[How to] Full Nights Sleep in 2 Hours – Case Study

Matt Mullenberg (Lead software designer for wordpress) said that he used this method to sleep a total of 2 hours daily, and still feel completely refreshed, with full energy. Imagine having 6-8 more hours daily to work on projects!!

It was during this time he says that he wrote most of the code for wordpress. Well lets review the method!!


Sleeping for 2 Hours per day - Maintaining a Full Rejuvenation
"Uberman" Sleeping Less with Polyphasic Sleep

We spend roughly one-third of our lives sleeping and scientists embarrassingly know little about why. It can't be as simple as tissue repair. Full grown giraffes actually weigh approximately 1,760 pounds, but somehow are able to sleep for only 1.9 hours every 24 hour time period. In fact, 8 hours per night does not apply to most of the animal kingdom. So is it possible to emulate giraffes? Cut our sleeping time in half, yet feel completely refreshed?

The answer is simple... Yes.

With that of "polyphasic" sleep, one can actually break down sleeping hours into multiple segments of the day, so you can actually perform just as well with 2 hours of sleep per day. Giving you the possibility for an amazing new schedule with a wide range of possibilities. Imagine the books you could read, the things you could learn.

The basic understanding of polyphasic sleep is that the most beneficial phase of sleep is the REM phase. Normal sleepers experience REM (rapid eye movement) for a mere 1-2 hours per night. To reap the benefits of polyphasic sleep, we will need to be able to cause REM so it is 99% of our sleeping time throughout the day. If you go 24 hours without sleep you may notice that you drift straight into a dream from being awake. This is because your body goes straight into REM sleep as a protection mechanism. The way you can enter a REM phase right away is to trick your body, and tell it that you're only going to get a tiny amount of sleep. You can train it to enter REM for short periods throughout the day in 20 minute naps, rather than in one lump at night. Following is how polyphasic sleep works:

In this read, we will be going over the Uberman method of polyphasic sleep; amazingly you can function with just six 20 minute naps scheduled throughout the day. Resulting in just 2 hours of total sleep time, shaving about 6-8 hours off of your normal sleeping schedule!

However, there is a catch.

You have to follow your schedule rigorously, because missing 1 nap can cause you to feel tired for a few days. You cannot miss a nap by more than 1 hour. This sleeping schedule is seemingly impossible for people who work 9-5 schedules, but if you are self-employed as I am it works perfect. You will find yourself feeling amazing and have what seems to be an unlimited amount of time during the day to get things done. This is, indeed the ultimate brain hack.



UBERMAN SCHEDULE

Step #1: Determine your sleep schedule. You will be taking 20-minute naps, every four hours, around the clock. That's six naps, evenly spaced of the course of your 24 hour per day period. (Example, 2am 6am 10am 2pm 6pm 10pm) This cycle will remain the same as long as you are in polyphasic sleeping period. 20 minutes at these times of pure REM will give you the same amount of REM we get in 8 hour nights of sleep, only we do not waste 5-6 hours of our day with unnecessary unconsciousness.

Step #2 Do NOT Oversleep. By oversleeping just once, you will upset the cycle and feel absolutely exhausted for periods up to 24 hours, maybe longer. Under no circumstances should you sleep longer than 20-minutes. 30 Minutes at MOST.

Step #3: Do NOT skip naps. Respect your schedule and follow it every day to the minute. Skipping naps will have a compounding effect. Missing one nap will result in lost energy that will take 2 more naps to gain back. During that time you will feel exhausted and tired.

Step #4: Make it through the Initiation Phase!! The first week and a half is the toughest, you will feel like a zombie and it will be very hard to stay awake nights and during the day. If you follow your outlined schedule, don't oversleep, and don't skip naps, you should be well adjusted to your new sleeping regimen in just less than two weeks. However there are some cases which have taken up to 3 weeks.

I just began this method a few days ago, results are exactly as stated. However i am becoming use to it very fast. I am no longer rushed, have time to complete MANY projects and not worry about it. Definitely the way an IMer should live.

UPDATE: READ THIS STUDY, A DAILY LOG OF A MAN WHO TRIED IT. IT OBVIOUSLY WORKS! http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/

i ran with a sort of schedule like that for years. Works fantastic. This is a bit more extreme than I went with though. I was doing 60-90mins every 10hours.

is it true??

I hear Neil Strauss attempted this and gave up on day 9 as he simply could not go on. Heard of it though, good luck to anyone who tries it! The only qualms i have would be, it normally takes you more than 20 minutes to fall asleep anyway? So by the time you've fallen asleep. You need to get back up, and you never slept for 20 minutes? OP?

jackyy said:

is it true??

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Sort-Of.

While it's true that it can work, there are problems with it that make it unviable more often than not.

