Triphasic
Triphasic is the original and most popular Tri core schedule, consisting of 3 core sleeps and no naps.
| Tri Core 0 | |
|---|---|
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| Total sleep | 4 hours 30 minutes |
| Proposed by | Leif Weaver |
| Difficulty | Very hard |
| Specification | 3 single-cycle core sleeps |
Origin
Leif Weaver proposed the schedule, adapted to it, and stayed on the schedule for several months.[1]
Mechanism
This sleeps are usually placed equidistantly, with a 6.5h wake gap between each. However, equidistant scheduling is not required. Still, it is recommended to avoid having any wake gaps larger than 8 hours. The largest gap that has been adapted to so far is 9 hours between the daytime and evening cores. Other gaps are expected to be smaller, as sleep pressure is higher at night and in the morning.
As with Dual core, the evening core favors SWS, whereas the dawn/morning core favors REM sleep. The daytime core contains mixed sleep stages.
Adaptation
In the beginning, sleep cycles will proceed as normal. The cycle first starts with light sleep, then reaches SWS and then finally finishes after REM sleep is complete. In the second core, SWS pressure may be weaker than REM pressure, allowing for some REM sleep to get in this core.
As adaptation progresses, both SWS and REM deprivation symptoms are likely to manifest as the schedule significantly reduces total sleep compared to monophasic. Vital sleep needs to be repartitioned into each core sleep to according to the homeostatic and circadian pressures.
During adaptation, the first core will be difficult to wake from, because of possible SWS wakes, and may result in oversleeps. Likewise, the second core may also be difficult, particularly when REM deprivation have accumulated to high levels. The daytime core is likely the easiest to handle, and may naturally shorten after adaptation.
Difficulty
The adaptation difficulty is considered "very hard" due to its low total sleep and only having a one-cycle core in the SWS peak. It is significantly harder than E3, due to the need to split the SWS over several cores as well as its longer gaps.
Lifestyle consideration
Because of Triphasic's daytime and evening cores at often inconvenient hours, Triphasic is not very popular. The need for a core in SWS peak makes social life in the evening difficult. As it only has 4.5 hours of total sleep, Triphasic is quite inflexible even after adaptation for average sleepers. One person has reported being able to flex a Triphasic core by up to 30 minutes. With the limited flexibility, maintaining Triphasic long-term is difficult, even if the adaptation is successful. Intense exercise may also be detrimental to the schedule, because the increased SWS requirements from the exercise can lead to SWS wakes, and may cause oversleeps. Triphasic can create a sense of long days blurred together, with wake gaps all similar in length.
Triphasic-extended, however, is much more practical. The first core can be scheduled late (around 23-00) allows for social events in the evening. More sleep also allows for more physical training flexibility after adaptation. The long morning-afternoon wake gap allows for many different daily activities without having to worry about sleep. Triphasic-extended has reported more a lot of successes.
Variants
Aside from the non-equidistant Triphasic scheduling which has proven to be viable by a couple sleepers, the most popular and widely successful version is the extended version.
Extended
Because of the major difficulty posed by the SWS core during adaptation, this extended version allows more room for SWS in the first core, with a higher chance to avoid many SWS wakes during adaptation. This also bumps the total sleep time to 6h, which is considered a beginner-friendly sleep total. Alongside a much easier adaptation, the wake gap from the REM core to the afternoon core can be expanded all the way to ~11h wake gap (1 reported success). This versatility greatly boosts the viability of Triphasic-extended or schedules with a daytime core.
A few polyphasic sleepers have been able to adapt to a Triphasic-extended variant with a 9-10h wake gap from morning to afternoon. The ability to schedule this distribution of sleep aids in daily scheduling, in which the daytime core can be moved to ~16-17. With an overall easier adaptation than regular Triphasic, the nighttime hours between 2 nocturnal cores can be utilized for various activities without having to sacrifice all productivity when adapting. Another bonus from Triphasic-extended is that the first core can begin at late evening hours, around 11 or 11:30 PM without too much hassle, thanks to the increased total sleep. The core extension also suits individuals with somewhat high sleep requirements, while an adaptation to the regular Triphasic can become unsustainable.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the REM core to 3h instead of the SWS core in the evening, which may be beneficial for social hours in the evening or less sleep in the early evening hours. However, it has no known official successes to date. Although it is worth noting that a sleeper with low SWS needs and high REM needs may benefit from this Triphasic-extended variant.
References
