Anyone else a biphasic sleeper?

[HeartSong]

For those who don't know what this is (which is probably most if not all), it's basically the idea that the body naturally sleeps in 90 minute cycles and you sleep twice a day, once for 90 minutes and then again in a multiple of 90. The end result for most people is an hour and a half nap and then a longer 4.5 hour core sleep. But some can go further and do a 1.5/3 hour cycles.

I know it sounds crazy and for many people it doesn't work, but for me 😍 it is awesome. I sleep for 4.5 hours a day and feel so much better than when I tried sleeping for 8 hours a day. I was so tired all the time when I slept 8-10 hours a night and the more I slept the more tired I was. All I heard was horror stories about it before I tried it, but I was desperate for something and it sounded too good not to try out. I didn't follow all the other "rules" like sleeping at the same time everyday and laying down for that exact period of time even if you weren't tired, blah, blah. It never would have worked if I had done those things.

I started off, when I was tired in the middle of the day, I would take a 90 minute nap and then sleep six hours at night. When my body got used to that, I would decrease my core sleep to 4.5 hours and then eventually to 3 hours. Now I sleep 90 minutes either right after lunch or right after dinner depending on my schedule and then 3 hours at night/morning. I tried it for a good year before describing it fully to my mom and brother. They're both starting on it now. It's working great for my mom, she said it was great from the first day. It's not working out well for my brother. I described it to fellow vet students and they 😱 at me. They said nothing in the world would convince them to try it out! lol.

There's a lot of information out there for and against it but nothing overwhelming one direction or the other. Which, I believe, is because there is no one set way of sleeping that works for everyone. I think it is better to listen to your own body rather than what the "experts" say is best. Has anyone else tried this? Or another form of polyphasic sleeping?

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[rugbychick16]

Sounds interesting, but I agree that every person has a different way of sleeping so it probably wouldnt work for all

I CANNOT take naps. Never have been able to. Quit taking naps when i was like 3 years old actually. Doesn't matter if I got 2 hours of sleep the night before or 12, I cannot lay down and fall asleep in the middle of the day.

Its frustrating when after exams on fridays the rest of my class talks about how excited they are to go home and take a nap before they go out to the bars that night, and I can't do that, because I will clean/buy groceries/cook the rest of the day, and then fall asleep at 9 pm.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

[kayakman28]

I CANNOT take naps. Never have been able to.

Anyone else have this problem?

I am exactly like that...Napping and I just do not get along. I could pull an all-nighter, and still no nap. If i happen to fall asleep during the day, that is my number one indicator that I am getting sick.

I'm not sure about your sleep habits, but I also have a hard time falling asleep at night. I am pretty lucky if I get 5/6 hours a night.

If I had the time to experiment, I might consider the biphasic sleep, but it seems like it would be torturous to try to get acclimated to that in the beginning.

 

[twelvetigers]

I can always nap, anywhere, anytime... fell asleep on benches outside and in the student union at school a lot... have nodded off in class... I fall asleep in my car at lunchtime... basically, if I sit or lay still, give me 10 minutes and I'm gone.

That said, if I don't set an alarm I usually end up napping for longer than planned. Did that today, actually - laid down at 7 and woke up at 9:45. A lot of times I feel groggy post-nap and it takes me a while to get to feeling awake again.

I don't think I feel tired during the day, usually, but I do have the hardest time getting up. Just that initial, "Okay, just one foot out from under the covers... seriously now, just do it... c'mon, don't go back to sleep... got things to do... zzzzzz," and I'm out again.

I'm curious about the sleep method, but my current way seems fine aside from that initial wake-up, so I'm not inclined to try anything new. Plus, I know my husband would pooh-pooh the idea himself and I'd rather keep our schedules somewhat the same. But, if trouble arises, I would be willing to pursue it as an option!

So does anyone else have sleeping "methods?" Does everyone here buy into the "8 hours" thing?

 

[Truth74]

I'm sorta biphasic, right now.

I go to work, come home, sleep for an hour or two, wake up, take the kids to school, or go to some appointment, go back home, go to sleep for as long as the alarm lets me, get up and go to work, again.

There's food, and household chores at home, too.

 

[rugbychick16]

I have no problems falling asleep at night, I am out within 10 minutes of laying down. And I can usually wake up in the morning when I need to without my alarm going off. My body is just programmed to sleep only sometime between the hours of 9pm-9am I guess.

 

[Kat0303]

This is exactly what I do. Sleep 5-6 hours a night, then take a 2 hour nap when I get home from class around 4. If I get more than 6 hours of sleep at night, it never fails, I will struggle to stay awake in class. If I get 5 hours, I will be awake and able to pay attention in class, but get really tired when I get home. So, napping is pretty much essential for me.

