1) Anyone ever heard of this? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep#Com…)
2) Would it work in banking?
Pros: only requires 2 hours of sleep a night Cons: inflexible schedule, requires short naps every 4 hours, drinking much screws it up
Thoughts?
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Yeah - I've heard of it and I think it's ridiculously impractical. The potential for having your sleep patterns disrupted by a necessary meeting or call or deal is too high, and if you're making it through on only a couple of hours of sleep a day, you NEED that couple of hours. ie - cancelling one of your naps could likely have a major detrimental impact on your health. Besides, it's really rare that anyone expects analysts to be working all night long every day. Possible scenario:
Senior banker: Hey, why are you sleeping in the middle of the day? Polyphasic Sleeping Analyst: Oh, don't worry about it. I sleep a total of 2 hours a day. I will be working at 3am. SB: Wtf? I need you working now. Not at 3am. PSA: Hm. I didn't think of that. Damnit. I lost 3 minutes of my two hours.
Outcome: PSA's productivity drops by 95%, SB thinks PSA is a retard.
Neil Strauss describes a self- experiment of his with sleep patterns similiar to those you just described, in one of his books... I think he called it the "sleep diet"...
As far as I remember, he said that you have to get trough an adjustement period of ten days or so in wich the body gets acustomed to the new sleeping rythm. He and his fellow experimentee never made it trough that period though, because it just became too hard to stay awake and one of them started to develope a slight delirium because he was kinda... dreaming while being awake.
even if it worked, I doubt that you would find the time to nap every 4 hours for 20 min.
Damn, that's what I thought.
Oh, well, just wanted to see what opinions were out there. What about the Everyman schedule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Everyman.png) as opposed to Uberman? 3 hours/night plus 3 20-minute naps. Flexibility +/- 1 hour. Still has the mid-day napping issue, though.
light therapy might be a more practical approach to reduce your total amount of sleep without dramatically reducing your brain power and time flexibility http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_therapy
Kramer tried "da vinci" sleep on Seinfeld about 10 years ago. He fell asleep during sex and his girlfriend thought he was dead and dumped him in the Hudson.
I wish nothing less for you.
Thanks for your vote of confidence lol
OP,
No disrespect intended to you, as I say this as a completely general blanket statement...but you have to be completely out of your head to even consider stuff like this. The cognitive damage you can do to yourself long term with these sorts of routines is ridiculous. Kinda like the people who live of diet pills and vitamins for a month without eating to lose 15 lbs. Then they wonder why their liver fails a few months later.
ha - had no idea this was a theory. This is exactly what I did during finals week in college. Being one of those that never went to class and tried to learn a semester worth of materials in a couple of days, I basically studied 6 hrs, napped 1 hr, repeat.
No way this would fly in work though lol...
Polyphasic Sleep (on only 2-3 hours/day with napping) (Originally Posted: 09/17/2010)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep
Anyone here manage to maintain a polyphasic sleep schedule while working in investment banking? Being able to take 20-30 min naps consistently every 4-6 hours around the clock may help us get by on 2-3 hours a sleep a day but unfortunately, not many managers may understand.
OK Kramer....
I doubt any employer would let you take naps multiple times per day.
ha this is the only site where polyphasic sleeping would be brought up. I love the dedication.
If this is a discussion you are legitimately having, it's time to find a new job. Better to be able to live till 65 and make more money over the long run than die 40 of a heart attack.
Nah, I'd rather make as much money as possible until 30, then take those earnings and trade forex around the clock for 10 more years before retiring..
Hence, the need for polyphasic sleep. Plus, when you work 16 hours a day and sleep 3 hours, it leaves you 5 more hours to have more fun..
^^That's why you wreck your Aston at 39...so you don't have the chance to die of a heart attack at 40
^^^ If you're working 140 hours/week, that will probably be the first time you drive it. :D
I don't think you get it. As you age, you lose your ability to do that.
At 21, I could have run on 20 hours/week of sleep for long periods.
At 24, I couldn't do that anymore.
Other studies have shown that getting less than seven hours of sleep shortens your life by more than the sum of the hours you've missed. You will age faster and your body will really be more like 45-50 when you retire at "40".
Perhaps a better solution is to work 12-14 hours/day, get 7 hours of sleep, and save, save, save. Despite a financial meltdown and a secular bear market, it's worked out extremely well for my savings. And the easiest way to move up your retirement age, IMHO, is to keep your standard of living under control.
I'm interested to know what study proved that. As far as I've known, sleeping less than 7 hours does decrease your lifespan but so does sleep 8 hours. http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2002/02_08_Kripke.html
Can you link these studies?
The body and brain need plenty of sleep to repair themselves, so it was told to me by a doctor friend of mine.
without proper sleep you will burnout which will not help in any aspect of your life... 8+ a day
also watching TV or just sitting around shortens your life
also spending all your time posting on this website shortens your life
Polyphasic Sleep (Originally Posted: 10/17/2011)
Anyone here adhere to any sort of polyphasic sleep schedule? I had heard of it before, but never really gave any thought to it. I currently only sleep for about 6-7 hours a night, and while I enjoy sleep, I'd rather be doing other things to be honest, so I'm looking at maybe doing the Everyman schedule, which consists of 4-5 hours of sleep per day total.
Anyone ever tried it before?
For those who don't know what I'm talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep
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