Uberman: Difference between revisions

The current iteration of the schedule is created and named Marie Staver ([[Special:MyLanguage/Puredoxyk|Puredoxyk]]) and her buddy Psuke Briah in 1999, drawing inspiration from a [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,774680,00.html TIME article] about [[Special:MyLanguage/Buckminster Fuller|Buckminster Fuller]]’s [[Special:MyLanguage/Dymaxion|Dymaxion]] sleep. It was first revealed in a [https://everything2.com/title/Uberman%2527s+Sleep+Schedule post] on everything2.com in 2000. It was further elaborated on in her book ''Ubersleep'' <ref name="Ubersleep">Ubersleep: Nap-Based Sleep Schedules and the Polyphasic Lifestyle. PureDoxyk, 2013. </ref>

Since [[wikipedia:Rapid_eye_movement_sleep|REM]] and [[wikipedia:Slow-wave_sleep|SWS]] cannot realistically be cut, all (or at least as much as possible) of them must be accounted for by naps. The extremely low total sleep time means it requires intense sleep compression, possibly reducing the cycle lengths to under 60 minutes. After adapting, falling asleep becomes very quick and the transition to REM or SWS would also be almost immediate, giving nearly negligible amounts of light sleep. This would allow up to about 1h50m of REM and SWS combined. Even so, this is still far below the combined requirements for most people, which means REM and/or SWS have to be cut in order to maintain this schedule, which is considered unhealthy.

 

Living on this schedule requires constant maintainence of a delicate balance between REM and SWS pressures. Throughout each waking block, REM and SWS pressures build up gradually to very high levels and drops to more withstandable levels during the course of a nap, which would primarily contain the sleep type with higher pressure. Then, this reverses the ratio between REM and SWS pressures, so that the other sleep type dominates the following nap. It is also likely to experience mixed-stage naps that resemble mini-cycles, with both REM and SWS in the body’s effort to mitigate high sleep pressure.

 

Since maintaining the schedule involves such high levels of sleep pressure, circadian rhythm is much less important than on other schedules with peak-aligned sleeps, making it possible to have SWS-filled naps in REM peak hours and vice versa.

Adapting to Uberman is extremely difficult. While some people may claim that there is an easier method, that is simply not the case. Any methods of adapting to this schedule involves prolonged, intense sleep deprivation which is necessary to produce the level of sleep compression required.

Without previous napping experience, naps will mostly contain [[wikipedia:Non-rapid_eye_movement_sleep|light sleep]] or traces of SWS. As the REM need is not being fulfilled, REM pressure quickly builds up to high levels, causing a REM rebound. This usually happens around day 3-5. This will appear to suddenly alleviate the sleep deprivation, making people prone to overconfidence about the adaptation. After this, naps mostly contain REM, and SWS pressure starts to build up. SWS rebound usually occurs on day 7-8 and it is the hardest part of the adaptation where most people oversleep and fail their schedules. After avoiding this first crash, subsequent crashes once every 2-3 days also needs to be avoided. REM and SWS pressure gradually reaches an equilibrium and the schedule is finally stabilized. This can take weeks and some may need up to 6 weeks on the schedule.

* little for exercising (especially with gaining muscle) <ref>DontPanic. Polyphasic Sleeping Discord Server. https://discord.com/channels/249219704655183876/249219704655183876/282064906373824514. 17 Feb 2017. Retrieved 19 Dec 2020</ref>

* tendency to gain weight <ref>aeia. “Giving up Polyphasic Sleep.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 July 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RG44dnwyM0. </ref>

* near total inflexibility of sleep, even after adaptation <ref name="Ubersleep"/>

The harsh adaptation is extremely sensitive to skipping naps. As claimed by Puredoxyk in ''Ubersleep'', just skipping one nap causes intense sleep deprivation, similar to when one skips a few nights of monophasic sleep in a row. Even after adaptation, the risk of oversleeping remains, and alarms may have to be maintained indefinitely.  

Up to date, there has only been one official study on Uberman sleep, which is motivated by its existence and creation from Puredoxyk and its widespread practice over the decades. In 2013, the research focused on the endocrine and cognitive effects of Uberman sleep. This study<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315334680_Endocrine_and_cognitive_effects_of_a_radically_polyphasic_sleep_schedule</ref> lasted for 5 weeks. Unfortunately, according to the authors of the paper, no more information is available from the experiment beyond the abstract.  

<references />{{TNT|Polyphasic Sleep Schedules}}