I have been looking into alternate sleep-cycles, initially the Uberman Sleep Schedule, as a means of maximizing my wake-time without harming myself. There are physical and mental effects associated with sleep, but in my prior reading I had heard that the Uberman Sleep Schedule could triple my wake-time and increase REM sleep. My first causal hypothesis is:
1) The Uberman sleep schedule will have impose no negative effect upon my health.
The article I read for this first was from Men's Health, and titled "Do We Really Need Sleep?" I found the article to be a nice overview of the concept of polyphasic sleep, and it was also a personal tale of attempting to change one's circadian rhythm. This article is most clearly against putting the body though such trials, citing weight loss, weakened memory, and fatigue.
A second article that I read to consider this hypothesis is from a scientific journal called Nature Neuroscience. This article, titled "Sleep-dependent memory triage: evolving generalization through selective processing" is dense, but useful. Full of hard data and helpful charts, this article explains the benefits to a full night's sleep. It explains the problems with sleep deprivation in regards to cognitive ability, which would severely impact how I intend to use my excess time.
The last article I've got is from the American Diabetes Association. That doesn't bode well at all, and it draws the association between a lack of sleep, napping, and diabetes in adult men. The silver lining to this association, is that I firmly believe in a common cause of poor dietary habits and lazy lifestyle, neither of which I have.
My research led me to ponder my problem though, as the Uberman schedule seemed less and less viable. It seems to be actually dangerous, and so I turned my attention to other forms of polyphasic sleep. It is possible to increase wake-time with only single nap over the course of the day, and so I began to consider a biphasic sleep schedule. My next hypothesis deals with that issue:
2) A biphasic sleep schedule will increase my wake-time with no negative health effects.
I managed to find a NASA article, "NASA Naps," which went into detail about the positive cognitive effects that napping can have on the mind. In an interventionist study, the scientists at NASA discovered that napping can improve some ability in regards to memory. That's more reason to set up a biphasic sleep schedule.
The second article I read about biphasic sleep also touches upon polyphasic sleep. In fact, this is the most comprehensive one I've read. It is titled, "Good sleep, good learning, good life" and wasn't published through any source other than one doctor's own website. Dr. Wozniak cites countless sources, uses plentiful charts, and his insight into the topic is extensive. There is a lot favoring the natural energy boost that comes from a nap, as well as an insistence that human biology is inherently biphasic!
An article from the Sleep Foundation, "Napping," is very objective. It cites the NASA article at one point to mention the benefits of a short daytime nap, but also mentions the negative effects that can come about though poor planning. Napping too late in the day can mess with one's primary sleep cycle, and sometimes napping leads to sleep inertia. It is also associated with increased risk of heart disease for those already at risk.
