Some New Theories on Polyphasic Sleep

[jerry1962]

I have read PureDoxyk's tome "Ubersleep", and while I find it an
absolutely absorbing read, I have to disagree with her on one key
issue: she seems to believe that anybody who follows the instructions
to the letter will succeed at adapting; failure to adapt means that
the sleeper is not following the instructions closely enough.

However, even a cursory glance at this forum reveals the fact that
many people, even though they follow the instructions to the letter,
fail to adapt. (Posters such as Renaissance and Paulan come
immediately to mind.) I am inclined to believe that the ability to
adapt to a polyphasic schedule is genetic.

Continuing on in this vein of thought, the ability to adapt seems to
follow certain easily recogniza ble patterns. I have noticed that each
and every one of the adapters has been coined an "eccentric" by other
people; eccentricity has been linked in scientific studies to
aberrations from the norm in dopamine in the brain. As if to underline
this thought, Sonya has kindly offered this link, supporting the
notion that dopamine has a role in this ability to adapt. To wit:

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2001/march21/modafinil.html

Astute observers will note that the mutant mice had a varying response
to stimulants, i.e. no response at all. Now then:

As we have already noted, the successful Uberman adapters have been
eccentrics to a person. I am wondering if they have variant responses
to stimulants as well. Specifically, are the adapters immune to the
effects of stimulants, such as methamphetamine or cocaine, in the same
way as the mutant mice? If any of the successful Uberman adapters
would feel comfortable answering this question, I would be much
obliged.

For my own part, I noticed during my wild and wooly youth (the early
80s) that I was strangely immune to the effects of these drugs. I
remember feeling both puzzled and irritated that I spent good money
for drugs that were supposed to do X, but didn't do diddly squat for
me. "Why would people pay money for this sh*t?" I'd ask to myself.
"Might as well just drink a cuppa java," I'd grumble to myself.

This may not be a black-or-white issue. Maybe people who cannot
innately adapt to Uberman might do quite well on various issues of
Everyman. I believe that almost anybody can be bi-phasic, with a very
large percentage being able to adapt to Everyman4,

What do you all think about these theories?

[Aya Hu]

I have a few minor things to point out in regards to this:

1. Eccecentric people are the type of person attracted to this
sleeping schedule. Every person on this board is slightly eccecentric
for even knowing the term.
So essentially people who try something like this would be coined
eccentric.


2. Eccecentric people are usually intelligent. It is legitimately
proven that the lack of NEED for sleep and intellect are related.
Their brains can keep them up during the adaptation period. Maybe this
helps.

3. Eccecentric people are hobbyists. I knit, I sew, I sing, I
bellydance, I do so many things and have so many hobbies which may be
considered eccecentric although I think of myself as unconventional vs
eccecentric. This is one of the only reasons I could adapt. So many
people ask me what I do with all that time. This could be an
eccecentric personality trait and again the reason we could get
through.

It all comes down to willpower. The willpower to have more time, the
will to make it through the pain and agony of adaptation, etc.

[Keighsie Hu]

What Aya says is true, anyone can adapt as long as they have the will
of steel. Honestly I like to compare it to starving yourself to death
because it is that hard and damn near impossible unless you are VERY
determined.

On Oct 28, 12:10 pm, jerry1962 <jerryunderwood1...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Nicky Hajal]

Well, the way I see it, there is really no way for us to know either way. It is quite possible that there is a genetic bias for some that makes it easier to adapt, or possible at all.

But, for the time being, we have absolutely no way of putting together enough evidence to convincingly suggest that may be the case.

And since we don't, it is really not a productive mentality for us to consider individually or speculate about as a community. "What if polyphasic sleep is impossible for me?"... "Well, ok, I have no way of actually knowing that to be true, so what if it is? I am just going to keep trying anyway."

Maybe it's worth quickly entertaining the notion, but I think harping on the possibility that polyphasic is simply impossible for some is very self-defeating (unless we have considerably convincing evidence, of course).

-Nicky
---
Challenge is the Opportunity for Greatness

[jerry1962]

Aya, thank you for responding.

I'm just wondering if the ability to adapt might be genetic, tied into
a the way a person processes dopamine in their brains. If my theory is
accurate (and admittedly, it may not be), successful adapters have
atypical responses to stimulant drugs.

I think you're right, however, (and not me), in the fact that probably
everybody who's attracted to polyphasic sleep in the first place is
eccentric—adaptors or not. That part of my theory does not seem to
hold verisimilitude.

[MisterChase]

Woops. I posted my reply as a direct email to Aya Hu, it seems. Aya,
my bad. Could you relay that back to me, and I'll properly post it
here?

[cumom]

I wish I could find some reference to this on the internet, but I
watched this report on the news about a new sleep study maybe a year
ago. They had run brain scans on a bunch of people who stayed up all
night. They reported that about 10% of the people in the study were
not affected significantly by staying up, but the rest has significant
changes in their brain activity. I wondered at the time if that might
imply that about 10% of the population could actually succeed at
polyphasic. I wondered if I wasn't in the 10%, but I think it is
mostly a state of mind thing. My first Uberman attempt went really
well (until I couldn't figure out what to do at night in a hotel while
traveling). I was really excited about the newness of polyphasic
sleep, and I was preparing for running a booth at a big conference,
and I also felt some urgency in completing some landscaping work
outside when I got tired. I went over a week with excellent results.
Within a few minutes of laying down for a nap, there was this cool
point where I could feel myself falling asleep and could choose
whether or not I wanted to continue or stay up. Maybe it just meant
that I could remember that point in the process of falling asleep
instead of forgetting is as is normal, but it was significantly
different for me.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to successfully get more than 2 days
into an attempt since then. Thinking back, there was a newness to
everything I was doing on that first attempt. I think enjoyable mental
and physical activity and achievement are more significant than
genetics for polyphasic. Perhaps the 10% from the study speaks more to
their state of mind at that point in their lives, than to genetics,
and all of us fall into the 10% at some point in our lives. Now if I
can just get back to that point...

[cumom]

I did find something about it. At least I think this mentions the same
study.

http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/issues/articles/2005-09_03.asp