The Truth About Sleep

I know, I know, you probably think this article is about how you should get 8 hours of sleep per night, and that if you don't you will be tired and lethargic throughout the day, and that sleep is super important.  Well while this may be true on an average day, I am here to tell you a little bit about how sleep actually works.

Sleep consists of 5 stages (theta waves, sleep spindles, delta waves, delta sleep, Rapid Eye Movement or (REM sleep))  lasting about 90 minutes.  If you wake up at the end of a cycle you will feel refreshed and energized and ready to tackle the day.  On the other hand if you are woken up in the middle of the cycle, due to outside factors (having to pee, alarm clock, someone waking you up, etc.) you will feel groggy and tired.

So here's the point.  If you wake up after just 1 sleep cycle, you should feel great!  But, even though you will feel great be wary because despite feeling good, you need some sleep to recover your body.  But, you might need less sleep than 8 hours.  Some people need only 4 or 5 sleep cycles.  So if you wake up after 4 cycles or 6 hours, you will feel brilliant.  There is nothing wrong with you, and you can enjoy your longer day!  But it is different for everyone.  Some people only need 5, 6, 7 hours or so. So find out for yourself how much sleep you really need you might be shocked.


Now there are some other shocking things about sleep.  In addition to not only needing 8 hours, it is possible to skip the 5 stages of sleep, and go straight to REM sleep.  It is actually possible to sleep for only 2 hours per day, and be fine.  This is called the Uberman sleeping schedule which consists of six twenty-minute naps every 4 hours.  While this would be nice, most of us who live in the real world, this is impractical.  People cant just sleep for 20 minutes every 4 hours with work, and other commitments.  But, there are lots of other different sleep cycles that you could choose from in the list below.

Name	Total sleeping time	Method
Monophasic	≈8.0 h	8 hours major sleep episode.
Biphasic	≈6.3 h	6 hours major sleep episode and one twenty-minute power nap.
Biphasic (90-minute nap)	6 h	4.5 hours major sleep episode and one ninety-minute nap.
Everyman (with 2 naps)	5.2 h	4.5 hours major sleep episode and two twenty-minute power naps.
Everyman (with 3 naps)	4 h	3 hours major sleep episode and three twenty-minute power naps.
Everyman (with 4 - 5 naps)	≈3 h	1.5 hours major sleep episode and four to five twenty-minute power naps.
Dymaxion	2 h	Four 30-minute naps (every 6 hours).
Uberman	2 h	Six twenty-minute naps (every 4 hours).

So, you might really not need as much sleep as you think.  I encourage everyone who reads this to look at this list, and try and figure out something that will fit with your day, and make you more productive.  Because we don't all need to get the typical 8 hours of sleep a night.  We really only need 2 hours of sleep per day to function.



sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/165/3892/513.short

Posted in: General Wellness