Basically you force yourself to only take 4 15 minute naps a day. A utterly hellish thing to do, but eventually your brain figures out that you've decided to terrorize it and will instantly dip into REM the moment you fall asleep, and you'll wake up feeling rested and only need to sleep an hour a day.
I personally tried this for a bit and it kinda sorta works, but it's awful to get started, and the first time you sleep more than 15 minutes you're going to break the trend and revert, and who knows what long term effects it has on people.
Sleep in general is one of those really interesting areas of biology that we still don't get.
That schedule I'd read about was the Überman schedule, where you sleep 20-30 minutes six times a day. Definitely a much more extreme form than most polyphasic sleep schedules. :)
I read a series of blog posts about it, probably around the same time as you did, and found them again [1] last night. I didn't actually read through it again, but if anyone's interested in reading more about someone's firsthand experience with it, could be a good classic read.
I can't remember where, but I was listening to a guy talk about his sleep disorder and one of the main symptoms he described was being able to instantly fall into REM.
> Research has shown that dolphins are able to sleep with only half of their brain at a time, a phenomenon known as unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS). During USWS, one hemisphere of the brain remains active while the other hemisphere rests. This allows dolphins to continue swimming, surfacing for air, and avoiding predators while still getting the rest they need.
Try that! :-)
Anecdotal, but I embraced a mild form of this during college, using "Einstein naps" (brief naps ended just after dozing) for a recharge between my work day and night classes. I experienced nitably improved focus and less evening burnout.
It’s a recipe for burnout, but I did get a lot done. A good protocol for very tight important deadlines, but it took its toll.
Because we are born prematurely. Our brain wouldn’t fit through the birth canal if we were born later with more basic skills baked in. So instead we finish a big part of our early development outside the womb.
Point is that modern child rearing isn't even similar to what we had 3-4 generations ago. The "weak" were weeded out. If you had to choose between the family surviving and dealing with a finicky newborn... compromises were made.