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Comment by symptic | Hacker News Reader

I have several friends who have successfully gone on and off of the polyphasic sleep cycle. Just as with most things in life, you need to be open and willing and dedicated to make it work. This relates to forging your way with a startup, gaining muscle, adjusting sleep patterns, dating... everything.

It's fair to go from your own experiences, but I know polyphasic sleep is doable, reasonable, and even better for some people. My cup of tea? Definitely not.

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Like dieting but more so, few can stay on a short sleep + naps regimen permanently.

I'd guess that napping efficiently is difficult unless, you're sleep deprived enough so that you can nap under almost any condition, which doesn't sound like it feels good.

> I have several friends who have successfully gone on and off of the polyphasic sleep cycle.

The big question is do you know anyone who went on, and did not go off.

From the reading I've done, people tend to go off it when external factors make it difficult to adhere to such a rigid nap schedule, e.g. every four hours on the dot, rain or shine. As with any habit that requires discipline, like being vegan or practicing the violin 6 hours a day, it's not necessarily a life-long thing.

But people commonly say things like "I did it for a year; best year of my life". Apparently you can literally go for a year getting a total of 2 hours of sleep in each 24-hour period. After a week of forcing it on yourself, if you're brave, determined, and a little lucky, a switch flips in your brain.

If that's a fact, in spite of the nay-sayers, then that's really something. I intend to find out for myself.

Yet many people are vegan for years, and practice violin for 6 hours a day for years. As far as I can tell, there is not one documented case where someone who has maintained polyphasic sleep for more than six months or so?

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