05
Can I cheat by sleeping
Napin bits?
time, all the time
T
HINK snoozers are losers? Then why
notjoin the world of the sleep hackers,
people who have ditched full nights of
shut-eye in favour of microsleeps.
Marie Staver is one. She was 19 and worried
about fitting in all her college work when she
attempted the Uberman sleep schedule (see
graphic, right). For the next 6 months, Staver
never slept for more than 20 minutes at a
time, napping every 4 hours, totalling just
2 hours sleep a day. Its one of a number of
sleep schedules that promise to maximise
our waking hours. But can messing with
sleep to such an extreme be a good idea?
According to historian Roger Ekirch of
Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, breaking sleep
into more than one bout is entirely natural.
Pre-industrial civilisations around the world
are known to have naturally segmented their
sleep into two distinct phases, with an hour
or two of quiet wakefulness in the middle
of the night, he says. Weve done away with
this practice, but by this logic, people who
experience middle-of-the-night insomnia
simply have the natural urge to wake.
That idea was challenged last year when
Jerome Siegel at the University of California,
Los Angeles, investigated how humans
mighthave slept in the pre-industrial era. His
team visited three tribes of hunter-gatherers
in the African and South American tropics.
The drive to sleep
The drive
Two forces towhether
control sleep we should be awake or asleep
Two forces control whether we should be awake or asleep
Sleep pressure builds up the longer you are awake. It is balanced by the
force of circadian alertness (although a plateau in the afternoon can
Sleep pressure builds up the longer you are awake. It is balanced by the
make you feel sleepy). As night falls, however, circadian alertness drops
force of circadian alertness (although a plateau in the afternoon can
off more quickly and you enter the land of nod
make you feel sleepy). As night falls, however, circadian alertness drops
off more quickly and you enter the land of nod
Sleep
Sleep
9am 3pm 9pm 3am
9am 3pm 9pm 3am
Nap time, all the time
Some people try to hack their sleep by splitting their
Some
nightspeople trymultiple
rest into to hack their sleep
shorter by splitting their
bursts
nights rest into multiple shorter bursts
Asleep Awake our brain to cycle several times through
Asleep Awake a number of phases, each with their own
restorative properties. We might be able
Monophasic Biphasic Everyman
to cheat time, but what about these health
Monophasic Biphasic Everyman benefits?
Fragmenting sleep across the night has
been demonstrated to be as deleterious
HIGHEXISTENCE.COM
HIGHEXISTENCE.COM
as total sleep deprivation for some health
outcomes, such as metabolism as well as
Dymaxion Uberman Chase
Dymaxion Uberman Chase
emotions and moods, says Matthew Walker
SOURCE:
atthe University of California, Berkeley.
SOURCE:
We know, for instance, that shift workers
Nap time, all the time and others who sleep outside of their normal
Some people try to hack their sleep by splitting their
light-dark circadian rhythms are at a high
nights rest into multiple shorter bursts risk of numerous diseases.
This body clock does not offer a lifestyle
Asleep Awake
Much like the rest of us, these peoples choice; it is a biological reality, and departing
preferred to stay up at least another 3 hours from it can and does have very serious
after sunset and they all slept in one big health consequences, says Colin Espie at
Monophasic
chunk. Biphasic
Im not saying that biphasicEveryman
sleep the University of Oxford. And people who
doesnt happen, but its not a natural form regularly dont get enough sleep die younger.
ofsleep, says Siegel. So for the extra hours you save, you might
SOURCE: HIGHEXISTENCE.COM
What about more extreme sleep schedules? end up losing years from the end of your life.
After about a week of deeply unpleasant Besides, if Stavers Uberman experience
adjustment,
Dymaxion which included
Uberman headaches, chills,
Chase was anything to go by, those extra hours
tremors and anxiety, Staver said her energy might not be all theyre cracked up to be.
returned, and after a month she felt normal. I started off with a huge to-do list, but it went
She wasnt even tired between her naps (read away in days. So I scrubbed my baseboards
more on her story at bit.ly/MarieStaver). with a toothbrush, reorganised and darned
One big perk was gaining 5 hours a day. all my socks. With that in mind, you might
Even so, we know a full nights sleep allows be better off asleep after all. Sean ONeill
inresponse to a flu vaccination. says Dijk. Thats one way to recalibrate
Fortunately, these immediate effects your assessment of what is optimal.
were reversed when the students caught But theres a more serious concern. The
up on the hours of sleep they had lost. COPY
COPY SUB
jury is still out on whether naps and lie-ins
SUB
So if your sleep pressure is high, the simple can mitigate the long-term health effects
solution is to repay the debt as soon as you PAGE
PAGE SUB
oftoo little sleep. We know that shift work
SUB
can with a lie-in or a nap (see How can I and jet lag, which mess with our body
G_Biphasic_sleep
nap like a pro, page 38). You certainly
G_Biphasic_sleep
can recover from the immediate effects
OK
OK for
for press
clock, also cause havoc with our health.
press
Regularly sleeping at the wrong time can
of insufficient sleep by then sleeping lead to diabetes, obesity and cancer, among
longer, says Derk-Jan Dijk of the University other problems. Now, it seems, catching up
ofSurrey, UK. Many of us do it every onsleep at the weekend, a phenomenon
weekend. known as social jet lag, might cause
However, this requires you to recognise thesame kinds of health problems as
you need more sleep, and the more sleep shiftwork.
MEDSCAPE
deprived you become, the more you So, although anyone can recover from the
MEDSCAPE
underestimate how tired you actually are. If short-term effects of the odd white night,
SOURCE:
you are suffering from chronic sleep loss a long-term habit of catching up on sleep at
SOURCE:
9am after a hectic period of work, for example COPY SUB
the weekends may well catch up with you in
9am take a proper holiday to break the cycle, the end. Catherine de Lange
PAGE SUB
28 May 2016 | NewScientist | 35
G_Biphasic_sleep OK for press