Trimaxion

This is an unadvisable schedule, as its total sleep time is considered to be below the bare minimum required for most people.

Trimaxion

Trimaxion
chart link Legend   Sleep   Dark period   Flexible sleep window
Total sleep	3 hours
Proposed by	GeneralNguyen
Difficulty	Extremely hard
Specification	1 cores, 3 30-minute naps, in dymaxion configuration.

Trimaxion is a schedule that combines elements of Everyman and Dymaxion. Trimaxion (often referred to as Trimax), is a polyphasic pattern of the "-maxion" family. It is the third scheduling sequence from the original Dymaxion sleep.

Mechanism

Trimaxion is designed as a transitional schedule for a gradual adaptation route to Dymaxion, as well as a fallback schedule after Dymaxion becomes no longer sustainable.

As with the use of 2 Dymaxion naps in Bimaxion, there is a total of 3 Dymaxion naps in Trimaxion (3 naps = "tri"). Trimaxion is designed with the intent of the second, and final transition step before Dymaxion, where there are no more core sleeps and only 4 naps of 30 m long. Starting with Bimaxion with 2 core sleeps, Trimaxion now replaces the dawn core of Bimaxion with a mere 30 m nap and there is only one core sleep remaining. As a result of this reduction, Trimaxion gives a chilling total sleep of only 3 hours each day. Overall, it is still less popular than Bimaxion, and much less popular than Dymaxion.

Given Trimaxion's structure of sleep, it resembles a shortened Everyman 3, with the core sleep only lasting for 1 full cycle (90 m). It is classified as an extreme Everyman schedule with 1 core sleep and also more than 1 short nap. However, the concept and design behind Trimaxion still follows the Dymaxion-style of sleep, with each sleep block looking somewhat equidistant from one another. By the standard, there is a sleep block around midnight, sunrise hours, noon and mid/late afternoon. As with the case of Bimaxion, which is placed on "E3-tier" compared to Uberman, Trimaxion is equivalent to "E4-tier" compared to Uberman. There is only one core sleep to support SWS around midnight hours and the glymphatic system at the bare minimum.

As acknowledged that an average human needs approximately 90 m of REM and SWS each for optimal body and mind functions each day, the total sleep of Trimaxion is not sufficient to account for this basic sleep requirements, considering that at least some amount of light sleep is always present in any sleep blocks to transition between light sleep and vital sleep. As a result, it takes individuals with reduced SWS/REM requirements (or both) to be able to adapt to, and sustain Trimaxion in the long run. The naps are to contain REM sleep, and possibly even mixed SWS and REM because of the intense sleep pressure in the day. SWS and REM pressure will climb over a long period of days rather than being alleviated because of the limited total sleep. Attempting to sustain this schedule will cause chronic sleep deprivation in average humans, and thus polyphasic beginners and average sleepers should completely avoid this schedule.

Adaptation

Because there has never been any official success on this schedule ever since its creation, the cold turkey approach is a proposed solution to the adaptation scheme. As with many sleep mutants in the community who have adapted to multiple reduced polyphasic schedules with minimum sleep threshold way below the recommended amount for average sleepers, it may be more beneficial to start this schedule right away and attempt to hold on to it. This will potentially save more time from a gradual adaptation (from Bimaxion) as it is ultimately necessary to overcome the level of abyssal sleep compression to be able to adapt.

Difficulty

Trimaxion is approximately as difficult as the likes of E4, and possibly far more challenging. Compared to its predecessor step, Bimaxion, the loss of a dawn sleep block steeply boosts the insane adaptation. Trimaxion is absolutely far more intense than Bimaxion, and so far is the only schedule in the Dymaxion family without any reported adaptation success, despite a few attempts over the years. Therefore, Trimaxion's true level of difficulty and certain mechanisms may remain at a hypothetical stage.

The most challenging aspect of Trimaxion adaptation is the perpetual SWS wakes near the end of the naps, and possibly the core too. In order for the repartitioning process to complete, both the nap(s) and the core will have to work to obtain enough SWS so that SWS pressure can subside to a healthy level. REM sleep's competition will also make it problematic to balance with SWS gain. The graveyard hours are promised to be hellish, and productivity levels during wake time are expected to be severely crippled with an everlasting Stage 3, at least in the case of average sleepers.

Lifestyle Considerations

Based on the structure of the schedule, Trimaxion would share the same lifestyle as Bimaxion. It actually has some advantages compared to E4, a schedule with a seemingly excessive amount of naps to schedule each day, and likely becomes a big hassle long term. With only 4 sleep blocks and the scheduling design, Trimaxion can fit into regular 9-to-5 mainstream occupations if napping during work is permitted. The decently long wake gap between each sleep also allows for quite a bit of personal obligations to be finished timely. The 30 m naps on this schedule play a big role in this lifestyle advantage - a 30 m nap, which is longer than a 20 m nap, can yield more wakefulness sustaining than a 20 m nap. This also explains why the sleep frequency of Trimaxion is relatively low for a schedule with only 3h total sleep. As with any polyphasic schedules with low total sleep, Trimaxion is a convincing candidate for extremely deep lucid dreaming instances.

For regular sleepers, the unforgiving drawbacks of Trimaxion include, but not limited to, inflexibility of sleep timing even after adaptation is done, inability to cope with extensive physical activities and fundamentally limited evening social time. Skipping any sleep on this schedule even after adaptation can also be very damaging to recover from, at least on paper, and it would take a lot of efforts to maintain the delicacy balance of sleep stages on this schedule. Other than Dymaxion, it would be better to adapt to Bimaxion, as the total sleep is in a safer threshold and there is still the Dymaxion-style structure of sleeps and the 30 m naps to experiment with.

Variants

Alternatively, adding 1 or 2 more 30 m naps may facilitate the intense sleep pressure as adaptation progresses, however, it will only delay Stage 3 for some time as these extra naps are removed. The adapter will still have to face the mountains of sleep inertia from each sleep block in order to reach the end of the adaptation.

Since there is not a single successful adaptation to this schedule, an extended variant (3h core and 3 30 m naps) is likely a lot milder; nonetheless, it would then become redundant. A standard E3 would be a more sensible option, given that the 3h core variant of E3 has accumulated a ton of adaptation failures over the years, despite the fact that it has been recommended and become extremely popular. Thus, Trimaxion-extended with 3 30 m naps is only more complicated and puzzling to handle. It is crucial to observe a successful case to this schedule before any further theoretical alternate versions of this schedule become available.

References

Polyphasic Sleep Schedules Scheduling overview Biphasic E1 Extended Siesta Segmented BiphasicX Everyman E2 Extended E3 Extended E4 Extended E5 Sevamayl Trimaxion Dual core DC1 Extended DC2 Extended DC3 DC4 Bimaxion Tri core Triphasic TC1 TC2 Nap only Uberman Dymaxion Tesla Spamayl Experimental QC0 Ducamayl Camayl Hypothetical Non-polyphasic Monophasic Random