Sleep – ah yes, that fine moment when your head
touches your favorite comfy pillow and you can finally rest after a whole day
full of work. You can stretch your legs and arms, turn on your favorite side
and hope for the best dreams to come. But we all know that we tend to cut some
hours from the actual sleep, either by “finding
this Youtube spiral of funny videos we’ve never seen before and right now is the best moment to watch
them, even if it’s 3am and we’ve already seen two 40-minute compilations”
or by setting our alarms earlier, because we have to do some additional things
before our usual timetable, even though we know that we will feel exhausted
later, usually few hours after noon. So, we help ourselves with a quick nap
(i.e. not the “30-minute nap that has transcended into half-a-day
fulltime sleep, that will keep us running until long after midnight”),
that gives us the energy required to finish the day without being a zombie, and
thanks to that, we can call it a day and go back to sleep, hopefully for longer
this time.
The usual man sleeps
for about 7 to 9 hours, that’s more than one third of our life. For 33% we lie
unproductively, snoring and exchanging gases. However, researches have shown
that it is possible to lower the amount of sleep needed, by sleeping more
often, but in shorter intervals – phases. For example, many air forces have
tested this approach and their results were ranging from as little as 20
minutes, up to 2-hour naps.
While lack of sleep can lead to serious mental
health problems and if continued, it will ultimately lead to death of the
individual, sometimes it can help us to rip some more hours from our timetable,
e.g. for learning to exams, grinding our stats in a game, or simply procrastinate some more, even if we didn’t mean
to do this.
“How
short can we sleep, without going to the looney bin or, you know, dying?”
And here comes the fun
part, as I present to you… The
polyphasic sleep.
From that, people have
developed different sleep schedules, with the Uberman being one of the most
extreme, where you sleep just about 3,5 hours in case of longer naps during the
night – otherwise it consists of only 2 hours and 40 minutes of sleep, divided
in 8 naps.
The above schedule
requires you to have a nice spot to get some shut-eye every 160 minutes, which
can be quite hard, but look at the bright side of it – you get to use more than
full 20 hours of your day, instead of some puny 16 – that might be a
gamechanger when you have to learn, for example a whole semester of things in
just about 2 days. That is, if you won’t faint on the exam itself, or start
writing gibberish on it, because of exhaustion.
The second schedule
worth noting is Everyman- its more realistic than uberman (what you can do at 1am?
Or at 5am? Also, the naps in the middle of the day would be hard to introduce),
and it has a core-sleeping” part, usually in the night, so you don’t feel like
you’ve wasted time on sleeping:
But what to do, when we
don’t have any exams in the nearest future or we simply don’t want to turn
ourselves into a living robot-like guy who never sleeps? Well, go the same way
as romans did for hundreds of years – have a siesta!
Since it’s been used
for ages, its beneficial effect on health are well known – you will have better
mood and won’t be so stressed, as siesta nap is usually taken after dinner.
Besides that, you will learn better and keep higher alertness for longer during
the day, as midday siesta helps your cognitive functions.
So, I’ve shown you some
of the sleep schedules that let you squeeze some additional hours into your
working timetable. Personally, I never had a chance to try the extreme ones,
but I can assure you that it is possible to divide sleep in two phases without
a performance hit. It comes up with a price of moving your waking hours into late
night, but it works flawlessly when you don’t have to wake up at 8am.
Questions:
- Have you ever heard about polyphasic sleep schedules?
- Did you try switching your sleep schedule, or at least changing your sleep time?
- Do you personally think it is possible for a normal man to sleep as little as 3 hours per day?
Comments
I tried so many times to change my sleeping schedule, but it is so difficult to adapt after that. When you are young, you don't need too many hours to feel great, but sometimes, for instance, you must sleep a lot to start recovering process after training.
Certainly, it is NOT good for a normal man to sleep as little as 3 hours per day, but i think it depends on personality. I met people, who are able to sleep for 4 hours every day and feel like in a best shape.
Sleeping less than 3 hours per day surely don't lead to anything good. It can be bearable for short period, but it's impossible to sleep like that every day. It could make us all the time tired and unfocused.
There is an opinion that this is a developed habit, and that it needs twenty-one day get used to the habit, so if someone wants to change the sleeping schedule they can use this method of twenty-one day, I personally did not succeed in this I lasted only for five days, but who knows maybe it will work for someone else.
It is very difficult for me to sleep for 3 hours a day and maybe that sleep will not succeed at all, but it's probably an individual, some may endure this regime and work worth for them.
