Does polynapping really works? Are there any adverse side effects? Have any dopers tried it before?
I also remember recalling on this board someone saying (sorry, I can’t remember the exact words) that it is better to sleep in interval of odd hours, due to something about REM. Is there such a thing?
What is polynapping?
Polynapping = lots of short naps throughout the day rather than one long sleep period.
Cecil touched on this here - kinda. There’s a book suggestion there that may help answer the question.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_275b.html
I’ve also heard, if this is what the second part of the OP is talking about, that you should sleep in multiples of three hours. Personally, I do feel better if I sleep for 7 or 9 instead of 8, but that might be my brain fooling me because I heard that.
I polynap often and even as little as half an hour does actually have a noticeable restorative effect,BUT ,and its a big but, until your mind has got used to short interval sleep and can adjust to rapidly bringing you back to full alertness on waking it will probably have the reverse affect .
On awaking your mind will at first still be expecting several more hours sleeptime and you will feel like “death warmed up” for quite a while.
I’ve been told that without practice otherwise its best to sleep in multiples of 4 hours probably due to R.E.M. and our Royal Navys watch system is based on this.
When I polynap I tend to go straight into r.e.m. sleep.
A little off topic but might be of interest ,my quite frequent experiences in the past of extended sleep deprivation while still having to function effectively ie. several days without any sleep or several weeks on a couple of hours a day (we slept while it was light).
Non crisis reactions noticeably slowed down , crisis reactions slowed down but very little (adrenalin,fear) after longer periods a stronger dependance on reacting on “auto pilot”,skills and actions that have been drilled into you by constant repetition under all conditions .
No unnecessary actions(including facial expressions) or conversation.If you look at people and yourself in everyday life you’ll notice that a lot of time is spent altering posture ,fiddling ,fidgiting ,adjusting clothing etc. without you even being aware of it . As prolonged fatigue sets in you cant be bothered doing it not even on a subconscious level and you use minimum effort automatically for all actions.
Also your sense of curiousity for curiositys sake disappears , likewise your sense of humour, as does any interest in things irrelevant to staying alive and doing the job.
When you do get sleep there is no transitional “doze” phase ,you go straight into unconsciouness and R.E.M. sleep.
Most,if not all of us ,had what we called a"nightwatchman "consciousness,that is though deeply asleep a portion of our minds was still aware of what was happening around us and particulary attuned to possible threats ,this ability vanished after several days of sleep deprivation.
Micro sleeps while standing or even walking along become more frequent but are usually only noticed by others .The most extreme case for myself was stowing away kit into my bergan rucksack,putting it on ,walking for perhaps 30 minutes while carrying out routine tasks and minor conversation,all while being fast asleep ,even my work colleagues believed
that I was awake ,though to be fair they weren’t at the pinnacle of alertness themselves.
As the deprivation becomes more extended tasks involving mental efort such as numeric calculation(needed for tasks related to message format and radio operation) become more difficult ,you become confused more easily ,forgetful and it becomes difficult to concentrate,even when someone is talking to you about something of importance,so it may take several repetitions to convey a comparitively simple message.
Resistance to pain becomes lessened ,quite minor knocks hurt more and the pain lasts longer , you become more susceptible to coughs,colds and “flu”,your sense of fear is reduced ,you become careless and overconfident due to maybe a lack of adrenaline (but thats just a guess) or maybe just sheer apathy.
When you get to that stage it takes major self discipline to make yourself carry out precautionary,defensive actions as you should do even though you “know” that they are pointless cos you “know” that you 're in no danger.
After a couple of weeks mild hallucinations can become quite common,apparently its your mind dreaming while you’re still awake .
The strain of being under continuous nervous tension for extended periods can also be a contributary factor ,I’ve seen men shortly before being put into a hazardous situation (and knowing it )literally doze off.My guess is that this is the minds escape route.
And of course theres still the basic sheer physical fatigue and its accompanying muscle strains (particulary prevelant when walking over rough or mountainous terrain) of carrying up to 140lbs on your back on foot for quite long distances (luckily as time goes on the load gets lighter) to be considered.
