Uberman is the most widely known form of polyphasic sleep, with its appeal being the large amount of extra time it provides. For this reason, it is also one of the most widely attempted schedules by many first-time polyphasers. However, the adaptation success for this schedule is few and far between, with virtually all attempts at the schedule ending in failure, since it does not meet the minimum sleep need for the majority of people.
{{TNT|Experimental Schedule}}This schedule is a higly flexible schedule derived from the [[Dual core]] schedules.<ref name="reddit" /> Similar to [[SEVAMAYL]], it evolves from adaptation to Dual core schedule such as [[DC2]] and [[DC3#Extended|DC3-extended]]. Unlike with flexed versions of those regular schedules, DUCAMAYL allows taking [[naps]] when tired throughout the day, with a varying number of naps and changes in core timings as well as lengths.{{TNT|DUCAMAYL}}
== Origin==
The name DUCAMAYL stands for “Dual Core As Much As You Like”. It is one of the 4 “-AMAYL<nowiki>''</nowiki> flexible polyphasic schedules, the other ones being [[SPAMAYL]], [[SEVAMAYL]], and [[CAMAYL]].
Until recently, there has only been one anecdotal success from sleeper [[Aethermind|Aethermind's]] father, who has been unintentionally maintaining the schedule for more than 20 years without signs of ill health. His schedule consists of 2 somewhat flexible core sleeps and between 1 and 2 naps in the day.
First created and roughly drafted in 2017 in the [[Polyphasic sleep discord|Discord]], it was proposed as a flexible Dual Core counterpart to SEVAMAYL, a flexible [[Everyman]] schedule. In 2020, there have been two more recorded successful adaptations to DUCAMAYL, which are by [[GeneralNguyen]] and [[UncertainBeing]].
== Mechanism ==
== Mechanism ==
The mechanism of DUCAMAYL is believed to resemble that of SEVAMAYL, with two shorter cores in place of the long Everyman core.
Since REM and 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.
As with all other Dual core schedules, the first core sleep provides mostly [[wikipedia:Slow-wave_sleep|SWS]] while the second core favors [[wikipedia:Rapid_eye_movement_sleep|REM]] sleep, with the nap(s) providing some REM and alertness boosts. Naps can be taken when alertness drops.
== History ==
This schedule is invented and named by '''Marie Staver (Puredoxyk)''' and her buddy Psuke Briah in 1999, drawing inspiration from a ''TIME article'' about Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion sleep. It was first revealed in a [https://everything2.com/title/Uberman%2527s+Sleep+Schedule post] on everything2.com in 2000.
After adapting to a rigid base Dual core schedule, the body gets used to the new sleep pattern, which involves 2 core sleeps and a number of naps, as well as the reduced total sleep. Then, the sleeper gradually adapts to [[flexing]], allowing naps to be moved, added, or removed. Because of 2 core sleeps covering much of the night and morning in which the alertness is the lowest, DUCAMAYL tends to have fewer [[naps]] than SEVAMAYL.
Puredoxyk stayed on the schedule for '''6 months''' in 2000 and she was not able to re-adapt to it later.
== Scheduling ==
'''Steve Pavlina''' adapted to the schedule in 2005, and stayed on it for '''5 months''', and has not done it again ever since.
For average sleepers, the schedule would include at least ~4-5 hours of sleep from the two cores, with about 1-4 naps of 10-20 minutes in length. Nap spacing should take into account natural periods of tiredness, such as the early afternoon circadian dip.
The wake gap between 2 cores can vary on a day-to-day basis. Each core might be flexed or changed in length to some extent. As with SEVAMAYL, it is not recommended to add or remove sleep cycles more than once a week, as either sleep debt or lengthening can destabilize the adaptation to the reduced total sleep.
