Sleeping Less
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Whenever the topic of sleep is brought up, it is usually from the perspective of curing insomnia, or something along those lines.
What I am wondering is whether or not it is possible to sleep so deeply that one can reduce their total hours of sleep, while still operating at a high mental and physical capacity throughout the day, with no detriment to health.
So sleeping for 6 hours but feeling as rested and refreshed as having slept the standard 8.
Consider the fact that ill people, though they might be less capable of going to sleep, tend to require more of it to recover properly.
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@NARINGENIN What some people do is that they do alternative sleep patterns that allow them to reach deeper stages of sleep more readily than they would otherwise. On the extreme end, this means sleeping 2 hours a day in 20 minute naps separated by 4 hours each — people who do this report being well rested despite getting literally a quarter of the recommended 8 hour sleep.
You may find this website useful, as it outlines dif. sleeping schedules that you may be interested in.
https://www.sleepphones.com/blog/what-polyphasic-sleep-and-eight-hours-shuteye-really-necessaryAdditionally being health (non hypothyroid) and taking magnesium or glycine before going to bed has helped me achieve a more restful sleep.
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Where are these reports of people being rested on polyphasic sleep? Can you post them? The site you linked suggests they still end up causing ill effects. Besides that, the extreme polyphasic schedules seem very inconvenient unless you stay home all day and strictly adhere to the schedule.
You are likely right about glycine and magnesium helping, but in most contexts I've seen people discuss them they still sleep the typical 8-9 hours
Ultimately, what I am seeking here is complete freedom from sleep cycles. The ability to stay awake or rest deeply as one desires, whenever one can or wants to.
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@NARINGENIN
There's probably a more scientific description for this, but I've found that whenever your working hours and endeavors are occupied with a subject that you're truly interested in, less sleep is required. The drudgery of work is overcome by the quest to learn and become better in a field. It's probably also fair to say not too many people can sustain this over a lifetime, due simply to the chaotic nature of life: necessity usually comes in and sullies things. -
@NARINGENIN I first heard about this from the ceo of wordpress (Matt Mullenweg), who coded the website while sleeping only 2.5 hours a day. I believe he said on a podcast (tim ferriss if I recall correctly) that he felt great while doing it but he had to stop when he got a girlfriend. (https://sleepreviewmag.com/curated/sleeping-6-times-day-wordpress-founder/)
In terms of complete freedom from sleep cycles, that is new territory altogether. I think it would require an intense meditative practice...
One anecdote that I can share is that, while doing a meditative practice known as "yoga nidra", I could perceive myself consciously entering sleep, and remaining asleep while still being conscious. I even dreamt during the period I was asleep.
I remember reading about this yogi called Swami Rama, who could enter sleep at will but still remain conscious. Let me know if you find anything re: useful meditative practices!
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@NARINGENIN the soul probably uses that time to do something special
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@NARINGENIN high co2 seems to be a big factor. lots of buteyko people say they reduced the amounts they had to sleep
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@NARINGENIN another resource for polyphasic sleeping https://polysleep.org/wiki/Main_Page