Wednesday, 16 September 2009
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Power Naps - A New Lifestyle?!
I am having trouble sleeping these days. I seem to nap a bit every three hours.
However, I just learned that many famous persons have had unusual sleep habits. Recently I read about Da Vinci never sleeping more than 20 minutes at a time in any 24 hour period. The brain needs at least 90 minutes of sleep to go through the necessary phases to maintain health.
This system of sleeping (aka: Da Vinci sleep) is called Polyphasic Sleep. It uses short naps to reduce total sleep time to 2-5 hours a day. This is achieved by implementing many 20-30 minute naps throughout the day. Advocates say that polyphasic sleep allows for more productive awake hours.
Though there are many variations of this form of sleep, a common schedule would be: 30 minute naps every fourth hour.
The reason many folks attempt to follow this alternate sleeping pattern is to increase their total waking hours. By decreasing sleep to only a few hours a day, these schedules do achieve that goal. In a year, a "poly" sleeper could gain an extra 45 days!
The main con to adapting an alternate sleep pattern includes being out of sync with the rest of the world, and difficulties maintaining such a rigid schedule.Could you maintain a polyphasic sleep schedule? Do you think you get enough sleep?
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About the Author
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- From: Gentemann@xanga
- Name: Gerald
- About Me: After working globally for both McCann Erickson and BBDO Worldwide in more than 26 countries I am now consulting with hypnoticmedia for Fortune 500 companies, helping them to take advantage of the power of mobile devices. Hypnoticmedia starts and executes every assignment with the assumption that there is a tangible business goal to achieve and that our communication strategies must align with the business objectives of our clients.
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Comments (26)
I don't get enough sleep at all... since school started, I've been averaging about four hours a night -.-
Love naps.
@soniiuh@xanga - Maybe you should "polyphasic sleep" like I do during school :)
@aznspartan94@xanga - LOL nooo I can't do that! I TRY to take a short nap during lunch time but that doesn't go well because of all the yelling and shouting nearby..
@soniiuh@xanga - Prop yourself up with your arms on your desk and read the book or paper your class is currently studying.
I like my 7-10 solid hours of sleep. Very few things wake me up unnaturally, like my alarm clock (but only the one on my cell phone set at its highest volume on the opposite end of the room, so I have to get up to turn it off; otherwise, I turn it off and go back to sleep) or someone calling my name either very loudly or being very close to me and calling me.
So while I can fall asleep in any condition, if I ever did try to nap several times throughout the day, I can guarantee you I would miss many classes because I'd sleep for a minimum of 2-3 hours.
Not with the way my world works right now--with high school and extracurricular activities and whatnot. It's a fascinating concept though. If I ever have a more flexible schedule, I'll consider it.
um, I believe that on the path I am going, it won't be long before I adopt the polyphasic sleep schedule. :P
Gentemann@xanga: Could you maintain a polyphasic sleep schedule? Do you think you get enough sleep?
Yes, I have. I function well with little sleep. Though the times I adopted this sleep pattern weren't exactly voluntary, but it worked out well.
I never thought of doing this!!! i might try it now!!! I get enough sleep if i make an effort too
what is this shit?
i get enough sleep =] but i dont think i will have enough sleep when i start uni
Wow that sounds really awesome. With school, I wouldn't be able to manage that, but I would love to try it in the future.
Did anyone see the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer tried to do that Polyphasic sleep thing? He wanted to stop wasting his life or something. It was a hillarious episode.
Yeah, I couldn't do that. I tried doing that once and nearly fainted. .__.
the only problem with that is, power naps are more likely than not going to turn into 3-4 hour naps for me..
oh god, sounds like my former psycho boss. scary.
no way.
i love my sleep WAY too much
I only sleep three or four hours a night on avarage anyway...
I've only slept more than 12 hours once in my entire life. I usually average 6 hours or so, but I can also survive on two hours a day. If necessary, I can go 36 hours without sleep. 6 hours is the maximum I get if my sleep schedule is regular, but I don't really have a regular sleep pattern anyway.
i definitely know i get a lot of sleep.. since i am medication right now... i knock out fast.. lol glad i am not in college right now.. i would sleep all day
Naps are the best but I don't think I can go on like DaVinci. >
My friend did this all through college. We would all be hanging out together and he'd say "Power nap. Power nap. 20 minutes." And he would then proceed to fall asleep (wherever we were) and take his power nap. He seemed to function just fine. I could never do it myself personally. I can't even get to sleep in 20 minutes.
I've tried power napping, never works out for me
i wish i could sleep more :/