What is Polyphasic Sleep?

Well this is a long time coming… heh heh. Better late than never, though, eh?

dreamosis: Yes. I’ve actually tried both Dymaxion (twice!) and the Everyman-3 cycle. And yea, I know what you mean when you say being unable to navigate the naps around your work schedule. That’ll definitely make this kind of life style not an option.

Maybe, though, if you have a long enough lunch you could slip in a small thirty minute nap. I believe the calculations I did before allowed for quite some flexibility with some of the variants if one could snag a nap halfway through the day.

paual: DaVinci eh? And yea. The extra time awake can be used for anything. Speaking with best friends included. :smile:

I actually considered this option before because my lunchbreak is 30 minutes long enough. But then I wouldn’t get lunch :sad: And as much as I love sleep, food is also important :tongue:

If you do to polyphasic sleep, you get more lucid dreams?

Stefano: You could get more lucid dreams. It ultimately depends on the person and the type of PPS you do. The theory behind it is because you sleep less, but more often you enter into REM faster. This could make WILDing easier.

Still, it depends a lot on the person since everyone is different.

Is it real that you must be 18 year or older for PPS?

Stefano: “Is it real”? If I’m understanding you, no. You do not have to be 18 years or older to have a PPS schedule. Sure, it helps cause then you can, perhaps, control your time better, but you don’t have to be 18 to do it. In fact, when you were just a baby you slept polyphasically all the time. :razz:

Alright, so… since you apparently can’t Edit posts in this sub-forum I’ll just double post. :razz:

Per recommendation of another LD4All member I’d like to clarify a few things I said in my previous post.

First of all, when you were a baby you did sleep polyphasically… only you slept a LOT. Polyphasic sleep isn’t “sleeping for only three hours, but spread out”. It’s sleeping more than once a day. So even though you slept polyphasically as a baby you slept quite a bit more than the goal of “this” polyphasic sleep (which is to reduce sleep time).

Additionally, there are recommendations to get a specific amount of sleep per night. A good thing to look at is The National Sleep Foundation’s remarks about it. They list quite a bit of details regarding recommended sleep for specific ages. Ultimately, though, they do say that it depends on what feels to you to be the correct amount of sleep and how you feel after said sleep.

While I’m not wanting to contradict something that most likely has scientific evidence to back it, I will state that it appears that those recommendations are based on a monophasic cycle. I’m not aware of any scientific studies on polyphasic sleep; only personal experience and experiences that were conveyed to me. As I said in the main article:

So, a simple rule: if you don’t like how you’re feeling when you try to sleep polyphasically, or you feel bad when trying it and it affects you negatively, it’s might be wise to change what you’re doing. Try a different form of PPS or choose to sleep monophasically.

I hope that answers your questions more accurately, Stefano, and I hope it doesn’t sound too frightening. :razz: If you or anyone else has any questions, please ask!

And, for good measure, thanks for alerting me to this, mystery LD4All member! :tongue:

Thanks for the information! Is it possible to stop with PPS and undo the Fast REM (more lucid dreams) or is my body permanently modifided when i do polyphasic sleep?

I have a Dutch site read that if you start polyphasic and you go through you can not go back. Well you can go to monophasic sleep back but quickly changing REM phase is permanent so you’re going to get. More lucid dreams
Is that really so, and it means that you only get LD and ND no longer?

Stefano, can I interfere :wink:
It is important to be at least over 18, when trying polyphasic sleep, because your brain is still developing into maturity.
One of the reasons that teenagers need more sleep than adults, is the fact that sleep is important for the development of the brain.
The brain usually reaches its mature form, size and functioning at an age between 21 and 24 years old. In particular the brain parts that are crucial for risk assessment, long-term planning and for self control, impulse control and dealing with emotions, are still ‘under construction’ untill the age of 21 to 24.
(Een van de redenen waarom pubers meer slaap nodig hebben dan volwassenen is dat slaap belangrijk is voor de ontwikkeling van hun hersenen.
De hersenen bereiken doorgaans pas hun volwassen vorm, omvang en functioneren tussen 21 en 24 jaar. Met name de hersencentra die wezenlijk zijn voor het beoordelen van risico’s, voor lange termijn planning en voor zelfbeheersing, het beheersen van impulsen en gevoelens, zijn nog ‘onder constructie’ tot de periode van 21 tot 24 jaar)

