- [Ryan] For the entirety of my existence,
I have slept in what is referred to
as a monophasic pattern.
That means I do all my sleep at one time
for seven to eight hours a night.
However, armed with the power of the Internet
and my own fatal curiosity,
I discovered the art of polyphasic sleeping,
a sleep pattern where users receive
their well-needed beauty rest in multiple phases
throughout the day.
By doing so, polyphasic sleepers are theoretically able
to function with less sleep.
Some users claim to also feel enhanced focus and creativity,
and what better way to test this
than to do it myself for one week?
But on first glance, I noticed there are plenty
of different polyphasic sleep schedules out there,
with the most abysmal being a schedule called the Uberman,
where users sleep for six 20-minute naps throughout the day,
cutting down their daily sleep time to only two hours,
and, if used over an average lifetime,
the Uberman would add a whopping 20 years
of awake time to the user's life.
But, even I'm not foolish enough to attempt
such a treacherous schedule,
so I consulted a current polyphasic sleeper to figure out
a more humane polyphasic sleep schedule for me to try.
- I'm Jackson.
I've been using polyphasic sleep for the last six months
or something like that.
- [Ryan] Despite the lack of sleep,
Jackson somehow has the energy to do this crazy shit.
(intense grunge music)
- It's like the whole idea of it is to break up your sleep
into as many segments as you can and kind of recharge
the sleep battery more often, so to speak,
and then you start to feel good after about a week.
So, the thing is with polyphasic sleep is, well,
biphasic sleep is your natural sleep rhythm as a human.
- [Ryan] It's also worth mentioning
that many Latin American countries are biphasic sleepers.
They sleep for a continuous five to six hours,
then break for another 30 to 90 minute siesta
at another point in the day,
which I can only imagine must be sublime.
- So I'll sleep for four and a half hours,
and then I'll have two 20-minute naps throughout the day.
- [Ryan] Okay, so I'll probably do four and a half,
and then 20-20 like you've been doing,
and then see where that goes. - [Jackson] Yeah.
That's the one I'd recommend, yeah.
- Also, have you talked to a doctor about this at all?
- No. (laughs)
- Have you thought about it?
Like, have you ever thought,
am I fucking my body up long-term?
- I've had a little bit of worry about that.
If I were to try, like, the Uberman schedule,
or something like that, then yeah.
Maybe speak to a doctor.
In my opinion, that's the kind of thing that's dangerous.
- [Ryan] And, on that note, I thanked Jackson
for his abundant awake time and parted ways.
However, I still thought a precautionary pop-over
to the doctor wouldn't hurt, so I went down to UCLA
and talked to renowned sleep specialist Dr. Alon Avidan.
- [Dr. Avidan] Polyphasic sleep, generally speaking,
is not a good idea, I'll tell you why.
One of my patients gave me an anecdote
which is like baking bread.
If you are supposed to put the bread
in the oven for about an hour,
if you end up taking the bread prematurely
after half an hour and then sticking it in the oven
every ten minutes afterwards, it's never going to rise.
The same metaphor is sleep has to be occuring
during that specific phase of time.
- So how much sleep is needed per day?
- A minimum of seven hours of sleep is needed
for proper physiologic function, ideally eight hours,
and, of course, this is an average.
- So, for this, I'd be getting five hours and ten minutes.
- Five hours and ten minutes
may be appropriate for some people.
Those are called the short sleepers.
The odds of that being the case are rather small,
because this is a very, very rare condition.
- So, to sum that up, basically you're saying
not a good idea to try it, what I'm about to try.
- Probably not a good idea.
- Okay, well, I think that sums up
what I need to know about polyphasic sleep.
Hopefully, I'll make it through the week.
- Good luck.
- [Ryan] After that ringing endorsement
of confidence from the doc, it was time to begin.
What follows is my slow descent into madness.
All right, so this is night one
of my polyphasic sleep experiment.
It's 12:22 right now.
I'm setting my alarm for 5:00, then,
just in case it takes me a little bit of time to sleep.
I woke up once, in the middle of the night,
so my block of four and a half hours
definitely got disturbed.
So I just worked out,
and now I actually feel pretty fantastic right now
considering how shitty I felt this morning.
