Do you ever feel like you spend too much time sleeping and wish that you could sleep less, without the feeling of sleep deprivation, to accomplish more? If yes, then you share a sentiment similar to that of Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance master painter who crafted one of the most famous paintings in the world, the Mona Lisa.
Leonardo da Vinci, in response to his feelings on sleep, instituted polyphasic sleep, a sleeping style where, instead of sleeping in one long 7-8 hour stretch, sleep is broken up into three or more segments. One of the most talked about benefits of this sleeping style is that it allows you to sleep less, offering more time to live your life.
However, does polyphasic sleep truly make you more productive? It’s possible, but it’s also likely that you only feel more productive because you’re awake for longer, not because your productivity is higher. In fact, with less sleep, you may be even less productive and produce lower-quality work.
Polyphasic Sleep Formats
Polyphasic sleep offers a lot of flexibility, as the only requirement is that you sleep in three or more blocks during the day versus the one long sleep that most of us are used to.
Some different schedules for polyphasic sleep include:
- Dymaxion Schedule: A 30-minute nap every 6 hours, leaving you with 2 hours of total sleep a day.
- Everman Schedule: One 3-hour block of sleep at night and then three 20-minute naps spread throughout the day.
- Uberman Schedule: A schedule with many variations, although one of the more common involves taking a 20-minute nap every four hours, leaving you with 3 hours of sleep a day. Other variations may utilize eight naps throughout the day, or the naps may also be 30 minutes each instead of 20 minutes. With the Uberman schedule, there is a lot of flexibility.
- Da Vinci’s Way: To sleep like da Vinci, use 20-minute power naps throughout the day to get 5 hours of total sleep. It’s similar to the Uberman Schedule but with more naps and, thus, more sleep.
Does Polyphasic Sleep Make You More Productive?
Those in favor of polyphasic sleep often tout its ability to make them more productive, but it’s unclear if this increased feeling of productivity is because they actually get more done or if it’s only because they are awake longer and have more time to work.
What we do know about polyphasic sleep is that the lack of sleep can lead to a reduction in reaction time. Not only can this be dangerous if you’re driving, but in regard to your productivity, it may mean that you move more slowly through your tasks. The consequences? Even though you’re awake longer, you may accomplish the same number of tasks during the day because you take longer to complete each one.
Additional Pros and Cons of Polyphasic Sleep
Beyond productivity, let’s see what other pros and cons polyphasic sleep offers:
Pro: Supports Irregular Working Schedules
If you’re a shift worker, the polyphasic sleep schedule may be easier to fit into your odd or changing work hours, especially if you have a hard time falling asleep at an “expected” time because of your working hours.
Con: Increases Your Risk of Depression
There’s a reason why you’re recommended to get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night—it’s what your body needs to function properly. While everyone’s sleep needs can vary, polyphasic sleep leaves you with considerably less sleep than even the low end of these recommendations.
You may feel alert with polyphasic sleep, but just because you aren’t tired doesn’t mean that your body has had enough time to complete all its crucial tasks.
Without enough sleep, your risk of many things increases, including depression, which can lower your quality of life and make your days, which you now have more hours within to enjoy, seem less pleasant.
Pro: May Be Better For Memory
Are you looking to improve your memory retention? Polyphasic sleeping may help.
Research has shown that napping shortly after learning new information can help your brain retain this information. Since polyphasic sleep is characterized by more periods of sleeping during the day, it allows for more information to be learned right before sleep, which can then increase how much is stored in your memory.
Con: Disrupts Your Circadian Rhythm
Your circadian rhythm is the 24-hour internal clock that dictates your sleep-wake cycle, and it primarily runs on one long sleep episode and, maybe, a short power nap in the afternoon when it naturally dips.
Polyphasic sleep goes against your natural circadian rhythm, which can cause it to become disrupted. Not only can this then make sleep hard to come by and daytime drowsiness more severe, but your circadian rhythm also influences your cardiovascular health and weight, among other aspects of your well-being; a disruption in your circadian rhythm can snowball into these areas of your life, causing a decline in your health.
Is Polyphasic Sleep For You?
If you’re interested in spending less time asleep and more time living your life, polyphasic sleep may be appealing to you. With this sleep schedule, you can drop your sleep needs from 7 hours to as low as two hours, depending on the sleep schedule you favor. However, do you need to sacrifice your productivity in order to have more awake hours?
While you’re awake longer with polyphasic sleep, offering more hours to complete your work, you may not necessarily be more productive during these hours due to sleepiness and fatigue. As it stands, any claims that polyphasic sleep improves productivity are purely anecdotal—there is no research to support these claims.
What research has shown is that sleep deprivation can increase the risk of depression, reduce your reaction time, increase the risk of injury, and disrupt your circadian rhythm, which may lead to declining health. Additionally, polyphasic sleep schedules are often difficult to fit into your schedule unless you’re willing to sacrifice social interaction.
Ultimately, the decision to try polyphasic sleep is up to you; some people claim that it boosts their productivity and allows them to remain alert, and the same may apply to you. Be warned, though, that most research does not support this, and most people are tired when following a polyphasic sleep schedule.
