Sleep

Everyone knows sleep is extremely important, especially with a college workload so it important to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.

The pattern everyone is most familiar with is sleeping for 6-8 hours, followed by being awake for 16-18 hours and a lot of our culture is designed around this as well. Surprisingly, this is just one of several different sleep patterns that have been commonly used before. Other sleep patterns involve naps throughout the day rather than all at once. Some of these patterns only require 2 or 3 hours of sleep, but since the naps are spaced throughout the day it somehow makes up for that by tricking your mind into getting good sleep. Aside from the pattern I mentioned initially, other patterns are the Uberman, Everyman, Dymaxion, and Biphasic Cycles. Some cycles might not work for many people, so it’s also up to you to experiment and see what type of sleep cycle fits you the best.

The Uberman cycle is pretty straightforward. It is six 20-30 minute naps spaced evenly throughout the day, but would be pretty hard to actually implement due to how our society works, especially in a college setting. This would be interesting to experiment with and see it’s effects, but I can’t imagine anyone actually using it practically. This cycle has been reported to make people feel “healthier,” but still it’s extremely hard to use it. [1]

The Everyman cycle is similar to the Uberman cycle, except there are only 3 naps and one 3 hour nap. This fits in a little better with our society due to the 1 larger nap, and might be doable depending on your schedule. Since there is the 1 larger nap, you could even skip a smaller nap if necessary without worrying about it affecting your sleep too much. Unfortunately, many people have reported negative health effects with this method, but like I said earlier it’s impossible to say for sure without trying it yourself. [1]

The Dymaxion is similar to the Uberman cycle as well, with 4 naps each for 30 minutes. That’s right, only 2 hours of sleep daily! Clearly, this cycle is very hard to do and takes a lot of time to get used to. Surprisingly people have reported feeling better and more healthy than when they weren’t using it. [1]

The last cycle is the Biphasic cycle and is very commonly mixed with our typical 6-8 hour sleep pattern. This is 4-5 hours of sleep, followed by about a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. Maybe if you’re having trouble getting enough sleep with a 7am, this might help, so try it out! Like I said, it’s impossible to say which cycle is better for everyone since everyone’s sleep cycles can be different so be sure to experiment and try different methods out yourself.

[1] http://highexistence.com/alternate-sleep-cycles/