Now I’m a lazy,fat ,unfit old git I find that if Idont get at LEAST 16 hours a night plus a couple of cat naps during the day I’m useless for leering at young women and shouting abuse at traffic wardens,how we change !
Wow, Lust4Life, that’s awfully in-depth. What were you doing that you have so much experience with sleep deprivation? Was it work related?
The most sleep deprivation I’ve ever dealt with is pulling all nighters in college. I think I went something like 40 hours or so without sleeping once. It is kind of interesting to experience. I had some hallucinations. Caffeine helped me to stay awake, but would eventually make me feel worse, with a loss of apetite, and increased heart rate.
It does seem that sleeping with a light on, or some other sort of stimulus does limit my need for sleep, at least in the short term. There have been times when I can only sleep for 2-3 hours, so I leave my light on, and I can wake up with no problem. Falling asleep with the TV on also seems to have a similar effect, and I’d been thinking of starting a thread on it myself. When I fall asleep on the couch, and forget to turn off the TV, I find that I will wake up a few times in the middle of the night. I’m guessing this has to do with the sleep cycles. After about six hours, I don’t have a problem, waking up, staying up, and not feeling tired. Comparing this to getting 8 hours of what would be expected to be restful sleep in my bed, sometimes the six hours on the couch with the TV going is preferable. I’m guessing it’s due to waking up with the 8 hours of sleep (from the alarm) being in the “wrong” stage of sleep.
Of course there’s no science behind any of these guesses, just general personal observations.
Totally work related Dig,by nature I’m bone idle to Olympic gold medal level 
For a couple of months now my pattern has shifted from sleeping all night to falling asleep at 9pm, waking at 2 and working for a couple hours, then falling asleep again for 8 hours total. I would love to get back to sleeping 8 hours in a row, but can’t seem to get there. I suppose I should try sleeping pills for a couple of nights, although I don’t trust drugs in general.
While working on the WTC Recovery/cleanup for about 8-9 months and working 100-120 hours a day (I was with a construction company, so we didn’t have 2-week tours or anything like that), I frequently cat-napped in my car (which I was fortunate enough to be allowed to bring onto the site) with the heat cranked up. A 30 minute nap seemed to me to be completely restorative, and even better than an all-night sleep. My friends and family, though, later told me that I was pretty much an a$$hole during that time, and completely consumed with the job. I’ll assume they’re right; definitely about being consumed by the job.
I caught the flu during that time, too, and instead of the usual 5-7 days, it lasted three weeks. When my roomate’s girlfriend dragged me to the hospital because of my fever, the MD (after I told her taking time off wasn’t an option) gave me sleeping pills for the 4-6 hours a day I wasn’t working, just so I could fall into a dead sleep. It helped a lot (although using the word “groggy” to describe when I woke up would be a horrible understatement). The flu ended up lasting for about three horrible weeks.
On a related note, my father, a Vietnam combat veteran and cop of 26 years , can sleep through loud noises without a problem, but try sneaking up the stairs during high school and hitting the squeaky step and you’ve got a problem. Much like the previously mentioned “watch guard” syndrome.
Great gravy. Has the government perfected time travel, then?
Per week, maybe?
For a few weeks I slept twice a day in three- or four-hour shifts at opposite sides of the day for a total of a normal seven hours. It felt absolutely fine and normal after two days. I fell asleep very fast, woke up feeling like I had slept all night, and actually felt better.
Different people have sleep cycles of different lengths–there’s not a one-size-fits-all recommendation for this. My cycles are about two hours and ten-fifteen minutes, my wife’s are just over two-and-a-half hours. The key is to wake up around the end of a cycle rather then right in the middle; if you do the latter, you’ll be tired all day, regardless of how much sleep you got.
How do you find out this cycle? Do I have to check in to a sleep clinic, or something?
Sometimes when I’m really wiped, I’ll go lie on the couch and set the alarm for 10 minutes. I usually wake up between 7-9 minutes later feeling great. It seems if you wake up immediately after you’ve fallen alseep it’s very refreshing.