Usually, I switch my schedule based on how much I need work to do and how much time I've slept last night, but those differences in sleep time aren't too big (maybe between 1 or 2 hours only).
I don't think that sleeping for only 3 hours per day is healthy for a normal person. It might be possible but not good for your body or mental health. Of course, if you have a big project to be finished before the deadline or exam sessions, then you can try methods mentioned in the article, but you definitely shouldn't use them on daily basis.
I never try to change my sleep schedule. Of course in the weekend I go to sleep late, but I also get up later. Every day, I have sleep about 8 hours.
I believe that 3 hours of sleep is definitely not enough. Maybe at the beginning it will be a good feeling but I think that the body will be tired all the time in my opinion.
I work full time + attend full time studies so I had to change my sleeping habits to keep up with all responsibilities. Few years ago, I was dead if I didn't sleep at least 8 hours. Now, after 7 hours of sleep I feel like new born.
Is it possible for a normal man to sleep 3 hours a day? In short term yes, but in long term(+1 month) I think that it is impossible to sleep 3 hours and be as productive as a normal sleeping person
I used to have different sleep schedules, tried to sleep for 5 hours and less but it was a complete disaster.I felt exhausted and harassed during the whole day, short naps helped me to recreate some energy but it didn’t last more than 2 - 3 hours.Overall sleeping for 7-8 hours is the best solution for me.
I think it’s possible for a normal man to sleep for 3 hours but does it make sense?
Of course i like to play games, sometimes if its longer holyday i finish playin around 4am so then i have to swich back to normal.
It depends for how long. For a month yes, but imagine how hard it will be for your body to have this little of sleep. Like, your hearth is relaxing durning deep sleep and if you dont provide it well... we dont know for sure
It’s important to remember, that we all have different physical needs
and we all require different amounts of sleep
No, I haven't because I'm very comfortable with my
current sleeping schedule and moreover I
like to stay up late and drink some beers while browsing online reddit pages.
I think its not possible. Its media's and corporation's use of propaganda to
persuade people's attitude and beliefs to make them work longer.
2. I have never tried to do it intentionally, however I was forced to switch my sleep schedule many times because of the exams at university or staying long hours at work.
3. I think it is possible for a quite short period of time like few weeks, provided we are following some guidelines similar to ones mentioned in the article. In the long run I am almost sure it would significantly affect our well-being and sanity.
2) As I mentioned, I tried napping during the day, usually after meal, or training or basicly when I was exhausted(because I fail to fall asleep night before) - what works for me, was training just before gym close - I came home sometimes around 22, eat light dinner, full of protein(micellar casein shake/pudding has a lot of benefits during sleep). After that, i go directly to bed, no facebook or other distracions - yeah, good times, I have to go back to this rutine..
3)Not a chance, maybe it's possible to do that, when You're some kind of procrastinator - doing nothing for all day not require a lot of energy. But if You are active person, especially athlet, geting rest is the most important thing, 7-9 sometimes is not enough ;)
~s13816
I heard once something about polyphasic sleep and it was exactly about 4 hours awakes and then 20 minutes of nap, but I never tried that. I also heard a lot about a siesta when I was in Spain, especially when I wanted to buy something in the shop but almost every shop was closed then, in the middle of the day.
2. Did you try switching your sleep schedule, or at least changing your sleep time?
I try to switching my sleep schedule for greater time of my life and still i cannot awake at 6 am.
3. Do you personally think it is possible for a normal man to sleep as little as 3 hours per day?
In my opinion definitely not. I think that 6 hours are too little. But it is only my opinion and I like too sleep much.
A couple of times, but without much success. For me, it is tough to maintain any sleep schedule because of my lifestyle. It needs daily planning. I cannot plan for more than a week because most of the time something unexpected happens and I have to adjust everything to feet my new needs.
With proper preparations and supplementations - yes, but it is as hard as exercising or regularly going to the gym. It requires to break some barriers, but after that, I think everyone is capable of archiving it.
I don't have such good sleep habits since forever. I have changed my sleep schedule because few years ago I was sleeping maybe 5-6 hours and when I wake up to school I wasn't able to focus during a first lesson. Fortunetely I got wise and now I feel much more better.
Maybe it is possible for a normal man to sleep as little as 3 hours per day but I am not sure if it is healthy in a long period of time. Probably I won't try such ideas in my life but I will happily opinions from somebody who tried such a sleep schedule.
I've never really tried to change my sleep schedule for no real reason, but sometimes I was just forced to do so. It's pretty rough sometimes to both work and study at the same time. I have usually ended up sleeping 2 times a day, just for a relatively shorter periods. I guess we could call it having a "siesta".
