Polyphasicis sleep refers to the practice of sleeping multiple times in a 24 hour period.   As a whole most people do Monophasic sleep, which is sleeping one long chuck each day.  All my life I have been a Monophosic sleeper, and have never really paid too much attention to how much sleep I get or don't get. 

One day I was talking to a friend at work (Karl) about not having enough time in a day to get things done that we wanted to get done.  He mentioned polyphasic sleep not thinking much of it.  Once he explained though, I was very excited to try.

I read all the articles I could find about polyphasic sleep and was happy to have stumbled upon Steve Pavlina's Blog about his polyphasic sleep experiments.  He had success and I wanted it too.  So I started on the "uberman" schedule (20 minute naps every 4 hours around the clock) and didn't have much success.  Soon after that I gave the "everyman" schedule a try and had a fair amount of success on that schedule.  (3 hours core sleep and 3 20 minute naps during the day).  I was on and off the schedule for a few months, but because of life situations I quit.  Then November 27th 2009 I went on the "everyman" schedule determined to make it work, and I have been on it ever since.  (baring a rocky first month when I struggled with sickness, stomach flu and normal polyphaisc sleep adjustment.)

Why or How Does PolyPhasic Sleep Work?

Our bodies normally go through 5 phases of sleep in a 90 minute time period, REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement - the stage of sleep when you dream). REM sleep is sleep stage that refreshes you and is the sleep that makes you feel rested.  REM sleep normally comes at the end of your 90 minute cycle.  When you wake up from REM sleep you feel pretty good, unlike when you wake up in one of the deeper stages of sleep, and you feel groggy and very tired.

The goal with polyphasic sleep is to get that refreshing REM sleep during the 20 minute naps.  In order to do this, your body has to adjust. As you start on your polyphasic sleep schedule you will go through a period of sleep deprivation and your body will force (train) itself to go into the REM sleep right away.  Once adjusted you will notice that when you wake up from naps, (most of the time) you feel refreshed, and this helps you keep going through the day.

Everyman vs. Uberman

Uberman sleep schedule as mentioned above is 20 minute naps every 4 hours.  This schedule is very hard to keep, just because of most peoples day to day schedules, and if you miss a nap or are late in taking a nap your day is almost ruined  (you will find yourself oversleeping and having a hard time recovering).  People who succeed on this schedule usually have a more open and flexible schedule.

This is where the everyman schedule comes in.  Because you are only taking 3 naps a day, it is easier to schedule, and because you are getting a 3 hour block of "Core" sleep a night you can be more flexible on when your nap times are.  (missing a nap by an hour isn't as big of a deal, and missing a nap all together will not ruin you completely)

So if I had one to recommend, I would recommend the "everyman" schedule.  It has worked well with me and I am happy to be able to get extra time in each day to work, which gives me more time to spend with my family!

** Please note that I am not a doctor and some of my facts may not be perfect.  I did a lot of research, but have also found that amoung doctors, there are some arguments about just how sleep affects us humans.