It's about 7:00.
In two hours, I've got to go to work.
It's time for my first nap.
I've booked this room at work
so that I don't sleep at my desk.
Let me just, there.
(curtains squeak)
(light switch flips)
- I just set the alarm.
(exhausted sigh)
- The first couple of days are definitely the worst.
(laughs)
Like day one to three, hell on earth,
like literally hell on earth.
(laughs)
You're moody.
Your productivity goes out the window,
because, like most of the time,
you're just trying to stay awake,
and you don't really get anything done.
- So, I'm exhausted right now.
I'm so tired, I didn't even want to go work out.
So, this is the end of day two.
I just worked out.
Kind of hurt my leg, but I'm a little worried,
because you need sleep to repair your muscles, so...
(phone alarm rings)
(groans)
What are the main things
that are going to start to happen
as I start to get more sleep-deprived?
- You will not be able to react efficiently
to, let's say, if you're driving and you have to stop.
- That sounds important, cool.
- Memory problems, cognitive problems, creativity.
- Don't need that.
(laughs)
- People become more irritable.
Those are the short-term issues.
- Wait, that was just the short-term?
- [Dr. Avidan] That's short-term.
(turn signal clicking)
- So, I think I'm going to take the train to work,
just because today, I haven't really been able
to concentrate.
I'm kind of just being awake to be awake.
People who do this use these extra hours
to, you know, work out or do some work
or do some extra time,
but I'm so, like, braindead right now.
I'm incapable of doing anything,
but at the same time, because I'm doing nothing,
it's making it so much harder to stay awake.
Also, my freaking leg is killing me.
It's just these naps, they're not doing anything.
- Now, let's look into the long-term issues:
propensity for weight gain,
prediabetes, and even diabetes,
heart disease, obstructive sleep apnea,
immunologic function, psychological deterioration.
- All of a sudden, today, mid-afternoon,
I feel actually pretty good.
(laughs)
- [Voiceover] What in the world is happening right now?
What is going on?
- Huh?
I just laughed for 30 straight minutes
over my boss telling me that he makes homemade hummus.
(laughs)
(laughs hysterically)
- [Voiceover] Ryan, I think you need a nap.
- Not yet.
(laughs)
Yeah. (clears throat)
I will say that I've also tried to do
the same task at my computer for the past 30 minutes
and I still can't do it, so...
(laughs hysterically)
(laughs)
That's stupid.
(catches breath)
I'm going to go back to my desk.
Now I'm crashing.
My headache is worse than it has been this entire week,
and I have no motivation to do--
(stumbles over speech)
Yeah, I can't speak.
To have, what was I saying?
(snorts)
Also, I feel like I'm getting sick.
This is, what, beginning of day seven?
I think it's time to tap out.
There's just no point to doing this anymore.
Fuck, I don't want to break, though.
Already in too deep.
I'm so out of it.
(stark ambient music)
(sighs)
It's time to call it quits.
Okay, so I caved, and I just woke up.
Still feel pretty shitty.
Yeah, I'm just...
disappointed.
- Polyphasic, it's a stretch of the biphasic sleep
and it's probably not conducive to normal physiology.
Biphasic sleep, however, is natural.
- Do you plan on doing this forever?
- Biphasic, I'd say yes.
Whenever I'm not doing polyphasic sleep,
I use biphasic sleep.
That's just what naturally works for me,
and I feel like it would naturally work for a lot of people
if they gave it the time,
but the polyphasic thing, it's absolutely fine
for a couple of weeks, and if you need to do it
for university, for your exams,
or just whenever you've got a lot of work,
then just go for it, because it's really helpful.
- [Ryan] So, what did I learn from this experience?
I found how crucial the proper amount
of sleep is for functionality.
I didn't experience heightened focus or creativity,
nor did I feel the extra time awake per day was worth it.
Yes, there are people out there like Jackson
that are able to do this, and that may be because
they are genetically suited for it as Dr. Avidan suggested,
or maybe because they have more willpower than me.
But all I can say is this,
listen to what your body is telling you.
And I know one thing for sure,
I definitely won't take sleep for granted again,
and neither should you.
(playful chamber music)
(electrical buzzing)