How To Adapt To A Polyphasic Sleep Schedule And Skyrocket Productivity!

What if I told you that you could gain an extra 4 hours of free time from your current, jam packed day?

I know – it sounds like I’ve learnt how to extract water from a rock, but it is entirely possible. More importantly, what would you do with all that extra time?

Write the book you’ve always wanted to write? Start a business you’ve always wanted to start? Hell, read through a book from your massive to-read list?

Personally, I’ve managed to do all of the above. Here’s how: By adopting a Polyphasic Sleep schedule. If you don’t know what it is, click on that link and read up on it. Once you feel that it’s something  you want to try, then the only thing that’s left is for you to figure out how to implement it into your life while minimizing the zombie-like feeling that you have to suffer through.

And that’s where this article comes in. Because while Polyphasic Sleep sounds promising on paper, there is a catch: the dreaded transitioning period.

This is where most people will fall flat on their face. Adapting to a polyphasic sleep schedule takes a bit of work. So if you are weak-willed and/or have absolutely no reason to gain an extra 4-6 hours in your day, then don’t bother. You’ll just be wasting a precious night’s sleep where you could have been dreaming about something pleasant… such as Natalie Portman’s smoking hot scene from Black Swan, ahem. 

But if you’ve decided that an extra 4 hours per day is worth it to you, then let’s dig in…

The Sleep Schedules

There are two main sleeping schedules that peaked my interest: The Everyman 3 and the Uberman. There are other variations of these but they are irrelevant. The Everyman 3 consists of three 20 minute naps spread throughout the day along with one “core sleep” session that lasts three hours. Here’s an example:

• Core Sleep: 4am – 7am
• Nap 1: 1pm
• Nap 2: 4pm
• Nap 3: 12am

By doing simple math, even a monkey can recognize that the Everyman 3 will give you an extra four hours per day (assuming you sleep an average of eight hours per night night currently). I will say this right now: the Everyman 3 is probably the ideal setup for 99% of the people who want to adopt a Polyphasic sleep schedule. It’s the one I currently use, and is more than sufficient.

However, if you’re feeling brave then you might want to opt for the Uberman method.

The way it works is simple: take six 20 minute naps and spread them out evenly throughout the day. This works out to one nap every four hours. It sounds simple, but in it’s simplicity lies the monumental challenge. I wouldn’t attempt this method until you’re already high functioning under the Everyman 3 schedule.

Why Most People Fail

In Tim Ferris’s book, The 4 Hour Body, he outlines four steps in order to make Polyphasic sleep successful and obviously, it’s implied that most people will fail if they do not follow those four steps. However, after personally attempting Polyphasic Sleep and talking to a few others who’ve tried it out, I’ve realized that the primary reason for failure was attempting it cold-turkey.

If you’re used to sleeping 7+ hours per night, jumping into any Polyphasic Sleep Schedule will most likely result in failure within the first 3-4 days. And that’s if you even manage to make it that long.

After a few days into the Everyman 3 method I was like “screw this” and took a beauty nap for 12 hours straight! Yes, I was well aware that it takes a week or more to adapt but I wasn’t going to wait that long in the state I was in.

However, because of the current workload I have, squeezing out an extra 4 hours out of my day was very appealing. So if it was going to take weeks to adapt, I figured I might as well do it in a way that lets me function while inducing minimal pain.

So how did I do it? Simple… by using a tapered and consistent approach. Kind of how I do with fitness. Below are my outlined steps for a person who is accustomed to sleeping a minimum of eight hours per night.

Week 1

Days 1-3: Cut down your average sleep time by three hours. This means you’ll be functioning on five hours of sleep per night for three days.

Days 4-7: Now spread out your five hours of sleep into three blocks of time. One core sleep of four hours and two 30 minute naps evenly spread out throughout the day. If you work during the day, then I would suggest one nap at work (during lunch time) and one nap immediately after work.

The whole point of the first week is to act as a primer for the Everyman 3 schedule [Note: Days 4-7 are similar to the Everyman 2 schedule]. You should assess your energy levels at the end of the week. There is no doubt that you’ll feel tired; that’s expected. But you should still be able to function.

Personally, I had something to compare this to – my cold turkey attempt – and I have to say that going from five hours of sleep per night to five hours of sleep spread throughout the day left me feeling much more energized than going cold turkey.

Week 2

Days 8-10: Now you’ll be cutting down your total sleep time by 30 minutes. You will also transition into 20 minute naps, and add an extra nap on top. So your core nap will last 3.5 hours while you take three 20 minute naps throughout the day.

It is important to note that you need to keep your nap and sleep times consistent. If you took your half-hour naps at 12pm and 6pm, and your core sleep at 2am, then you need to keep these times and add the extra nap somewhere you feel you need it the most. Think about this carefully as once you pick your timings, you should not change them.

Psychologically I felt that these 3 days were of huge benefit because while your naps are now shorter, and your total sleep time has been reduced, the higher nap frequency gives the illusion of greater total volume of sleep. All of a sudden its like “yes, it’s nap time!”.

Days 11-14: Attempt the Everyman 3 schedule. This should be really simple to do because now all you’re doing is cutting down your core sleep by 30 minutes. Viola! You now have an extra 4 hours per day. And congrats if you made it this long.

For The Brave: Transitioning Into The Uberman

If you are hell bent on claiming the extra 6 hours you can get from adopting the Uberman Schedule, then you can keep going with the transition period as follows:

Days 15-17: Cut down your core nap from three hours to two hours. This gives you a total of three hours of sleep per day. DO NOT add any other naps at this time, keep the timings you had before and just reduce your core sleep. This might take more than 4 days to adjust but you can be the judge on that.

