Changes

== Mechanism ==

== Mechanism ==

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.

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 ==

== 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.

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.

Puredoxyk stayed on the schedule for '''6 months''' in 2000 and she was not able to re-adapt to it later.  

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.

'''[[Steve Pavlina]]''' adapted to the schedule in 2005, and stayed on it for '''5 months''', and has not done it again ever since.

== Difficulty ==

== 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.

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 ==

== 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.

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 ==

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.

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.

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 ===

=== 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.  

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.  

=== Gradual adaptation via rhythmic preservation ===

=== Gradual adaptation via [[rhythmic preservation]] ===

<div><ul>

<div><ul>

<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:DC4.png|270px|thumb|[[DC4]]]]</li>

<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:DC4.png|270px|thumb|[[DC4]]]]</li>

<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:E5.png|270px|thumb|[[E5]]]]</li>

<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:E5.png|270px|thumb|[[E5]]]]</li>

</ul></div>

</ul></div>

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.

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 ===

=== [[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.  

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.  

=== Shorter naps ===

=== Shorter naps ===

[[File:Uberman-modified.png|center|thumb|Uberman-modified with only 15m 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.   

This is a hypothetical variant that is said to be done by [[wikipedia:Leonardo_da_Vinci|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, '''[[wikipedia:Claudio_Stampi|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.  

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.