got in med school. Dont mess around with it.

I remember when researching it, I found only "small animals of prey" really do it all the time. I am far from that description, which is probably why it failed.

You need at least a month of solid polyphasic sleep to get your brain ready. Don't do it. No one has that month.

I would recommend against it.

"Does it work?" issues aside, you're going to have to adjust back for 3rd year and you won't have much time to do so. Plus, if you crash mid-semester, it would suck to have sleep issues while trying to attend required labs, prep for tests, etc.

^this all assuming that polyphasic sleep is something the body can get it's restorative sleep with, and that's something I doubt.

I would predict problems learning, but that's just my theory.

I was sleeping from 2am-7am would go to class from 8am-1/2pm then sleep 3pm/4:30pm and then go to the gym, then study. Was working well for me and I was staying on top of my studies. Just felt so tired in the afternoons and needed the nap so bad. It worked though

celkon said:

I was sleeping from 2am-7am would go to class from 8am-1/2pm then sleep 3pm/4:30pm and then go to the gym, then study. Was working well for me and I was staying on top of my studies. Just felt so tired in the afternoons and needed the nap so bad. It worked though

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that's 6.30 hours bro, i heard that polyphasic sleep can reduce it to 4 hours... not sure though

There's really no point to change your sleep habits much during the first 2 years. You won't be as pressed for time as you think expect for test weeks. You should easily be able to get 7 hours a night plus a nap if you want. Honestly sleep only becomes an issue on certain rotations 3rd year but you'll manage like everyone else.

officedepot said:

There's really no point to change your sleep habits much during the first 2 years. You won't be as pressed for time as you think expect for test weeks. You should easily be able to get 7 hours a night plus a nap if you want. Honestly sleep only becomes an issue on certain rotations 3rd year but you'll manage like everyone else.

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I agree with this. I kinda just feel into my sleep habits. There were days I would be doing it where I was maybe only getting 5 hours max, but 4 seems pretty crazy. I feel like you really need sleep to solidify everything you learn. Its so important, just do what your body feels is right. Sometimes I think sleep is more important then studying as far as recall memory.

celkon said:

I agree with this. I kinda just feel into my sleep habits. There were days I would be doing it where I was maybe only getting 5 hours max, but 4 seems pretty crazy. I feel like you really need sleep to solidify everything you learn. Its so important, just do what your body feels is right. Sometimes I think sleep is more important then studying as far as recall memory.

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Depakote said:

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This is so true. Sometime last year I started to have memory problems. I would forget proper nouns, people's names that I knew very well, could not remember common synonyms, started very mildly (only perceptible to me) slurring my speech.

Turns out I was chronically sleep deprived, getting about 4-6 hours a day on average, with 3-4 hours a day during the week. Since that time, I finally got fed up, cut out 2 full hours of studying each day and slept for 7-8 hours a day (with still sometimes getting only 4-5 when I had to for an exam or whatever and making it up on the weekend), and all of my memory problems resolved. Even moreso, I started performing BETTER in school than when I was studying more, sleeping less.

I really never thought it was even possible for that to happen. Seriously. I thought I was imagining things with my memory loss, but I've really been converted. Sleep is damn important. Don't mess around with it.

PiBond said:

There was a thread on this a couple years ago but I wanted to see if anyone had recently adopted an effective polyphasic sleep schedule during med school?

I'm considering doing a "trial run" this summer. I'm attending a medical school that has class from 8am-Noon so I'm predicting that this could work with my schedule.

Has anyone adopted this long-term (ie not just for finals or boards)? I'd like to hear some comments

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I am not a student doctor...but I came across this posting when looking for other people like myself that are on a polyphasic sleep schedule. This is my 4th week so far and, as I have experience in this type of sleep, I thought I would contribute.

As I said, I am in my 4th week and there are times when it is a struggle, simply because I enjoy sleeping and will hit the snooze button one too many times. That being said, 95% of the time I am fully functional with almost zero side effects. The moment I over-sleep or decide to take a day off, I crash and have to then "reset" my sleep schedule.

The first two weeks are the hardest and it is a pain in the butt to fight off sleep deprivation. After week two however, if you can force yourself to keep on schedule, you will be amazed at how well this type of sleeping works. I'm on the uberman schedule with a 20 min nap every four hours and a total of 2 hours in a 24 hour period.

It is 3:22 am as I write this and my last nap was at 2:00 - 2:20 am. I'll let my post be the litmus test as to how well one can function like this, but in my opinion, I do better than I did sleeping normally. Ideals flow much easier, there are less distractions, and I have all the time in the world to do what I need to do.

My advice to anyone in med school thinking about trying this sleep method is to not attempt it during a hectic schedule. Take your time and be preemptive if you want to do this, adjusting to the schedule during the summer or vacation time. Once adjusted however and assuming you commit to the schedule, you will be on cloud nine most of the time. You must be ok with stopping what ever you are doing and taking your scheduled nap, even if it is in your car or the bathroom stall. Miss a nap and you are in for a world of groggy, low functioning 24 hours.

The good news is you will be able to fall asleep on a dime and wake up in 20 min feeling as if you had a full nights rest. Lucid dreaming is also one of the kick-ass side effects but, I will leave that for you to explore yourself.

Feel free to message me if you want to discuss further, I hope this helps in some way.

Pretty interesting stuff.

Don't do it. I've talked to people who have done it and it never works out. You never feel rested and eventually your body shuts down and you sleep like 12+ hours that day.

Sleep is important. Don't screw with it.

This is the first time I have come across that form of sleep! On one hand it sounds tempting, more time to do stuff... On the other hand I have experienced sleep deprivation and similarly to the post above my memory, coherence and concentration went out of the window. Not ideal for proper function to say the least.

Personally I wouldn't try it during study periods, too much at stake to screw it up by weird sleeping patterns. If you are keen to try it out, I would advise doing it over a holiday so if it doesn't work for you, you still have time to recover.

I had a roommate in college do this micronap sleep thing. He was a normal guy, but after he adopted this sleep schedule, he became increasingly erratic in his behavior until he had a psychotic break after a few months. The entire time he maintained he felt like he was on top of the world and everything was peachy, while everything in his life fell apart.

I'm not comfortable saying that one caused the other, but it wouldn't surprise me.