Polyphasic Sleeping and the Effects on the Human Psyche

by fatkitty420

Although Polyphasic sleeping has not been studied upon by a large amount of the scientific community, it still does in fact hold some promise as to being effective. Polyphasic Sleeping is changing your ability to sleep from your usual 9 hours a day, to somewhere around 3 hours a day, and still being able to function properly. It's the ability to utilize 20 hours out of a day as apposed to 15 hours a day Monophasic Sleeping presents (Monophasic Sleeping: having a sleeping schedule of one single large amount of sleep a day). Scientific evidence is hard to come by on this subject, but, I believe it's safe to say that the journey on gaining this ability would be a very tough one, causing massive fatigue on your body, and even more so, on your mind. But, just because the journey could be quite arduous, doesn't mean it isn't possible ([Rumored to be Polyphasic Sleepers] Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Nikola Tesla.)

In order to achieve Polyphasic Sleeping, you must go through (arguably) 14 days, or roughly 2 weeks of well planned sleep deprivation. The reason Polyphasic Sleeping is pheasable is due to the belief that, although you go through many stages of a proper "sleep cycle", the only required one is during the "REM" stage. As you train yourself to go to bed in small increments of 15-30 minutes at a time, you mind becomes naturally attuned to achieving the "REM" stage much faster then it use to, and eventually skipping most of the cycle itself. This has been referred to as "Evolutionary Sleep training", basically calling your ability to manipulate your sleep patterns an evolutionary step... although in which direction it goes is anyone's guess.

The many days required to successfully get equilibrium with ones self on the Polyphasic Sleep schedule gives the potential for many mental problems to occur. Whilst many of these psychological problems may be rare for this cause, one that most likely would affect you is Depression. As your fatigue rises, and you've yet to master the "REM" cycle of sleep, the stress on your body and mind would become almost always overwhelming. Your mind begins to become "foggy" and your own self-concept becomes shaded and unfamiliar. You essentially get lost during this stage, and with this brings a lowered self-esteem, higher rate of doubt in yourself, and ultimately manic depression. This, in theory, could eventually lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as seen in many PoW's when sleep deprivation was used as a form of torture. Although it may not seem possible that only a 14 day cycle of "training" could cause such a large amount of mental trauma, it must be noted that the "14 days" must be done without mistakes. Many whom attempt to go into a Polyphasic Sleeping pattern do not do so in 14 days. It could take several weeks, and even months due to "slip ups" and "over sleeping", and although a small mishap might of occurred, it could very well of sent the subject back weeks on "training". This, as one might believe, would cause even the hardiest mind large amounts of stress.

Many other problems that could occur from this sort of treatment to your body range from simple drowsiness/disorientation and a heightened sense of individualism to schizophrenia and even narcolepsy. Because this sort of sleeping schedule is not very prevalent in modern society, it is very hard to apply the social comparison theory to this topic. The social comparison theory is defined as the individual's efforts to compare themselves with others in order to assess their abilities. The reason this theory is hard to apply is because of the amount of disorientation Polyphasic Sleeping can implement on the subject. It's very hard to look towards other opinions when you feel your own self-concept as deceiving. It becomes incredibly hard to interpret others behaviors toward your reactions, and there for there's nothing to "assess".

Through many personal recounts on the "REM" cycle of sleeping, and several studies on this subject alone, it is widely believed that dreams stem from the "REM" portion of the cycle. And, even more so, "Lucid Dreaming" (The conscious perception of one's state while dreaming, resulting in a much clearer experience and sometimes enabling direct control over the content of the dream, a realistic world that is to some degree in the control of the dreamer.) is more easily attained through Polyphasic Sleeping. Many who recount their attempts at Polyphasic Sleeping will disclose their new found ability to enter the "REM" cycle of sleep, and immediately start to dream...Vividly. This brings about the potential of experiencing almost nirvana, as the subject explores this real inside their own mind. As to why this happens has yet to be determined, it is my personal opinion that because your mind is only getting 15-30 minute intervals of regeneration, your mind implements much stronger abilities to relieve the fatigue and anxiety Polyphasic Sleeping has caused, and there for making the dreams much more powerful, and maybe even "spiritual" (in a psychological sense, of course).

Over all, the road to Polyphasic Sleeping is a tough and mentally challenging one. What benefits that seem to lurk at the end of this long road have yet to be fully understood, but as more light gets shed on the subject, it is assured that we will learn more in the near future... And maybe one day, not endure the risks to the Human Psyche the current procedure presents (oh so prevalently).

Sources/References

• Claudio Stampi. Why We Nap: Evolution, Chronobiology, and Functions of Polyphasic and Ultrashort Sleep. (1992) ISBN 0-8176-3462-2
• Jerome M. Siegel. (2001) The REM sleep-memory consolidation hypothesis. Science 294(5544):1058-63.
• "Catching Catnaps," Scientific American Frontiers, Show 105, February 27, 1991
• http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm
• Lucid Dreaming (1985) ISBN 0-87477-342-3 by Stephen LaBerge
• Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain (1988) ISBN 0-306-42849-0 by Jayne Gackenbach and Stephen Laberge, Eds.
• Dreams and How to Guide Them [1867] (1982) ISBN 0-7156-1584-X by Hervey de Saint-Denys

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