Uberman Sleep

Polyphasic sleep

Uberman sleep is a form of polyphasic sleep - rather than sleeping once every twenty-four hours, sleeping multiple times. Uberman sleep involves sleeping six times, for 20 minutes each, within each 24 cycle. This technique allows the uberman sleeper to remain active for twenty-two hours a day, providing a considerable increase in daily hours.

The two charts above clearly show the difference in sleep patterns, between standard monophasic sleep, and the uberman sleep schedule.

Convenience of Uberman sleep

One issue with Uberman sleep is the convenience of each of the six polynaps each day. Despite the additional time given each day, the three-hour-fourty-minute gaps don't provide enough time to work a shift, let alone a working day. Due to this, Uberman is far better suited to the self employed and students, or perhaps those with a more understanding boss - with increasing flexible working hours, it will become ever more common for those needing extra hours each day to turn to polyphasic sleep.

To read more about polyphasic sleep, the Polyphasic Life website is being developed in to an online community of those with an interest in polyphasic sleep.

Adopting Uberman sleep

Changing from monophasic sleep to the Uberman schedule is often seen as the hardest part of adopting polyphasic sleep. It typically takes around a week to get used to such short polynaps, resulting in sleep deprivation. Following this initial week, the polynaps must be follows quite strictly in order to prevent extreme tiredness. Once used to the Uberman sleeping schedule, many find that they are able to delay naps, or skip some entirely. At this point, it would often be possible for the polyphasic sleeper to remain awake for seven-hours-fourty-minutes, making Uberman more practical.

Uberman Sleep is run by Nick Johnston, a freelance web developer.