Jon0 said:

I hear Neil Strauss attempted this and gave up on day 9 as he simply could not go on. Heard of it though, good luck to anyone who tries it! The only qualms i have would be, it normally takes you more than 20 minutes to fall asleep anyway? So by the time you've fallen asleep. You need to get back up, and you never slept for 20 minutes? OP?

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Get smart, start trying to sleep 15-20 minutes before your target time, so by the time it hits you are already asleep.

mikeads66 said:

Sort-Of.

While it's true that it can work, there are problems with it that make it unviable more often than not.

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It works, i believe if you are dedicated that it can work.

I am doing it, so i will post my results!!

calebmann said:

Get smart, start trying to sleep 15-20 minutes before your target time, so by the time it hits you are already asleep.



It works, i believe if you are dedicated that it can work.

I am doing it, so i will post my results!!

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How long have you been on it? I`d like to see a real, unbiased report or progress log.

Very interested, will take some time tonight to read through it thoroughly

I tried this once. I had a general feeling of exhaustion and I found that I couldn't solve problems as well as I can when I have 'normal' sleep.

Don't try and cheat your mind, get a good nights sleep!

Was looking at this only yesterday after frequently running out of hours in the day and changing my sleeping so i slept 4 to 5 hours at night and either not at all or 1 to 2 hours during the day depending on what i am doing.

Life's probably too hectic and would be very limiting doing the whole 20 minute naps things BUT i can see how it works.

Lewi

Chris22 said:

I tried this once. I had a general feeling of exhaustion and I found that I couldn't solve problems as well as I can when I have 'normal' sleep.

Don't try and cheat your mind, get a good nights sleep!

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Like i said, will post my results. did you make it past initiation? truthfully

I've always wanted to try this, but the inflexible schedule made it tough. However, I heard of a sleeping pattern where you can sleep 5-6 hours a night, but forgot what it's called.

Here is a little more info and a good link:

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...54-reduce-sleep-increase-productivity.html#18

I can't imagine sleeping only 2hrs a night, I feel like death sleeping only 5hrs a night.

calebmann said:

Get smart, start trying to sleep 15-20 minutes before your target time, so by the time it hits you are already asleep.



It works, i believe if you are dedicated that it can work.

I am doing it, so i will post my results!!

Click to expand...

well, that's not 2 hours anymore but 4

No chance I could fall asleep if I knew I have to wake up in 20 minutes.

I may have to try this method thanks!!

If I don't get my full 10hours+ of beauty sleep, I can't work.

I personally find 5-6 hours at night and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon is the best. Sleep's enjoyable and if you're doing any sort of intense physical exercise you definitely will need more sleep.

I've done 3 hours for long periods before but I wasn't exercising. I was able to do 3 hours because I can meditate deeply and I generally am very relaxed during the day, often listening to classical music and never ever getting stressed about anything.

At times in my life when I've been stressed I can barely function on 8 hours.

The trick if you want lower sleep is to be able to relax and to meditate or do some yoga. Also eat light.

I just did 1 3 hour sleep in 1 go though. I tried the polyphasic sleeping schedule but I didn't like it at ALL. At times when I'm not exercising, meditating heavily and eating light I will actually wake up naturally after 3-4 hours.

If I could give people one piece of advice it'd be easy:

Just do what feels right. Don't force anything.

If you want to sleep for 10 hours, then do it and try to sort out the stress in your life first. Forcing a reduction in your sleep will only make you MORE stressed.

As I said right now I sleep for 5-6 hours at night, then a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Sometimes I take 7-8 hours at night and no nap and sometimes I take 7-8 hours AND a nap. I just do what feels good and don't stress over trying to be some sort of robot that doesn't need sleep.

Enjoy life and enjoy sleep

Horrible idea...thats the fastest way to illness and an early grave...you guys should read up on some of the physical maintenance that your body performs during sleep...there is a reason that we naturally sleep 7 or 8 hours per night. Remember folks, without your health all the money in the world cant help you.

I think the best is to just remove the damn alarm clock and let humans sleep and wake up on their own.

I realize when you wake up naturally without any disturbance, you tend to be more refresh and energetic.
Without a doubt, I am sure some of you had afternoon naps and you woke up (without the help of alarm clocks) feeling refresh with an euphoria-like feeling.

Most importantly, if you were to wake up in the middle of the night... I believe it is best to just stay awake and just do your things. Going back to sleep will only make you feel worse when you wake up later.

This is very appealing. Only one thing holding it down, as I see it, is if you need to attend some very important appointment, which can't be rescheduled to appropriate for you time. Or if you need to travel some long distances.

When mankind was at its infantry, surely people were very light and short on their sleeps. Otherwise they easily could become some sabre-toothed tiger's lunches.