== Difficulty ==
Both Steve Pavlina’s blogs and Puredoxyk’s book ''Ubersleep'' greatly understated the schedule’s difficulty. Puredoxyk adapted to the schedule in times of extreme stress at university, and was unable to adapt to it again afterwards. Nevertheless, people tend to overestimate their chances of succeeding. There has been no detailed accounts of someone adapting to the schedule in more recent times. You may see many logs of people attempting this schedule, but most of them ends in just a few days, presumably because the author overslept and gave up. Those failures are often used to discredit polyphasic sleep altogether, without ever considering more reasonable schedules.
A [[pronap]] is viable if the whole DUCAMAYL schedule is rotated backward, with the first core being early enough. When necessary, it is also possible to schedule ultrashort naps (~10 minutes) if regular 20-minute nap are too long to schedule. This would serve to sustain alertness with light sleep ([[NREM1]]/[[NREM2]]) until the next nap during any daytime hours. The freedom to pick nap durations whenever necessary after adaptation is very satisfying and greatly boosts the overall flexibility and durability of the whole schedule. Nonetheless, '''these changes in nap durations should not be abused''' - occasionally using them to one’s advantage would prevent the destabilized nap structure from the adapted base Dual Core schedules.
== Human supervision ==
It is important to realize that willpower alone is not enough for adapting to this schedule. With SWS deprivation, willpower simply will not help you. People have reported unconsciously disabling or ignoring electronic devices and performing other actions necessary to go back to sleep, with no recall whatsoever afterwards. People have slept through noise-based alarms, flashing lights, loud fans, and repeated maximum-voltage shocks from a Pavlok. It is therefore very useful, if not necessary, to have constant human supervision to make sure you are awake when you are supposed to be. To our best knowledge, no one has ever adapted to this schedule without the help of another human. Puredoxyk was woken up by Psuke and Youtuber '''Aeia''' was woken up by her twin sister during their uberman adaptation. Without the help of other people, it is virtually impossible that you would ever adapt to this schedule.
== Adaptation ==
== Adaptation ==
{{further|Flexing#-AMAYL}}
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.
There has been some attempts at adapting to the schedule cold turkey, but they have virtually all failed. As with SEVAMAYL, first adapting to a strict Dual core base schedule seems to be necessary. The possible base schedules to start from include DC1, DC2, DC2-extended, as well as DC3-extended.
The process of adapting to DUCAMAYL from the rigid base schedule is similar to that of SEVAMAYL. First, one can start with [[flexing]] the naps slightly, such as by 30 minutes forward or back. Then, the cores can also be optionally flexed slightly. Over time, one can gradually increase the flexiblility windows of the sleeps. Finally, naps can be added or removed according to the level of tiredness one experiences in a given day.
Without previous napping experience, naps will mostly contain 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.
It is important to do this gradually, however, as flexing all the sleeps right away can destabilise the adaptation. One or both cores of DUCAMAYL can remain fixed, instead focusing on the flexibility of naps for convenience in daily scheduling.
=== Delaying the SWS rebound ===
During and after the adaptation, some naps as well as cores may shorten. The best strategy is to get up as long as a good amount of sleep has already been gained since the schedule allows for extra naps later if you get tired. However if there is a long wake gap ahead in schedule, it would be a wise approach to go back to sleep for the full duration of the nap to gain more wakefulness sustaining. Similarly, after adaptation is complete, '''a nap can be extended to 30-40m''' during early/late morning hours (REM peak-~11 AM) without having to worry about SWS wakes. This would strategically enhance wakefulness for the next hours, resulting in the need for fewer or no naps later in the day. Similar to the cores, under normal conditions, there should be at least 90-120m awake between each nap.
It is possible to delay the SWS rebound by a few days by adding extra naps in the night for extra SWS gain during the first days of adaptation. Steve Pavlina used this method to delay his SWS rebound until around day 12. It is not generally a good idea though, since the rebound will eventually happen and doing this just drags out the adaptation process by a few days and overcoming the SWS rebound is essential to Uberman adaptation.