 

[flyhi]

This is so interesting, as i've been feeling guilty about my naps lately, but now i can justify them 😀. I am a serious napper, always have been, always will be.

i used to require 8-10 hours of sleep a night. Now i sleep about 6 hours a night (i'm a huge night owl), get up early am in my office at 730 am, then nap around 230-3pm for an hour and a half or so. I wake up a little groggy, but then i have the energy to go for a good workout and stay up to study. It is perfect and i hope that i can keep up the routine in vet school. I realize that my night time sleep may be reduced 😱, but i also won't be working out so hard and therefore my body may not require the rest as much.

i think nap's are a gift from heaven 😍

 

[Capella]

Ha! I need to make my family read this. They consider my nap taking needs unhealthy. If left to my own devices I can sleep 3-4 hours when I take a nap, so I set my alarm for 1.5 to 2 hours.

 

[PAThbrd]

i am very intrigued. i think i might try the two weeks as soon as im on a rotation that will allow it schedule wise

 

[sumstorm]

Hmmmm....I am one of those people who can't nap. If I am napping, I am sick...seriously sick, like when I had a severe immuno response to hogs weed. Then I slept ALL the time.

Oh, and when I worked for NOAA on the Atlantic Fishing Fleet. We generaly worked 20 hours a day, slept 4...and caught brief naps every chance we could, wherever we could, including leaning against bulkheads! And when I was back on land I would sleep for 2-3 days solid.

 

[redsteven]

Hm.... this is a very interesting thread.

Has anyone seen any studies/research done on this?

 

[AlleyKat]

Agreed, this is a really interesting thread. I'm another quit-taking-naps-at-a-ridiculously-young-age...but now I'm making up for it. The biphasic idea sounds really interesting to me, but I'd be a little nervous to try it. Heartsong, was it hard to adjust? How long did it take to get used to? I love nothing more than an afternoon nap lol, but my problem is that when the alarm goes off, I still feel exhausted and usually stretch the nap out for another hour or so. And I'm not talking 20 minute cat-naps, these are an hour or more.

 

[HeartSong]

was it hard to adjust? How long did it take to get used to? I love nothing more than an afternoon nap lol, but my problem is that when the alarm goes off, I still feel exhausted and usually stretch the nap out for another hour or so. And I'm not talking 20 minute cat-naps, these are an hour or more.

Hey, what I'd suggest for you is to make your naps 90 minutes long (add a few minutes extra at first if you know it will take a while to fall asleep). If you still feel tired when you wake up, set your alarm for another 90 minutes (if that's feasible). I still wake up groggy if something happens and I don't get 90 minutes or a multiple of that. I'll eat something light and that will help the grogginess. But I usually feel refreshed if I get exactly 90 minutes (or really close to it).

From what I read (from bloggers and such) it seems that the usual experience is that it takes two weeks to adjust if you do a straight change over and that those two weeks are really, really hard. They call it controlled sleep deprivation. You're sleep deprived because your body doesn't know how to sleep that way, you won't enter a deep sleep fast enough at first.

That's why I used naps as a sort of training ground and didn't do much to change how I slept at night in the beginning. I didn't have much of an adjustment because I kinda eased into it instead of a straight over adjustment like a lot of people try. Once my body learned to sleep for 90 minute naps, it was almost a natural change to adjust my nights to 6 hours then 4.5 and then 3. The decrease in hours at night was kinda random and took place over several months. Not everyone will cut down that much.

It's really about taking the basic idea of it and then seeing how it fits into your schedule. For my mom, when her dogs wake her up in the middle of the night, she figures out how much time is left until she has to get up. If it's less that 90 minutes, she'll stay up. If it's more, then she'll adjust her alarm so that it is 1.5 hours. She wakes up early in the morning but works a late shift so she grabs a 90 minute nap before going to work.

 

[loo]

Don't know how one can be productive with only 3-4 hours of sleep a night...guess everyone's sleep needs are variable.

Being a natural night-owl, I wish classes were at night. I am definitely NOT a morning person.

 

[Pandacinny]

After this morning, I think I might have to try this. I have occasional bouts of what I think is called "sleep paralysis" when I'm especially stressed or low on sleep. I wake up, but can't move - usually only for a few minutes if that long, but it's pretty scary because I'm often still sort of half in a dream and they're those really realistic dreams where you're convinced you're fully awake. (This is as opposed to dreams about purple unicorns and mountains made of ice cream - you KNOW those dreams aren't real.) I mean, the dreams themselves aren't menacing, but not being able to move/wake up completely is, and I'm usually confused/disoriented when I DO wake up all the way.

