If I had the work-free income necessary to maintain that kind of schedule for all the regularly spaced catnaps and the corresponding extra meals, I'd just sleep 12 hours each day instead. And I'm pretty sure that would make me feel more refreshed than the odd sleep pattern could.

Hm. I guess if I was a ninja or something I could see it working. Or Batman. I bet Batman sleeps like that.

I'm pretty sure that would make me feel more refreshed than the odd sleep pattern could.

I think the point of this guy's experiment was that (individuality obviously not covered) it wouldn't. That he managed to feel better polyphasically than he did normally.

Yeah, didn't Kramer try that once? I try not to take my lifestyle tips from him, generally.

I wouldn't take anti-lifestyle tips from him either.

For some reason, that sleep thing freaked me out. I think I feel like there must be a good reason for us to schedule our time the way most people do. I mean, right??

OK, looking more at that site, I think it may just be the guy freaking me out, not the concept. Will have to consider.

In sleep studies where people have been put into complete darkness for prolonged periods of time, human beings appear to sleep for 7 hours, on a 25-ish hour clock. (As opposed to hamsters, who operate on a 23-ish hour clock. Exposure to sunlight is useful in both cases for resetting the internal circadian rhythms to match the Earth's.) Biologically, we're programmed to sleep at night. Doesn't mean there isn't a better way to do it, but I'd be wary of long-term effects.

(Sleep-deprived rats, for example, simply drop dead after about 15 days. No tests have been done in humans to determine what our limit is, if we have one.)

[edited to correct human/hamster circadian rhythms]

I feel much better when I eat small amounts several times a day instead of more traditional meals at 3 meal times. I could see how sleep might work that way to a point. I think his plan is too extreme though. Remembering dreams is a sign that one is not completing a REM cycle, isn't it? I'd be more likely to try for 2 or 3 shortened sleep periods. Of course, even that won't work with my schedule.

Sleep-deprived rats, for example, simply drop dead after about 15 days.

Before that, though, their appetites increase dramatically to the point where they're eating twice their body weight, but still getting thinner, their hair falls out, and they get lesions on their tails.

My mom was involved in a study that demonstrated all of this, and was kind of aghast when fashion mags started calling to ask about sleep dep as a weight-loss technique.