Is it good to get only 4.5 hours of sleep per day?

[johnb]

Set the News app on my smartphone to pick up sleep news. It just found this article about a guy who's into polyphasic sleep:

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-guy-has-only-slept-45-hours-per-day-for-two-years-2013-11

Doesn't really seem like it'd be healthy. But maybe it is. Or, at least it might not be harmful to health. Reminds me of people who take siestas in hot parts of the world. They probably sleep less at night. Still, they probably sleep more than 4.5 hours per day. Do any of you MM people live in areas where siestas are still common? What's the sleep schedule usually like when you do that?

This polyphasic sleep method gives you an 2 extra months per year of waking life. That's 16.67% per year. So even if it reduces your life span by 16.67%, you're still breaking even. If it doesn't reduce your life span, it would be like living an extra 11 years. That's assuming an average life span of 67 years. But if you die at age 86, it'll be like you've lived 100 years.

Not sure if it'd be conducive to lucid dreaming, or not.

[Sunshine]

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[Zhon]

It is good for lucid dreaming its just kind of hard to keep that schedule. You go right into REM every time you go to sleep.

And if you're late getting to sleep for any reason you could end up collapsing out of sheer exhaustion wherever you're standing/sitting (I start getting too drowsy to keep my eyes open if I'm even half an hour late to bed, and I live on 6.5-7 hours).  Seems a little too high-risk for my liking.

[johnb]

It is good for lucid dreaming its just kind of hard to keep that schedule. You go right into REM every time you go to sleep.

My wife wouldn't be happy about it, anyway. Disturbs her sleep when I get up early or go to bed late. Even if I'm really quiet.

[Sunshine]

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[johnb]

Lol I wasn't recommending it.

Right. But I'd be tempted to try it, if I were single.

[johnb]

OTOH, maybe it's not such a good idea to get so little sleep. I was just rereading an article about research showing that an important function of sleep may be to flush out toxic buildup in the brain. It may take longer than 4.5 hours per day to thoroughly flush out our brains. That may be why we feel so bad when we miss a few hours of sleep. It's those residual toxins that haven't been flushed out. Wonder if there's any correlation between Alzheimer's and people who are habitually sleep deprived? That Russian guy in the polyphasic sleep article could end up getting Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. Also, maybe we should ban sleep deprivation as an enhanced interrogation technique, since it could cause permanent damage to the brain. And stop letting our kids go to "sleep" overs.

Here's the MM thread on how toxins could be getting flushed out of our brains during sleep:

http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/topic,6017.0.html

[Shellidfl]

I want to say that Jane Roberts was given info from Seth abut sleeping for 4 hours, being up for 8, then sleeping for another 4 hours, and being up for another 8 - you still get 8 hours of sleep, so no "extended" life, but I also recall thinking how our world could NOT accept such a life - work schedules, especially those who do shift work, have to travel, etc coudl NOT do such a thing. 

THEN I thought, why not?  However, being married with a job, children, etc - would have to be a WHOLE world paradigm shift...

[johnb]

I want to say that Jane Roberts was given info from Seth abut sleeping for 4 hours, being up for 8, then sleeping for another 4 hours, and being up for another 8 - you still get 8 hours of sleep, so no "extended" life, but I also recall thinking how our world could NOT accept such a life - work schedules, especially those who do shift work, have to travel, etc coudl NOT do such a thing. 

THEN I thought, why not?  However, being married with a job, children, etc - would have to be a WHOLE world paradigm shift...

Would be difficult for most people. What benefits does that 4-8-4-8 sleep schedule have? Does it improve dreaming or dream recall?

[Shellidfl]

It was so long ago that I read her books, I can't be sure.

Anyone else recall anything about it???  If I get a chance (yeah, RIGHT!) in the next month or so, AND remember to do that, I'll get back to you on it, john!

[johnb]

It was so long ago that I read her books, I can't be sure.

Anyone else recall anything about it???  If I get a chance (yeah, RIGHT!) in the next month or so, AND remember to do that, I'll get back to you on it, john!

OK, thanks!

[Vex]

Most of my life I've survived off of approximately 4-5 hours sleep  night and I'm a mess so I'd ha e to say thAt most need more sleep thanthat. I alwYs feel S if I am running on half empty and have Always wondered what I'd be like if my brain could get a full load of sleep regularly.

[johnb]

Most of my life I've survived off of approximately 4-5 hours sleep  night and I'm a mess so I'd ha e to say thAt most need more sleep thanthat. I alwYs feel S if I am running on half empty and have Always wondered what I'd be like if my brain could get a full load of sleep regularly.

Are you just too busy to get more sleep?

[Vex]

I've never been much of a sleeper. Even when I was a little kid I'd wake up several times a night, mostly waking in the midst of scary SP, and then lay there for a long time before being able to go to sleep again. As a teen I only slept about 2-3 hours a night. And now it's about 4-5 hours a night but that's not straight through sleep. I still wake up often and just lay there in the dark trying to clear my head of thoughts and get back to sleep.

Can't seem to fall asleep before 2am. If I were to fall asleep at 11pm I'd wake up about half an hour later and be awake until 3 or 4am. And from there I'd sleep and wake and sleep and wake. I went to a sleep lab last year to try get myself fixed up. They told me I barely dipped into REM sleep at all that night with my frequent awakenings. So while I'm accustomed to running on sleep dep I still wish I could sleep regularly and straight through the night just to see how different my life would be.

I do hit heavy sleepy patches throughout the day, roughly at four hour intervals. It got me thinking a few years ago that maybe polyphasic would be something that could work for me since I naturally want to sleep at these times anyway. But society isn't wired for a polyphasic sleep schedule. Even so, I'd still only be getting my 4-ish hours of sleep and probably still feel like I'm running on empty. Or would the power naps throughout the day be enough to carry me through? I'm still interested in the idea and I would give that sleep schedule a try if I could find a way to fit it into my life.

[Sunshine]

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