==Difficulty==
=== Gradual adaptation via rhythmic preservation ===
The adaptation to a base Dual Core schedule is also deemed harder to achieve than to a base Everyman schedule, thus the [[flexing adaptation]] may be equally, if not harder, than SEVAMAYL. A lot of effort in assessing the proper times to place naps and cores will be required to adapt to DUCAMAYL, the flexing adaptation that is mostly [[4-Stages Adaptation Model#Stage 4|Stage 4]], feeling somewhat low in productivity and not truly refreshing/adapted sleep. Lastly, '''excessive sleep''' due to physical recovery, sickness, extended wake periods that promote long sleep, injury, uncontrolled drinking, substance use, etc. can destabilize the whole schedule, which already takes several months to adapt to. With all that said, with thorough planning and execution on all these elements, DUCAMAYL is a powerful schedule to arrive at.
These are possible transition schedules to Uberman with sleeps scheduled to start at the same time as the goal Uberman schedule. It might train the body rhythm to align the waves of tiredness with Uberman naps. This could reduce the transition difficulty somewhat. Still, intense compression and repartition will be required at the each transition, especially the final jump to Uberman. With two transitions, the adaptation is stretched out to several months and the overall difficulty is only slightly reduced. Overall, this may not be worth the extra time required.
==Lifestyle considerations==
=== Naptation/Exaptation ===
Like other “-AMAYL” polyphasic schedules, erratic lifestyles greatly benefit them. It would be, however, a better idea to slightly flex the Dual Core base schedule rather than adopting DUCAMAYL if flexibility is limited with consistent work or social commitments. Unlike, SEVAMAYL, however, DUCAMAYL has the second core sleep around dawn that can boost alertness for several hours ahead. This can pave the way for certain jobs with long wake gap(s) from morning to early afternoon hours without having to rest. The second core of DUCAMAYL (on variants with at least ~5h total sleep of both cores) limits the amount of needed daytime naps, and needing only 1 daytime nap on certain days can allow for a lot of uninterrupted waking hours.
This method involves staying awake for 1-2 days to quickly increase sleep pressure and/or start with naps every 2 hours instead of 4 to quickly acquire the ability to gain REM during naps.
Regarding core sleeps, under emergency or social events that have to delay the first core sleep, it is then possible to '''move both cores further into the night''', resulting in a much later wakeup time for the following morning. Another option is to '''skip the first core and extend the second core by 90m''' and resume napping as usual. The following night can continue with 1 extended core sleep and extra naps until alertness is back to the refreshing state. The [[dark period]] can start 15-30m before either core sleep after the party if time is too crunched, and maintained between 2 cores if possible. Under normal conditions, dark period should be introduced some time before the first core and maintained in the wake gap between 2 cores like other Dual Core schedules. Because of the potential flexibility of cores, an experienced or well-adapted to flexing sleeper can start the first core 30m or 2-3h after dark period has begun whenever desired. However, '''excessively delaying the first core should be entirely avoided when adapting''' and should not be allowed to happen more than once a week or so, to avoid destabilization. This is because the first core’s SWS quality can greatly falter if delayed too often into late night hours.
== Variants ==
=== Extra naps ===
External factors such as food, exercise and mental health status should be considered carefully and planned accordingly to ensure the quality of each nap. It is generally better to nap before a heavy or long workout, and meals. Otherwise, napping some hours after these activities is also very viable. It is also crucial to manage personal stress levels, as [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22485105/ emotional distress is shown to increase REM needs] and can put more pressure on the schedule. As an added bonus, the wake gap flexibility between 2 cores allows the schedule to effectively dodge '''[[Daylight Saving Time]]'''.
Overall, DUCAMAYL is a much more advanced version of a regular Dual Core schedule, with promising flexibility of all sleep blocks and the tenacious ability to sustain performance across the clock. With a usually somewhat high [[Total sleep time|total sleep]], it can tolerate certain occasions where the regular sleep hygiene practices have to be temporarily forfeited. The malleability of nap amount and duration from day to day is also highly resilient and convenient to maintain the schedule long term. Another added stronghold is the '''support and bond between 2 core sleeps''' - the second core sleep can to some extent fix the inconsistencies and small hiccups from the first core. However, the schedule does offer on average less sleep reduction than SEVAMAYL that proceeds from the very common E3-extended base. While the second core is a great REM stock and mostly safe from real life events, the first core is still vulnerable to evening social hours if done frequently; this is the primary reason that prompts many sleepers to try out Everyman instead.