I tried PPS after reading about it on this forum awhile back and I must admit it did take my 2 dream recalls per night to 6 or 7 dreams. I stayed with it for a good 3 weeks and along made some adjustments ((i stopped because i am pregnant)). At first I would do 4.5 hours of core sleep ((12am-4:30am)) only to find out I was waking up to soon and missing dreams ((I was also very tired)) :bored: . I changed it to 12:30am to 6am ((5.5 core hour sleep)) during that time I ALWAYS had 2 vivid dreams to recall. After my core sleep, I took a 90 minute nap around 8:30am ((I ALWAYS had great dream recall and counted mostly 2-4 dreams during the 90 minutes!!!)). After that, i felt fully rested ((total hours of sleep=7hours)) sometimes i might add a 30minute nap to rest my body after exercise but no dreams came from my 30 minute naps so i didn’t push for those.

Core Sleep 5.5 hours
12:30am-6am ((1-2 dreams to recall))

90minute nap 1.5 hours
8:30am-10am ((vivid 2-4 dreams to recall))…I even had my first OOB experience during my 90 minute nap
:obe: :astral:
7 hours of total sleep

I know a lot of peoples schedule don’t allow PPS so I’m lucky to be a stay at home mom.
Try to play with the PPS, create your own schedule and remember to listen to your body and try to pinpoint when you are having dreams ((the timing)). I remember reading somewhere that its less likely for us to dream after 2pm ((don’t know how true)) but i tried to get my sleep and naps early in the am hours.

I can say it did help me with dream recall and my number of dreams shot up…my dream journal had more entries after using PPS.

More dreams= more practice to become lucid. :woot:

Hope this helped.

Sweet Dreams :wiske:

@Stefano: The PPS effects are not permanent, though some things do stick around. For example, when I was practicing PPS I had to fall asleep quickly during the day. Now, whenever I take a nap in the middle of the day, I’m usually asleep just as my head hits the pillow, and I tend to awaken twenty minutes later automatically.

No. PPS does not equal “Only LDs”. You can still have normal dreams when you sleep polyphasically.

@majah I agree with you, but I would like to add that I did PPS when I was 18 (and I’m pretty sure I have a normal human brain). Each person’s different and I still believe the best rule is as I said above: “if it doesn’t feel right; change what you’re doing”. :razz:

@ShyPrettyOdd Cool! It sounds like you did what I ended up doing last semester in college… bloody 8 o’clock classes. :razz:

As to the “no dreams after 2 PM” I’d have to disagree… I just had one from a 2PM nap! :eek:

[/img]@Scipio Xaos:Thanks for any information! I have a few other questions. As you begin to polyphasic sleep you get more lucid dreaming right? But if you want to stop lucid dreaming and you stop PPS will you then get a lot of lucid dreaming, or can you eventually go back to sometimes LD and usually a ND? And what do you mean by extreme and Zombiefication? That you are very tired in the beginning and (almost) can do anything? And PPS is dangerous? And if you start PPS, you can still stop lucid dreaming or is it not possible?

@Majah:Thanks for the information! I have a app to get lucid dreams and there is also a function Da Vinci. At Da Vinci, you can keep a schedule for polyphasic sleep and when i clicked on Da Vinci it says that i must 18 years or older for PPS. Have you ever tired PPS Majah? (Bedankt voor de informatie! Ik heb een app om lucide dromen te krijgen en er is ook een functie die Da Vinci heet. Bij Da Vinci kan je een schema voor polyfasisch slapen bijhouden en toen ik op Da Vinci tikte stond er dat ik 18 jaar of ouder moet zijn voor PPS. Heb jij wel eens PPS geprobeerd Majah?)