Anyways, I think napping might help me feel more rested, less stressed, and less prone to scariness when I'm waking up. Plus scheduling sleep time would probably help. So thanks, Heartsong, for the option! I'll try it out and see if it works. My sleep schedule's already crazy enough that a straight switch shouldn't be too bad.

 

[AlleyKat]

I think I just might try this!...maybe. Haha.

Pandacinny, one of my undergrad roomates used to experience exactly what your're describing it sounds like. She was definitely a very, very, stressed out person (all the time) and you said it happens when you're especially stressed so maybe there's some sort of correlation? Interesting..

 

[KittenKiller]

This is my strategy:

 

[lenmaca]

After this morning, I think I might have to try this. I have occasional bouts of what I think is called "sleep paralysis" when I'm especially stressed or low on sleep. I wake up, but can't move - usually only for a few minutes if that long, but it's pretty scary because I'm often still sort of half in a dream and they're those really realistic dreams where you're convinced you're fully awake. (This is as opposed to dreams about purple unicorns and mountains made of ice cream - you KNOW those dreams aren't real.) I mean, the dreams themselves aren't menacing, but not being able to move/wake up completely is, and I'm usually confused/disoriented when I DO wake up all the way.

Pandacinny, this happens to me as well!!! Although, it usually only occurs when I'm having a nightmare. I feel fully awake and see things or vague figures walking/running around my bedroom and I can't move. It's terrifying! How frequently does this happen to you?
It rarely happens to me for it to be a major problem, but the few times I've been "sleep paralyzed" were definitely scary. Although, I don't recall being sleep deprived or stressed out when it happened (I have always been a very skilled professional napper).
ALSO, I don't know why this can't happen during a good dream! I think I'd be perfectly fine with George Clooney walking around my bedroom.

 

[eventualeventer]

KittenKiller, it looks like you are trying to use your touchpad with your chin. You can just say that your hands were tired!

 

[Pandacinny]

Lenmaca, for me it really varies. Right now, I'm averaging 2-4x per month, which I think is because I started a new job and my sleep schedule has been disrupted. Normally, it's only once per month if that, but transitiong always make it worse. I'm hoping that if I can get into a good sleep routine now, I won't have as tough a time when I get to school.

 

[PAThbrd]

This is my strategy:

haha i recognized hill right away, we have quite a few pictures amongst our class like that. One of my classmates made a facebook album of pictures of different people sleeping during class taken on cell phone cameras 🙂

 

[Poochlover11]

haha i recognized hill right away, we have quite a few pictures amongst our class like that. One of my classmates made a facebook album of pictures of different people sleeping during class taken on cell phone cameras 🙂

Haha-ya I have seen people sleeping in class. One time I was late to class and sat in the back row of a big lecture. Unfortunately the person I sat next to was snoring! It was so distracting and amusing at the same time 😀

 

[Pandacinny]

My cell biology professor had a really soothing, quiet voice and I would always fall asleep briefly somewhere towards the middle of his class. Always. It did NOT make him happy! Luckily, I still did fine, so I guess it didn't hurt me too much. 😳

 

[projekt]

I need a laptop with an airbag! zzzz

 

[winterfire1203]

I CANNOT take naps.

Its frustrating when after exams on fridays the rest of my class talks about how excited they are to go home and take a nap before they go out to the bars that night, and I can't do that, because I will clean/buy groceries/cook the rest of the day, and then fall asleep at 9 pm.

Anyone else have this problem?

Ditto! Everyone else is all excited and all I can think about is that maybe my sleep schedule will get me in bed by ten. Almost flunked kindergarten because my teacher couldn't stand that I wouldn't nap.

I had this goal that I would learn to nap by 4th year, so that with late night emergencies maybe I'd be awake enough for rounds the next day, but that's apparently not going to happen.

Now, I have managed to do the sleep 1-3 hours 4 nights in a row thing. Maybe that counts as napping? Not refreshing though.

 

[littlehooves]

It depends on my motivation I think... if I'm doing an all nighter, sometimes I can whip through the night like there's no tomorrow....molecular genetics assignment last semester- death.

Other then that I'm pretty narcoleptic when I sleep. In high school my mom would turn on 2 alarm clocks and I would sleep through them both. One time I was watching my friends band jam- and I fell asleep literally 3 feet from the speakers.

 

[Tco87]

Last night I started making the transition to biphasic sleep and thought I'd bring this thread back and see if anyone else is a biphasic sleeper.

 

[katryn]

I am not a biphasic sleeper, and I'm not sure it would help me to switch. My big trigger is sunlight. If the sun isn't up, waking up doesn't come easily. During the summer, I can function on almost no sleep; during the winter, I fall asleep every couple of hours even during the day unless I'm actively moving. I really desperately want one of those sunlight mimicking lamps with the built in timer/alarm system.