Having one or two extra naps might make Uberman more sustainable for people since 2h is far below the minimum requirements of an average person, and consequently lower adaptation difficulty. However, these variants even less realistic socially since 3h5m and 2h40m wake blocks are simply too short for doing anything. No one is known to have adapted to these variants of Uberman.
Like other “-AMAYL” schedules (except SPAMAYL), once adapted it is possible to '''occasionally extend either core sleep by 90m''' in the event of slight sickness, somewhat more tiredness, stress or heavy gym workouts. This extension should not be done more than once per 7 or 10 days. Nap durations can also become a lot more versatile on some occasions, being able to be extended to '''30m-40m''' (for early/late morning naps) in experienced sleepers or reduced to '''5-10m''' in the case of emergency that does not allow for the usual 20m, or when it gets late in the day (after ~5:30 PM) to avoid more grogginess upon waking.
=== Shorter naps ===
[[File:Uberman-modified.png|center|thumb|Uberman-modified with only 15m naps]]
This is a hypothetical variant that is said to be done by Leonardo Da Vinci. However, there is absolutely no concrete evidence that makes his case a compelling fact. Da Vinci's life was devoted to various legendary inventions, so it seems to make sense that such a genius mind would probably require an abnormally low amount of sleep to create all the brilliant works in his lifetime. However, '''Claudio Stampi''', a polyphasic sleep researcher, has disputed that Da Vinci followed this Uberman variant. The scarcity and uncertainty of evidence among the science of sleep that is only at the fledgling stage unfortunately fails to fully confirm this "myth" that seems to have been instilled into casual internet users.
Both core sleeps and the naps will sustain alertness, retain memory, cognitive and ideally physical performance everyday. The ability to gain natural wakes from certain naps or cores is also very satisfying.
Nevertheless, there was an anecdotally successful Uberman sleeper at the end of the 1950s ('''Chapter 11 of ''Why We Nap'''''). This sleeper, in his journal, recounted his adaptation to this Uberman variant that totaled only 1h30m of sleep each day, mirroring the alleged Uberman variant of Da Vinci. It did take him 25 days to adapt, and he remained on it for a couple months. However, like many other anecdotal accounts about the quirks of Uberman long-term, the artist's creativity sharply declined because he barely recalled dreams from the Uberman naps anymore. Vivid dreaming had been an inspiration on his artwork, yet after being "adapted" for a while, his dream recall ability took a turn for the worst. It is believed that the malleability of SWS and REM pressure changed and after several months, his naps gave little room for REM sleep while trying to redeem the necessary amount of SWS to fuel his daily performance. It is also possible that, despite him feeling well on all fronts, the loss of dream recall may signal that he was bound to suffer from '''REM deprivation''' should he continue the schedule. The discomfort kept rising, which eventually forced him to drop the schedule. He was able to sleep 8h monophasically after the Uberman attempt, with little to no repercussions to total sleep time. However, he was a moderate insomniac, which may play into his adaptation success chance, with low requirements of vital sleep.
== Variants ==
Given the absurdity of this Uberman variant, it would be better to adapt to the standard variant, whose success is more well-known overall.
To ensure flexibility of both core sleeps and the naps, the total sleep of both cores combined should be '''at least 4.5h''' (e.g, 3h first core and 1.5h second core) and approximately '''~5.5h total sleep''' (all sleeps on schedule). This ideally would cover all SWS and a strong amount of REM sleep and the total sleep of both cores, 4.5h, is comparable with the [[E3|E3-extended]] base from SEVAMAYL. However, up to date it is unknown how flexible either core sleep will be with this total sleep, and if one core sleep always has to be stationary. For polyphasic beginners, sleepers with higher sleep needs or those often naturally waking up at night who want a transition to DUCAMAYL, '''extended base Dual Core versions''' provide much better opportunities to comfortably flex both core sleeps to some extent. This makes DC1-extended, DC2-extended and DC3-extended good candidates for transitioning to DUCAMAYL.
