h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...is something I intend to give a try, curious as I am.

It simply means that instead of getting all your sleep in one go, you split it up in two.

There's this theory (or maybe it's been proven correct, in which case it's no longer just a theory, but I'm not sure, so I'll stick with calling it a theory for now) that, on average, a complete sleep cycle is 90 minutes long, including the REM sleep.

And, as mentioned in the entry A996465, the lesser time you're awake in a row, the less sleep you need to recover. The method described in that entry is a bit too extreme for me, though.

Lately, I've been thinking of having a nap when I get home from w*rk but wasn't sure how to arrange the rest of my sleep until I read about biphasic sleep.

The basic idea is that you take a 'nap' of 1½ hour (90 minutes) in late afternoon/evening, and then get the rest of your sleep depending on what time you get up.

So, let's say I get up at 6 am. If I go to bed at midnight, I get 4 sleep cycles (4x90=6 hours). Add the nap to that, and I get a total of 7.5 hours sleep.

However, the point with biphasic sleep is that you'll need less sleep than usual, but I thought I'd just try splitting my sleep for now rather than cutting down on it.

Later on, if I feel comfortable with it, I might try cutting down with one sleep cycle, and sleep 1.5 hours nap, 4.5 hours night.

I intend to use the nap to determine how long my personal sleep cycle is, since this can vary a bit from person to person. I've never been able to just take 'power naps' since I always sleep so hard. A nap, to me, is usually somewhere between 1½ and 2 hours.

Oh, and one interesting result that many have told about is that they get more energy sleeping biphasically, even when sleeping as little as 4.5 hours in total.

Another odd result is that sleep cycles seem to grow shorter if you've been on biphasic sleep for a long time (you start waking up earlier from your nap).

with it, and let us know how you get on

(when this popped up in my message centre I thought it said "Biphasic Sheep"

Would that be a phasing into a and then back again, over and over?

IMHO Pierce masters the art of napping. I can't limit myself - my nap may last for 5 hours and then I wake up more tired than I was before. I should probably practice more. But altogether it sounds like a good idea to me.

been doing it for years..............just ask the wife

Just Can't see myself sneaking off for that time in the afternoon. But on the weeks with the children at their dads... maybe?
Hope it works!!!

It takes me half an hour to an hour and a half after laying down to fall asleep in the first place, no matter how tired I am. Naping doesn't tend to work for me because of this. I go to bed for a "nap" that ends up being 4 hours long, making me grogier when I wake up than when I went to sleep.

But I've always felt that the important thing is doing what works best for the individual.

I usually fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow, but yesterday (day 1) I had indeed problem napping. Not when going to bed at midnight though.

The longest 'nap' I've ever had was reaaaaaaaaallllly long:

Some years ago, tired after doing laundry and buying groceries, at 5 pm I decided to have a lttle nap.

I woke up at around 7 pm, very hungry, and decided it was time for dinner. I cooked myself a hot meal and sat down to eat it.

While I was eating, I saw that it was growing *lighter* outside I ran to turn on the TV to check the time, and it was 7 am on Sunday morning! (middle of winter = pitch black at 7 am)

I had 'napped' for 14 hours without waking up even once!

I'm jealous

Since 1984 I never had a normal good sleep.

I know why of course, but I'll keep an eye as this topic goes on.

In my case; medicines, herbs and foodsupplies.

Interesting, I'll be waiting to hear how it's working out

I take naps all the time, and can usually go to sleep pretty much anytime and anywhere. For the last few weeks I have come home from work around 6, and slept from between 1-1,5 hours before my bf comes home - so I suppose I've been doing sort of what you intend, involuntarily...

The problem for me has been that when I wake up after my nap I'm always really hungry, and because of this in a terrible mood...luckily my bf knows to be extra-nice until I've been fed (most imes, anyway...)
I suppose if I were to keep this routine, I could start having later lunches - or make sure I have a snack ready for when I wake up.

This isn't such a strange idea. What you call Biphasic sleep was quite a normal pattern in preindustrial times, according to the historian Roger Ekirch. He calls it "segmented sleep", so that people would first go to bed about 9pm and have a "first sleep" until midnight. Then they would get up, poke the fire, smoke, chat and so on, before returning for their "second sleep" until morning.

According to Ekirch, it's only because of electric lighting that we now stay up later in the first place and then just have one long sleep without the gap in the middle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep (sorry!)

And an article on this by Ekirch: http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/106.2/ah000343.html

Plenty of southern European countries still have Siesta - a few hours in the afternoon when everything stops and closes and (I assume) everyone sleeps, usually between 1 and 4 pm or so. That's why I prefer Spain and Italy for my holidays

Bugger, someone's playing Oriental music in a LOUD volume tonight, so no chance I can get a nap.

The trouble in this block of flats is that the walls are very thin.

The music could have come from my next door neighbour.

Or from my upstairs neighbour, or HER next door neighbour.

Or from the downstairs family, or THEIR next door neighbour.

Right.

*sighs*

Earplugs aren't really an option since I always sleep on my side, meaning I lie on the plugs and the inside of my ears hurt.

*note to self*

Try nap on sofa, sleep in bed

Sounds like you need some white noise or music of your own to drown it out.

Quote; That's why I prefer Spain and Italy for my holidays


Most Spanish couples make love during the siësta.

Alfredo, I don't know whether it's my browser or what, but did you just spell siesta with an umlaut?

I see it too. Alfredo, do you have a permit for that umlaut?