 

[168135]

I'm actually in the process of switching over to this method.

This year, I'm in school from 8am to 6pm, four days a week. I would sleep 7.5-8.5 hours a night and still need a coffee in the morning and a coffee in the afternoon to stop me from falling asleep in class. I would get home at 6, make supper and do some chores. Around 7:30 or 8, I'd sit down and try to study and be WAY too tired.

Last night, I slept from 7:30-9:30 and started studying at 10. I made myself quit at 2am and slept until 6:45. I'm a little tired now, but I functioned a lot better in lab this morning.

I've done this a couple of times during exams last semester. It works a lot better for me than staying up until 3am studying the night before an exam.

My midterms start this week, so I think I'm going to continue the biphasic sleep thing until they end and see if it really makes a difference.

The only thing I don't like about it is that I tend to have more vivid dreams when I nap then when I sleep. I dream all sorts of crazy things anyway, but my dreams are more realistic when I nap. I'm also more likely to experience sleep paralysis and wake up with my heart racing when I nap.

 

[HandD42]

I gave it a serious try the beginning of the semester but could not get it to stick.

I get really crabby when I get up from "naps" or anytime I was doing the shorter sleep periods. Then I felt really nauseous when I was not sleeping more then 6 hours at night. I had to give it up in the 2nd week.

It seems like a great idea because it would be nice to have 20 usable hours in the day instead of 16. For me I decided instead of biphasic sleeping I needed instead to put some limitations on this whole "vet school thing". Now I go to sleep at 11:30 whether I have a gigantic anatomy exam the next day or not.

 

[goldielocks137]

I definitely agree with feeling groggy and crabby after napping. Sometimes naps work for me and sometimes they don't. But I had heard before that sleep cycles are 90 minutes, and my ex got me into setting an alarm about 90 minutes before I actually want to wake up. When that alarm goes off I get to go back to sleep (which is definitely a nice feeling if you're not a morning person), but at the next alarm, after 90 minutes of extra sleep, I am completely ready to get up and start the day. There was a short period of time where I stopped doing this and once I started again I felt so much better in the morning.

 

[168135]

Right now, I'm getting the same amount of sleep (7-8 hours), and I'm seeing a huge improvement in my energy levels. I think after midterms I'm going to get strict with it and see if I can decrease my overall sleep.

 

[sumstorm]

I do best when I can get into a biphasic sleep routine, generally either 4.5 hours or 6 hours of total sleep, depending on nap length. I definitly can't do 6 hours nightly and be fine, so I'm more productive. I think the biggest reason it helps me is that I come home from all day at classes mentally worn out, so I tend to crash and be very non-productive for several hours. If I sleep instead of surf the web or watch TV, I need less sleep at night, and my mental acuity is much higher when I wake up. So then I get a couple hours of very productive time in, followed by more sleep.

The biggest challenge I have is that surgery class on Tuesday can easly go to 6pm, and I have a 4-6pm class on Thursdays, and that kind of messes up the biphasic pattern for me, so I have struggled with it this semester. I also find this works really well right before an exam....breaking the sleep up seems to give my mind some processing time.

 

[Tco87]

I do best when I can get into a biphasic sleep routine, generally either 4.5 hours or 6 hours of total sleep, depending on nap length. I definitly can't do 6 hours nightly and be fine, so I'm more productive. I think the biggest reason it helps me is that I come home from all day at classes mentally worn out, so I tend to crash and be very non-productive for several hours. If I sleep instead of surf the web or watch TV, I need less sleep at night, and my mental acuity is much higher when I wake up. So then I get a couple hours of very productive time in, followed by more sleep.

The biggest challenge I have is that surgery class on Tuesday can easly go to 6pm, and I have a 4-6pm class on Thursdays, and that kind of messes up the biphasic pattern for me, so I have struggled with it this semester. I also find this works really well right before an exam....breaking the sleep up seems to give my mind some processing time.

How long did it take you to get into a routine?

 

[sumstorm]

I normally fall into it. IE I have a late night or two, then find that I need a nap. Rather than just going to be early, or crashing for as long as I like, I set an alarm for 90 minutes. If I'm still really tired when that 90 minutes is up, I go for another 90 minutes, but that is the max I'll do, then I'll get up, with the plan to do another 180 minutes sometime during the night. Then, I'll just keep doing that.

I can literally switch over in a matter of days IF I can start the naps by 6pm each day. However, I have found that if you are going to miss 2+ days of napping a week, it becomes nearly impossible to maintain. And I do find that it can affect some social activities (which may be good or bad, depending on you goals at the moment.)

I am not personally able to start if I am not already fatigued enough to truely need a nap, but once I start, as long as I obey the 90 minute 'rule' (which is a bit variable from person to person) I am good to continue.