[[File:Uberman modified - denser nighttime naps.png|thumb|alt=|center|Naps are located at night mostly]]In this variation of Uberman more naps are placed during the night since sleep pressure is generally higher during nighttime and it would also be easier to schedule one’s life around longer daytime gaps. However, it is very difficult to stay awake for long periods of time on Uberman and this is likely even harder than regular Uberman. No one has been known to have adapted to this, either.
File:DC2 Base.png|thumb|DC2
File:DC3-ext Base.png|thumb|DC3-extended
</gallery>
Aside from these extended variants, '''modified variants''' with 2 2.5h core lengths (2.5-2.5), 1 core of 3h followed by a 2.5h core length (3-2.5), or 3.5-1.5 can be scheduled by experienced sleepers or those who know their sleep architecture well enough through the use of a sleep tracking device. Interestingly enough, one DUCAMAYL’s successful adaptation came from [https://www.polyphasic.net/schedules/dymaxion/ Bimaxion] base (4h TST) and then the sleeper alternated between 1,2 and 3 naps from day to day. The naps are primarily 30m long as a result of utilizing 30m nap duration ('''[[Dymaxion]] naps'''). Since this successful adapter was a mutant sleeper (5-6h monophasic requirement), it makes sense that only people with lower sleep requirements would be able to fully adapt to DUCAMAYL with a very low total sleep.
== Research ==
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 '''<u>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315334680_Endocrine_and_cognitive_effects_of_a_radically_polyphasic_sleep_schedule Endocrine and cognitive effects]</u>''' of Uberman sleep. This study lasted for '''5 weeks''', which is interestingly the longest polyphasic sleep study to ever last among all existent studies. Unfortunately, after the researchers in charge of this study have been contacted via Email, only the information of the Abstract is available.
The difference between a 4.5h-1.5h and a 3h-3h combination of both cores can be used for different purposes. For example, a person with higher REM need but lower SWS need can opt for a longer second core and shorter first core, and vice versa. Individuals with heavy training can also pick a longer first core '''(at least 2 full cycles)''' for better physical recovery. People with higher sleep requirements can also increase the napping frequency (e.g, DC2-extended) to further support REM sleep. Although for the most part, '''transitioning from DC1 and DC2 bases would prove to be easier to schedule than DC3 bases'''.
This study sheds some light on the vision of a long-term Uberman lifestyle as well as its implications on overall well-being of polyphasic sleepers. It is remarkable that most of the subjects quit the experiment because of social life constraints rather than the would-be grueling adaptation by week 3, and one remaining subject did last until the end of 5 weeks, without showing any cognitive impairments. Under laboratory conditions, it is guaranteed that these participants were woken up timely during this adaptation, hence it is safe to assume no oversleeping instances occurred. While it is most obvious that Uberman requires an extreme adaptation, and none of these sleep subjects were habitual nappers or sleep mutants, the remaining subject '''might have adapted to Uberman after 5 weeks''', given his cognitive performance and cortisol secretion pattern become stable (the same as on monophasic). At the same time, 5 weeks may not be enough for a successful Uberman adaptation. Even if it was a success, it took laboratory-controlled environment to get this far on Uberman - a regular adaptation with multiple alarms, no human assistance as mentioned before, will most definitely lead to failure.
Depending on the base Dual Core schedule of choice, the corresponding DUCAMAYL variant would reflect the amount of naps needed each day in each of those base schedules. For instance, a DC1 sleeper can alternate between 1-2 naps from day to day, a DC2 sleeper would be an average of 2 naps per day (alternating between 1, 2 and 3 naps), and a DC3 sleeper may require an average of 3 naps per day (2-4 naps) or 2-3 naps depending on the core durations of the base schedule.
