[DanBC]

I think the article points out a useful fallacy: that polyphasic sleep means you can get away with less sleep. We should probably move away from trying to get less sleep, and move toward getting better sleep. This may reduce our waking hours, but would make those hours more productive. Having 18 hours a day available isn't much help if you're a tired confused angry mess.

> Polyphasic sleep purportedly had famous practitioners such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Edison, but there is scant evidence to prove such claims. Buckminster Fuller appears to be one of the first documented polyphasic sleepers

Roger Ekirch did some work around historical accounts of sleep and found "the second sleep" referred to biphasic sleep, and that this was common and well known.

https://www.history.vt.edu/Ekirch/sleepcommentary.html

And some reporting of his work:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-used-to-sleep-in-two-shi...

[corty]

My experience agrees that sleeping less through alternative sleep patterns is possible. However, the benefits of sleeping less are spurious: While I can improve motivation and concentration in my observation, work results when inspected later do not agree, at least for the concentration. It is easier to get stuff done, but the overall quality of work and thought is diminished. I would equate the state to being intoxicated: Certain inhibitions to motivation are removed, but so is a part of your intelligence and concentration as well as the ability for self-observation and self-judgement. Therefore I would suppose that many who report improvements while sleep-deprived are just inadvertently fooling themselves. However, all this is just based on my observation, ymmv.

[trickle_learn]

Good point! I actually mention Ekirch in a separate post. I'd call what he's talking about "biphasic," because people in that time slept in two phases. I personally prefer biphasic to involve an afternoon nap.

https://trickle.app/drip/23814-sleep-of-pre-industrial-commu...

[MattGaiser]

> isn't much help if you're a tired confused angry mess.

Depends. I can go through a lot of email like this.