Because I’m just a bit of a masochist I thought I might screw around with my sleep patterns some more. This time; however, it’s a little less drastic and I have more scientific data on my side. I’m going to try biphasic sleep.
This time around I’m going to ease myself into it. Cut an hour off nightly sleep, take a midday nap; cut a bit more off the nightly, take a longer midday nap etc. Eventually I’m going to try a 50/50 approach.
There is some good reasoning to this: Firstly, circadian rhythms show that humans are naturally biphasic, secondly I can get alot more done at night when there are fewer distractions, but my third ‘its better for study’ theory is my favorite.
Think of it this way. We’re told all the time that ‘sleeping on it’ can help you learn. So I go to uni, get home at 4ish, sleep until 7ish then prepare dinner, eat etc and study until 4am. I then Sleep until 7am get ready for uni and repeat. Good for the brain, good for the lifestyle, not to mention its middayitis killing potential.
The advantages of this technique over others is I believe I can still get by on less sleep than if its all in one lump, its far more flexible and less drastic than polyphasic sleeping and it fits natural sleep cycles. Each full cycle is 90min so I get two full cycles per 3hr sleep, theoretically meaning I should easily get used to waking up at that point and will feel refreshed and relaxed.
I’m not starting this today because I have to head off for a volunteer induction at uni this afternoon but I’ll keep you all posted.
Imported from my old blog
Tags: Experiment, Sleep, Biphasic, Polyphasic
Miriam Parkinson 