Despite the seemingly positive news on this hostile schedule, it was reported that '''growth hormone was completely suppressed''' and now it was secreted after 6 naps. This suggests that the subjects likely woke up during SWS or traces of SWS, and that SWS was most likely interrupted. Because of GH's suppression, it is then likely that it would be impossible to do a lot of physical activities or training on Uberman, because of the radical change in GH.
Unlike a regular Dual Core schedule whose first core usually starts early (e.g, 9-10 PM), on DUCAMAYL the first core can become quite flexible and start at later evening hours on some days (e.g, 11 PM-midnight) as part of the flexible regime. This allows more social evening time if any need arises. '''Extended variants''' can also start the first core at late evening hours (~11 PM-midnight) from the very first adaptation step to strict sleep times. The second core, a big perk of DUCAMAYL, can be flexed accordingly and is generally safe from real life interruptions as it is very late into the night. As a result of flexible core sleeps, the '''wake gap between each core''' can increase (moving both cores further or delay the second core) or decrease (moving both cores closer or one core closer to the other) freely. This allows for flexible planning or activities during the wake gap depending on days. For example, a busy night with binge-watching entertainments or work can prompt the sleeper to enjoy more of these night hours, while a night with not many useful activities to do is a cue for a shorter night gap.
== Lifestyle Considerations ==
Based on the official research of Uberman, it now becomes clear as to what downsides Uberman suffer. Basically no room for exercising, high tendency for obnoxious weight gain, inflexibility of sleep even after adaptation and most notably, social life limitation is what makes Uberman unsustainable long term. The cons vastly outweigh the benefits, which are '''large sleep reduction''' and '''powerful dreaming'''. 3h40m wake gap between each nap is usually too short to schedule or even simulate real-world commitments; Steve Pavlina worked from home when adapting to Uberman, and Puredoxyk also had a flexible job. Therefore, only work-from-home lifestyles would benefit from an Uberman adaptation.
==References==
The cruel adaptation has little mercy on '''skipping a nap'''. Doing so further develops the chance for a long crash during adaptation. Even after adaptation, the risk of oversleeping remains, and many alarms may have to be maintained for several months. Like any other nap-only schedules, Uberman does not support the clearance of brain waste via the glymphatic system, because the longest sleep duration is only 20 minutes. There could be some hidden mechanics behind the intensely deep naps that help facilitate this biological process, but it is currently unknown as to how because an average SWS baseline per day(~90m) cannot be preserved on this schedule. The study in the previous section also confirms how difficult it is to sustain Uberman, reflecting on the minuscule adaptation success, even if adaptation is going in one's favor. Conclusively, only sleep mutants, insomniacs or external circumstances that result in a continuously low amount of vital sleep requirements should attempt Uberman.
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="reddit">{{cite web |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/polyphasic/comments/jppeht/official_new_flexible_dual_core_polyphasic/ |title=OFFICIAL! New, Flexible Dual Core Polyphasic Pattern Released: Evolution of the Predecessor Segmented Sleep in the Modern Time |last=GeneralNguyen |website=Reddit |access-date=2020-11-19}}</ref>
}}
{{Polyphasic Sleep Schedules}}
[[Category:Schedules]]
[[Category:Schedules]]
{{TNT|Polyphasic Sleep Schedules}}
Revision as of 21:44, 4 December 2020
<translate>
This is an unadvisable schedule, as its total sleep time is considered to be below the bare minimum required for most people.
</translate>
Uberman is the most widely known form of polyphasic sleep, with its appeal being the large amount of extra time it provides. For this reason, it is also one of the most widely attempted schedules by many first-time polyphasers. However, the adaptation success for this schedule is few and far between, with virtually all attempts at the schedule ending in failure, since it does not meet the minimum sleep need for the majority of people.
Since REM and 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.
History
This schedule is invented and named by Marie Staver (Puredoxyk) and her buddy Psuke Briah in 1999, drawing inspiration from a TIME article about Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion sleep. It was first revealed in a post on everything2.com in 2000.
