The Men's Health article titled "Is Sleep Really Necessary?" explores the question that I've been carefully considering. This article references the research article "Why We Nap: Evolution, Chronobiology, and Functions of Polyphasic and Ultrashort Sleep," citing it as the reason Grant Stoddard, writer of the Men's Health article began to experiment on himself. The effects of sleep deprivation are considered; concentration and physical health deteriorate as a result of starting a polyphasic, or many-phased, sleep cycle. Physical and mental health are variables negatively associated with amount of sleep in this article, and the article takes a very interventionist standpoint. Grant Stoddard does not use the research given in the scholarly article, but instead uses himself as a test subject and refers to another doctor to explain his state during the course of the experiment. Dr. Winter provides and expert's perspective, but fails to legitimize the results of this article beyond what Stoddard reports. Based on what we've learned in class, this article falls almost entirely into the realm of "story time," which, though backed up by an actual scientific article, does not constitute a proper experiment. The research conducted is limited to one man who is self-studying, which creates numerous problems of credibility. The researcher here most definitely took control of the amount of sleep, and used other sources, such as his friends and Dr. Winter, to observe the results. Unfortunately, there is no way to know if these instances are true or not.
The causal hypothesis I questioned with this article asked whether I would suffer negative health effects due to sleep deprivation, and the article seems to wholly support that, yes, I would suffer severe negative side effects, and likely not gain the benefits I am looking for. My ultimate goal is more waking time to accomplish the things that I don't have enough time in the day for. This account suggests that I'd only be capable of simple tasks and have far less retention of details. For a person who intends to use his spare time writing and reading, this may not be the most viable way to do that.
I've begun to lean more toward the side of not starting a drastic sleep schedule, but I've been made aware of other options that aren't quite so drastic as the Überman Sleep Schedule. Perhaps, rather than spend the entire day compensating with 20-minute naps, I take four hours of rest at night, and a half hour rest during the day. I haven't been entirely put off of the idea of greatly increasing my wake-time, however. If I was, this project would be significantly shorter. I'll be on the lookout for articles that feature more traditional experiments, larger sample sizes, and more statistics. As far as an introduction to the topic, this article serves its purpose.