I can say that it's possible to sleep around 3 hours a day - I have lived like that for some period of time, but it was terrible. My mood was pretty horrible most of the time, but I've still managed to accomplish some things. I think that the very least that some people can achieve on a daily basis is around 5 hours - and it still doesn't concern all of them. That's when I am talking about monophasic sleep, so I believe it's possible to sleep 3 hours a day if we manage to adjust the schedule just right.
Once, when I read about all this benefits that polyphasic sleep offers I got excited and started thinking about changing my sleeping habits (extremely) to one of schedules that you mentioned. After rethinking and realizing that it is not possible according to my work and school schedules I gave it up. Now I am trying to go to sleep as soon I can and get at least 8 hours of healthy, uninterrupted sleep.
I think that it is not possible or at least not healthy for normal man to sleep only 3 hours per day. Maybe it is achievable for a couple of days, like during exam session, but in long term it would have bad effect on your health.
I personally think that sleeping less than 3 hours a day may have a deteriorating impact on your health in the long run, whatever the current studies say. Remember - scientists can be wrong, but no one will give you back the health you put on the line when you decided to follow an extravagant fashion just to skip some sleeping hours.
I've tried to do that once, and I've managed to hold my plan for a week at most. I'm a person like you perfectly described before. Even if its 3 AM and I know that in the morning I'll be a "walking dead" I still find some time to watch youtube and stuff.
About last question if think it is impossible. There are scientific reaserches about sleeping and as I recall, They said that adult person need at least 6 hours sleep per day to stay healthy.
I am a person who has big problems with insomnia and regular sleep. I often can't get enough sleep and I'm still tired. Often, after a few nights during which I didn't sleep, I slept for over ten hours and woke up constantly tired.
Maybe it's the answer for my problems.
However, I can not imagine sleeping for 3 hours and be rested. It's hard to believe. Maybe it's because I really like the moment during the day when I can lie down in the bed and do nothing, waiting to fall asleep.
I tried to get the most out of my sleep by moving it few hours earlier or later, but it seems after all, I am most productive and feel good when I sleep around 7-8 hours and if I go to sleep before midnight. Actually, the best time for me is to go to sleep around 10 pm, but it doesn't happen very often.
Sleeping for less than hours scares me. For me it is possible only for a short period of time. Also I have a family member that somehow can't really get much sleep, which night means 3-4 hours. I have no idea how human brain can sustain this schedule but it has been doing it for a couple of years now. It doesn't mean it's healthy but I can imagine that my brain would melt pretty fast when it was tested like this for week top.
Yes, I tried it many times. When I was sleeping for 8-10 hours I was feeling very lazy and tired through the day. Then I changed my sleep time to 5-7 hours. Interesting thing is, it made me feel a lot better. I’m more creative, active etc.
Is it possible to sleep a 3 hours per day? Maybe in a short-term period of time - yes. In my opinion that’s unhealthy and the consequences can be serious.
I've tried switching my sleep schedule many times, from sleeping 5-6 hours a day with a naps, to sleeping at least 10 hours at night - it didn't work out. Personally I think the best method for sleeping is just go to bed at least 8 hours before you need to wake up. Of course, waking up in the morning is always difficult, but it's much easier when you have slept 8 hours, than 4 :)
I think that sleeping 3 hours a day may harm your health condition, and I wouldn't try it
While the average person who has access to regular sleeping habits should stick to their nighttime routine, some research indicates that polyphasic sleep can be a beneficial option for those who don’t. According to a 2012 report, polyphasic sleep has various psychological effects on a person. The author of the study concluded that polyphasic sleep might be as beneficial for performance as monophasic sleep, or sleeping one time per day. But timing and duration of naps are important as short-term memory may be affected .
A 2014 article published in Psychology Today also supported polyphasic sleep cycles as an alternative to the traditional eight hours of sleep at night. According to the article, sleeping eight hours at night is stressful for people who are unable to achieve this goal. It also ignores historical sleeping patterns as well . A 2007 study published in the Journal of Sleep stated that most animals on Earth use polyphasic sleep schedules .
The article makes the point that everyone has different sleep needs. While one person might do well on a polyphasic sleep schedule, another might crash their car. Research shows that as much as three percent of the population can survive just fine on a few hours of sleep without any harmful side effects
I switched my sleeping schedule and at the beginning it was boring, I felt sleepy and bored.
In my opinion for longer period of time it's not possible to live like that without any harm on our health. Of course it depend's on our daily routines, kind of work etc, but still, it's not enough.