Puredoxyk stayed on the schedule for 6 months in 2000 and she was not able to re-adapt to it later.
Steve Pavlina adapted to the schedule in 2005, and stayed on it for 5 months, and has not done it again ever since.
Difficulty
Both Steve Pavlina’s blogs and Puredoxyk’s book Ubersleep greatly understated the schedule’s difficulty. Puredoxyk adapted to the schedule in times of extreme stress at university, and was unable to adapt to it again afterwards. Nevertheless, people tend to overestimate their chances of succeeding. There has been no detailed accounts of someone adapting to the schedule in more recent times. You may see many logs of people attempting this schedule, but most of them ends in just a few days, presumably because the author overslept and gave up. Those failures are often used to discredit polyphasic sleep altogether, without ever considering more reasonable schedules.
Human supervision
It is important to realize that willpower alone is not enough for adapting to this schedule. With SWS deprivation, willpower simply will not help you. People have reported unconsciously disabling or ignoring electronic devices and performing other actions necessary to go back to sleep, with no recall whatsoever afterwards. People have slept through noise-based alarms, flashing lights, loud fans, and repeated maximum-voltage shocks from a Pavlok. It is therefore very useful, if not necessary, to have constant human supervision to make sure you are awake when you are supposed to be. To our best knowledge, no one has ever adapted to this schedule without the help of another human. Puredoxyk was woken up by Psuke and Youtuber Aeia was woken up by her twin sister during their uberman adaptation. Without the help of other people, it is virtually impossible that you would ever adapt to this schedule.
Adaptation
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 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.
Delaying the SWS rebound
It is possible to delay the SWS rebound by a few days by adding extra naps in the night for extra SWS gain during the first days of adaptation. Steve Pavlina used this method to delay his SWS rebound until around day 12. It is not generally a good idea though, since the rebound will eventually happen and doing this just drags out the adaptation process by a few days and overcoming the SWS rebound is essential to Uberman adaptation.
These are possible transition schedules to Uberman with sleeps scheduled to start at the same time as the goal Uberman schedule. It might train the body rhythm to align the waves of tiredness with Uberman naps. This could reduce the transition difficulty somewhat. Still, intense compression and repartition will be required at the each transition, especially the final jump to Uberman. With two transitions, the adaptation is stretched out to several months and the overall difficulty is only slightly reduced. Overall, this may not be worth the extra time required.
Naptation/Exaptation
This method involves staying awake for 1-2 days to quickly increase sleep pressure and/or start with naps every 2 hours instead of 4 to quickly acquire the ability to gain REM during naps.
Having one or two extra naps might make Uberman more sustainable for people since 2h is far below the minimum requirements of an average person, and consequently lower adaptation difficulty. However, these variants even less realistic socially since 3h5m and 2h40m wake blocks are simply too short for doing anything. No one is known to have adapted to these variants of Uberman.
This is a hypothetical variant that is said to be done by Leonardo Da Vinci. However, there is absolutely no concrete evidence that makes his case a compelling fact. Da Vinci's life was devoted to various legendary inventions, so it seems to make sense that such a genius mind would probably require an abnormally low amount of sleep to create all the brilliant works in his lifetime. However, Claudio Stampi, a polyphasic sleep researcher, has disputed that Da Vinci followed this Uberman variant. The scarcity and uncertainty of evidence among the science of sleep that is only at the fledgling stage unfortunately fails to fully confirm this "myth" that seems to have been instilled into casual internet users.
