Around 1/3 of all Americans don’t have enough sleep. And the problem is that they are very busy and most of the time they need to cut from their sleep time in order to complete all their day to day tasks. Which is a shame, because you lower your productivity levels if you do that. You will also have less sleep hours, so you will feel tired for most of the time. Some people believe that polyphasic sleep can be a very good idea, but is it worth it? Let’s find out.
What is polyphasic sleep?
The huge majority of people are monophasic sleepers. They just sleep for a huge chunk during the night and that’s it. The polyphasic sleepers are not like that. There are multiple polyphasic sleep schedules out there, but the primary focus here is on making sure that you control your sleep pattern the way you want.
Is it good for your health?
There’s no long term research on the downsides of polyphasic sleep. Sure, in the short term you shouldn’t have that much of a problem with it. You will notice that polyphasic sleep will be great for you if you have a lot of work to go through and your productivity is not that good with the current schedule. But you still need a good night’s sleep in order to increase your concentration. That being said, there are some people that sleep less than 7-8 hours per day thanks to the polyphasic sleep patterns and they get to work super well.
What type of polyphasic sleep is good for you?
A popular schedule is to sleep 4 hours during the night and then you spread 2 hours in 20-minute chunks of sleep scattered during the day. Or you can sleep 3 hours during the night and then add 1 hour of sleep during the day, once each 3-4 hours. It’s a very good way to lower your sleep time and increase your productivity. It’s definitely the type of thing that can help you a lot, especially if you want to avoid any kind of rush. You have to keep in mind the fact that once you start this type of schedule, you pretty much have to stick to it. That doesn’t mean it will be a hard thing to do. But it comes with its fair share of challenges, and that’s why you need to be patient with it.
How much should you stick to polyphasic sleep?
As we mentioned earlier, there’s not a lot of research when it comes to polyphasic sleep. But what we do know is that doing it for the short term won’t be a problem. That’s why you need to try out polyphasic sleep when you have a ton of work to go through and can’t really do everything you want without any challenges. There won’t be a lot of health risks if you still get enough sleep during the day. But a lack of sleep can definitely be a problem, so try to take that into account!
