Many are sorely lacking hours for sleep, because everywhere you need to be in time. The problem is that such a sleep pattern has a negative effect on well-being, and, consequently, on performance. At one time, Leonardo da Vinci himself faced such a problem and, due to his resourcefulness, was able to successfully solve it. Learn about polyphasic sleep, also known as "genius sleep" in this article.
How to sleep in 1 hour: the secret of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci got out of the situation by breaking the night's sleep into several parts, thus turning it into a polyphasic one. After that, the artist's sleep took 15 minutes, provided that he rested every 4 hours. In this way, it was possible to reduce the total duration of sleep to one and a half hours per day.
Da Vinci had a lot of free time, which he devoted, of course, to creativity. The artist used his theory of polyphasic sleep until the end of his life, while not knowing what fatigue is.
Besides Leonardo da Vinci, the idea of polyphasic sleep also appealed to Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison.
The essence of the phenomenon of polyphasic sleep
The most productive period for work and creativity is the time immediately after sleep. It is then that the body's performance is at its highest level.
Architect, inventor, and philosopher BuckminsterFuller conducted a series of sleep experiments in the mid-1900s that led to the development of the "Dymaxion" mode.
Sleep techniques “Dymaxion”, “Uberman” and “Everyman”
Sleep technique “Dymaxion” provided for 30 minutes of sleep every 6 hours. Thus, in total, only 2 hours of sleep are given per day. The scientist shared the results of his experiments in a book that turned out to be very popular. Later, Fuller still had to return to normal monophasic sleep, but solely because of dissatisfaction on the part of his wife.
The benefits of the polyphasic sleep technique have been studied by the Italian neurologist Claudio Stampi. He noticed that his fellow sailors constantly sleep in fragments, while they experience absolutely no discomfort and feel fine.
Stumpy decided to conduct an experiment, for which he invited actor Francesco Jost, who tried to master the technique on his own at home in 49 days. At first, the subject's body experienced real stress, but over time, both his mental state and concentration of attention normalized. There were no side effects, but they were minor. The actor still managed to master this sleep technique to reduce his usual sleep time by 5 hours. However, only a short-term effect was studied, how the organism would behave in the long term is unknown.
A woman with the nickname PureDoxyk developed a sleep technique called Uberman. This technique consists of 6 phases of sleep no more than 30 minutes each: at 14.00, 18.00, 22.00, 02.00, 6.00, 10.00. As a result, only 3 hours a day are spent on sleep.
This sleep technique was mastered by personality development specialist Steve Pavlina. Although he achieved impressive results, he abandoned the idea of polyphasic sleep only because the new regimen prevented him from fully communicating with his wife and children.
PureDoxyk came up with another sleep technique called Everyman that allowed me to spend more time with my family.
People who practice the polyphasic sleep technique claim that their body enters REM sleep much faster. Fuller, during his research, found that with a lack of sleep, the body has to adapt, and it is able to recover in a shorter period of time.
According to the results of the experiments, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- polyphasic sleep – a great way to make time for everything;
- you must complete a 5-day adaptation before you can experience the benefits of following this sleep technique;
- days feel significantly longer than with monophasic sleep;
- optimal nap duration – 20 minutes;
- when adapting, it's best to plan active activities for the next 4 hours before naps.
Recommendations for mastering the polyphasic sleep technique:
- do not drink alcohol;
- avoid caffeinated beverages;
- avoid driving for the first 5 days, then start from feeling better.
Matt Bianchi, director of sleep disorders at the Massachusetts General Hospital, said: “Every body is different. For some, polyphasic sleep may be completely suitable, and for some, as a result of such an experiment, it may fall asleep at the wheel and crash into a pole”.
Therefore, if you try this sleep technique on yourself, temporarily stop driving, do not operate any heavy equipment and do not make life-changing decisions. It is worth being extremely careful until you can determine exactly how much time you are willing to cut your sleep.
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