Nevertheless, there was an anecdotally successful Uberman sleeper at the end of the 1950s (Chapter 11 of Why We Nap). This sleeper, in his journal, recounted his adaptation to this Uberman variant that totaled only 1h30m of sleep each day, mirroring the alleged Uberman variant of Da Vinci. It did take him 25 days to adapt, and he remained on it for a couple months. However, like many other anecdotal accounts about the quirks of Uberman long-term, the artist's creativity sharply declined because he barely recalled dreams from the Uberman naps anymore. Vivid dreaming had been an inspiration on his artwork, yet after being "adapted" for a while, his dream recall ability took a turn for the worst. It is believed that the malleability of SWS and REM pressure changed and after several months, his naps gave little room for REM sleep while trying to redeem the necessary amount of SWS to fuel his daily performance. It is also possible that, despite him feeling well on all fronts, the loss of dream recall may signal that he was bound to suffer from REM deprivation should he continue the schedule. The discomfort kept rising, which eventually forced him to drop the schedule. He was able to sleep 8h monophasically after the Uberman attempt, with little to no repercussions to total sleep time. However, he was a moderate insomniac, which may play into his adaptation success chance, with low requirements of vital sleep.
Given the absurdity of this Uberman variant, it would be better to adapt to the standard variant, whose success is more well-known overall.
In this variation of Uberman more naps are placed during the night since sleep pressure is generally higher during nighttime and it would also be easier to schedule one’s life around longer daytime gaps. However, it is very difficult to stay awake for long periods of time on Uberman and this is likely even harder than regular Uberman. No one has been known to have adapted to this, either.
Research
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 lasted for 5 weeks, which is interestingly the longest polyphasic sleep study to ever last among all existent studies. Unfortunately, after the researchers in charge of this study have been contacted via Email, only the information of the Abstract is available.
This study sheds some light on the vision of a long-term Uberman lifestyle as well as its implications on overall well-being of polyphasic sleepers. It is remarkable that most of the subjects quit the experiment because of social life constraints rather than the would-be grueling adaptation by week 3, and one remaining subject did last until the end of 5 weeks, without showing any cognitive impairments. Under laboratory conditions, it is guaranteed that these participants were woken up timely during this adaptation, hence it is safe to assume no oversleeping instances occurred. While it is most obvious that Uberman requires an extreme adaptation, and none of these sleep subjects were habitual nappers or sleep mutants, the remaining subject might have adapted to Uberman after 5 weeks, given his cognitive performance and cortisol secretion pattern become stable (the same as on monophasic). At the same time, 5 weeks may not be enough for a successful Uberman adaptation. Even if it was a success, it took laboratory-controlled environment to get this far on Uberman - a regular adaptation with multiple alarms, no human assistance as mentioned before, will most definitely lead to failure.
Despite the seemingly positive news on this hostile schedule, it was reported that growth hormone was completely suppressed and now it was secreted after 6 naps. This suggests that the subjects likely woke up during SWS or traces of SWS, and that SWS was most likely interrupted. Because of GH's suppression, it is then likely that it would be impossible to do a lot of physical activities or training on Uberman, because of the radical change in GH.
Lifestyle Considerations
Based on the official research of Uberman, it now becomes clear as to what downsides Uberman suffer. Basically no room for exercising, high tendency for obnoxious weight gain, inflexibility of sleep even after adaptation and most notably, social life limitation is what makes Uberman unsustainable long term. The cons vastly outweigh the benefits, which are large sleep reduction and powerful dreaming. 3h40m wake gap between each nap is usually too short to schedule or even simulate real-world commitments; Steve Pavlina worked from home when adapting to Uberman, and Puredoxyk also had a flexible job. Therefore, only work-from-home lifestyles would benefit from an Uberman adaptation.
The cruel adaptation has little mercy on skipping a nap. Doing so further develops the chance for a long crash during adaptation. Even after adaptation, the risk of oversleeping remains, and many alarms may have to be maintained for several months. Like any other nap-only schedules, Uberman does not support the clearance of brain waste via the glymphatic system, because the longest sleep duration is only 20 minutes. There could be some hidden mechanics behind the intensely deep naps that help facilitate this biological process, but it is currently unknown as to how because an average SWS baseline per day(~90m) cannot be preserved on this schedule. The study in the previous section also confirms how difficult it is to sustain Uberman, reflecting on the minuscule adaptation success, even if adaptation is going in one's favor. Conclusively, only sleep mutants, insomniacs or external circumstances that result in a continuously low amount of vital sleep requirements should attempt Uberman.