@ShyPrettyOdd:Thanks for the information! How did you make your first OOB to have experience? Was it fun or was it scary? And how long did it take?

No, I never tried PPS. (Ik word al moe als ik er aan denk :wink: )
I do love an occasional afternoon nap though!

I will not even begin to PPS (Ik ga ook niet aan polyfasisch slapen beginnen hoor :smile: )

Good for you :smile:
Would also be difficult to combine with a school schedule I guess :wink:

@Stefano That’s a lot of questions. :razz:

  1. No. PPS does not mean you will get a lot of LDs. The chances are higher, though, that you will have LDs because of the increase in total REM and the reduction in time reduces the nREM a bit.
  2. I guess you’re asking if the effects are permanent? Nothing’s permanent. :razz: And it varies depending on the person.
  3. “Zombiefication” is basically being so tired that you can’ focus. It’s something that can happen if you’re not getting enough sleep. Basically it’s when you have so much sleep debt you can’t think of anything except sleeping.
  4. Everything can be dangerous if it’s not handled with care. If you don’t get enough sleep that you need it can be bad for you. That’s why you have to be careful when you set up your cycle, and if you think it’s having a negative effect you should adjust it.
  5. Again… PPS does not equal infinite LDs. It just has a tendency to increase them.

I decided to answer your questions for others even though it seems you’re not going to be trying a PPS cycle anyways. :razz:

@ShyPrettyOdd:Thanks for the information! How did you make your first OOB to have experience? Was it fun or was it scary? And how long did it take?
[/quote]

Hello Stefano,
On my strict PPS schedule, while taking my 90 minute nap mid-day I had a dream and woke up to record it ((phone recorder)). I still had about 30 minutes left in the nap so I went back to sleep. About 10 minutes later, I heard voices and felt 4 entities in the room with me. It even felt like one stuck it’s snake-like tongue in my ear. I ignored them due to excitement about what was happening ((I’m lucky enough to not fear SP since I know exactly what it is and I know NOTHING Can hurt me)). After the apparent voices I felt tugging at my feet. Literally I felt myself being pulled from my body. Again I was super excited to say the least. I ended up in some realm and saw a huge dragon. It was so big I could only see ONE of its eyes. The scene felt like I was in a volcano or something. Saying to myself I don’t want to be here, the realm seemed to change and I ended up flying amongst billion of stars. I even touched the stars as I was flying. After that, I ended up in my living room looking at my furniture thinking WOW. Seconds later I was slammed back into my body. I woke up still feeling SP and I even thought I heard someone come into my home ((I have a dog and he barks at everything…so I knew it was my imagination)). Moments later I was able to move and go up slowly. I quickly called my husband shacking with excitement.

I say PPS helped me because I was able to take naps and have more vivid dreams. In the mist of those naps, you can wake up and and let your body fall asleep. Everytime I took my 90 minute naps I always had the intentions of trying to become lucid or to have an OOB experience. The first 10 minutes of my nap I always tried to stay awake…lol even tho 99% I would still fall asleep. No matter the outcome, I always woke up excited about my dreams ((I never had a lucid dream during my PPS )).

Just my input for PPS.

I tried it long time ago, and it took me 1 week to get used to it, and lasted 2 weeks.
The schedule was Realistic Dymaxion.

I stopped because social interactions messed up my naps.

What I can say is : amazing experience !
I could fall asleep in minutes, and wake up automatically after 30min fresh and alert. (it is harder to get up from sleep with biphasic pattern, than from the PPS)
Also, my mind was more “clear”, I don’t know how to express this feeling.

The dreams were more vivid, I have not made lucid dreams though.

Very cool experience, I don’t regret it. But hard to keep because of social obligations.

I tried polyphasic sleep a few years ago and it was really hard. Especially in the first two weeks i looked and went like a zombie. It became better and better after a few weeks but in the end i have to say: It isnt worth the “pain” that you mustnt sleep.