Days 18-20: Cut down your core sleep further by an hour and add a 20 minute nap where you see fit. This will give you a total of two hours and 20 minutes of sleep per day.

Day 21+: Get rid of your core sleep and attempt the Uberman: 6 naps, 20 minutes each, every 4 hours.

To be honest, I pulled off the Uberman for a few days but two hours of sleep is just not enough for the way my life moves (in the fast lane). Especially when I need to recover from workouts that kick my ass, which is why I went back to the Everyman 3 method since it has served me well.

It has been said that once you really adapt a Polyphasic Sleep Schedule (for a few months or more) that you will be adapted forever.

This means that even when you go back to a Monophasic Schedule, you’ll still have the ability to take small naps during your day and wake up almost completely refreshed. Better yet, at times of need when you need to revert back to a Polyphasic Schedule, it becomes a lot easier. College and University students, take note.

Resources And What To Expect

First of all, here are the original 4 steps outlined in Tim’s book, The 4 Hour Body – explained in my own words.

1. Determine Your Sleep Schedule. In other words: be smart, consider your work and life schedule and plan your naps around such events. Once you make your plan, it’s practically set in stone. DO NOT break it because if you do, there is no resume button. It’s back to Day 1. I’ve had to do this a few times and trust me, it wasn’t pretty.

2. Do Not Oversleep. “What’s an extra 5 minutes?” you say? Well an extra 5 minutes is all it takes to screw up the cycle to a point where you’ll end up feeling even more exhausted instead of refreshed. Remember, you’ve been following a monophasic sleep schedule for decades, so re-programming your body will take consistent effort.

3. Do Not Skip Naps. Again, the reasoning for this is the same is #2. You’ll be tampering with the precise programming that’s required to change your sleeping habits.

4. Beat The Initiation Phase. I believe I’ve shown you how to do that above.

Time for a reality check – don’t think that this is going to be all smooth gravy and cream sauce. It’s not. While I believe my tapered approach works best, it still doesn’t eliminate tiredness completely.

You’re still trying to re-program your body and that will take effort, no matter how you spin it. Expect to feel tired, expect to feel mucky and expect yourself staring at the sky, pondering the meaning of life. Oh, and expect to hate your alarm clock to the point where you pick it up and throw it across the room; it’s totally normal.

I would buy 2 or 3 that are loud, reliable and replaceable.

The other thing you should know is that experiences vary and while this tapered approach worked for me, it might not for you. Some people will just have to suck it up and go cold-turkey to come out on top.

And finally, don’t freak out if you start to have extremely vivid dreams, and you end up remembering them when you wake up and telling your friends about them. This is a good sign. It means your body is adapting and going into REM sleep right away, instead of waiting around in unconscious nothingness.

Final Nuggets Of Wisdom That Might Help

• Caffeine is your friend. Think RedBull or another energy drinks. But do NOT take them within an hour or two of a nap or a core sleep because you want your body to pass out the instant you lie down.
• Magnesium Citrate. While it’s important to stay awake and not give into the temptation of sleeping, it’s equally important that you pass out during your naps and core sleep. Taking 200mg Magnesium about 20 minutes prior to sleeping helps, a lot.
• Have A To-Do List. If you’re going to be up, there better be a reason. Create a list of things you need to get done and just do them. Personally, some of the most productive days I’ve ever had were while I was on the Polyphasic sleep cycle.
• Eat. Looking at my food logs, I found that on days when my nutrition was the tightest, I had an easier time staying awake and the quality of sleep was off the charts – and for good reason. As an organ, your brain is one of the biggest consumers of carbohydrates. And when you’re forcing yourself to stay up longer than necessary, it burns through carbs at a rapid pace, so it’s important that you are fuelling yourself with both cheap and quality carbs (everything from M&M’s to sweet potatoes and whole wheat cereal).
• Don’t read when you can watch. Do you remember all those lame-ass book reports you had to do in school? Well what did you do when you found out that there was a movie released based on the book? Exactly – you chose to watch the movie. Unless you were a huge nerd. My point is that during your transitioning period, don’t read too much as it will tranquilize you. Try and get the same source of information from a different medium. Video is your best choice, audio is the second best.
• Don’t orgasm. This doesn’t mean you have to stay sexually inactive and refuse to please your partner. As a health professional, I highly recommend you fool around under the sheets as often as possible… but for the first week or two on Polyphasic sleep, refrain from blowing your load (this goes for whether you’re male or female). The anticipation with no climax will partially anger you, which will help keep you up. Once you’ve adapted, the ideal scenario would be to see if you and your partner can time your naughty activities prior to your core sleep.
• Beware the mind tricks. While we would like to believe that we’re in total control of our bodies, the reality is far from the truth. This will be evident during your naps in the first two weeks; the alarm will go off, you’ll shut it off and suddenly, a voice will pop up in your head saying, “what’s another 5-10 minutes? I’m not really doing anything. It’s Sunday, I could use the extra few few snoozes…”, and suddenly you find yourself waking up five hours later, dysfunctional in more ways than one. Why? Because you over-slept and messed up your pattern. Do not let the thoughts that come into your head convince you to sleep more than you are supposed to – because you’ll need to start from ground zero.

The very last thing I’ll say is that don’t kick yourself (too hard) if you find yourself re-starting the program. Shit happens. You are not perfect, and failure is part of the game. What matters is how you pick yourself back up, and whether or not you choose to keep going.

Truth be told, once you’ve adapted to this sleep schedule, it’s totally worth it.

Enjoyed This Article? Why Not Step It Up A Notch…