Make Your Game Twice as Fast with Polyphasic (Uberman) Sleep
by Noah Dyer · in General Discussion · 03/27/2006 (2:20 pm) · 18 replies
If you're like me, you wish you had more time to work on your game. If you're lucky you can work at it 8 hours a day, but most of us probably only get a couple hours a day, or maybe as little as the occasional weekend. Polyphasic sleep is a sleep schedule that allows you to be awake for 22 hours a day with the same or better functioning than sleeping for 6-10 hours at night like most of us do. For most people that's an extra 5 hours a day or so. So take a few of those extra hours and allocate them for your project, then use the rest to play other people's games that you never get around too ;) After reading up on the topic I decided to give it a try, and so far it is going great! You can find out more about what polyphasic sleep is, see how it's affected me so far, and keep up to date on my progress by visiting my blog at www.noahdyer.com.
#2
I'll be checking your blog to see how it goes. Good Luck.
P.S. seems like planning the sleep schedule is key here so that you can follow it strictly everyday.
EDIT: typo
03/27/2006 (3:55 pm)
If it goes well for you, I might give it a try. I'll make sure and schedule some vacation to ensure im not driving or doing anything unsafe during that first week (hell week).I'll be checking your blog to see how it goes. Good Luck.
P.S. seems like planning the sleep schedule is key here so that you can follow it strictly everyday.
EDIT: typo
#3
and found the main obstacle to be social -
it's hard to hang out w/ people when you need to take a nap !
03/27/2006 (4:14 pm)
I tried something like this years agoand found the main obstacle to be social -
it's hard to hang out w/ people when you need to take a nap !
#4
for me, i noticed that my body prefers about 7-8hrs of sleep, but also being awake for about 20hrs, resulting in about a 28hr day.
I dont know if i'll get a chance to officially test that theory, but hey, maybe if Noah here turns out well, i'll give his method a go too. :)
03/27/2006 (4:36 pm)
That's pretty interesting.for me, i noticed that my body prefers about 7-8hrs of sleep, but also being awake for about 20hrs, resulting in about a 28hr day.
I dont know if i'll get a chance to officially test that theory, but hey, maybe if Noah here turns out well, i'll give his method a go too. :)
#5
03/27/2006 (4:43 pm)
Thanks for the encouragement guys. Good luck if any of you eventually decide to try this or any other sleep experiment.
#6
03/27/2006 (4:54 pm)
It'll be neat to check up on you like 2 or 3 weeks in. Right now your not really adjusted quite yet.
#7
www.lowpolycoop.com/2006/01/nonphasic-sleep.html
Scott
03/27/2006 (4:55 pm)
Here's my take on it -- something I have affectionatley termed nonphasic sleep. I hope it goes well. I'll be reading your blog, do you have a feed for it?www.lowpolycoop.com/2006/01/nonphasic-sleep.html
Scott
#8
03/27/2006 (6:41 pm)
Personally, I am cursed, no matter what I do I wake up at 8am every morning. I go to bed at 10pm I wake up at 8am after 10 hours of sleep, I go to bed at 3am and wake up at 8am, same thing everyday. I've never needed an alarm clock my entire life. Not to mention the fact that it takes me a half hour to get to sleep every night because my brain does not want to ever turn off. I also require it to be pitch black and no sounds other than air conditioning. I have been on a half dozen 8 hour international flights and have not slept 1 minute when I have wanted to sleep the entire time!
#9
03/27/2006 (10:25 pm)
@Scott- Lol. I'll look into setting up a feed. I have settings for it in my control panel, but haven't quite gotten to it yet.
#10
03/28/2006 (6:29 am)
The main problem with this is if you miss a sleep cycle your body is more or less going to crash (not is an dying, but as in you'll be extremely tired - and that's an understatement).
#11
03/28/2006 (9:09 am)
Yeah, if you're going to do it you have to commit to taking naps at least every 6 hours no matter the circumstance.
#12
v. interested in how it works out for you, Noah !
03/28/2006 (9:24 am)
..which is where i found problems having a normal social life.v. interested in how it works out for you, Noah !
#13
03/28/2006 (9:36 am)
I usually run a sleep cycle similar to this during crunch time, though I just judge when its nap time by how well I'm functioning. I believe last year around this time I had only slept somewhere between 24-36 hours during a 3 week period. It could have been more than that, because I honestly can't remember the majority of what all happened during it. Just the high points when things started working and bugs squashed, and the fact that we watched a lot of dvds while working. As I remember it that crunch had a very lucid feeling to it. Of course its those kinds of crunches that lead to crash at the end where you don't get out of bed for 2 or 3 days.
#14
03/28/2006 (2:50 pm)
@Matt lol only 30 mins? oh you are lucky. It takes me 1 and a half to 2 hours to fall asleep every night. I'm so freaking jealous of like all of my family members they can go to sleep in less than 20 mins!! 
#15
Last semester I was solidly on Jason's 28-hour day. I frequently work untill I crash, so sleep comes quickly, but then it's 8-10 hours before I get up, so I don't really gain anything...
If I go to bed before i crash, it can take hours to fall asleep. but it was worse when i was a kid.
Good luck Noah, I'll keep following!
03/28/2006 (3:12 pm)
I'll have to check out Noah's sleep pattern, sounds intresting. Last semester I was solidly on Jason's 28-hour day. I frequently work untill I crash, so sleep comes quickly, but then it's 8-10 hours before I get up, so I don't really gain anything...
If I go to bed before i crash, it can take hours to fall asleep. but it was worse when i was a kid.
Good luck Noah, I'll keep following!
#16
03/29/2006 (8:32 am)
For those of you who are following along with my blog, I added RSS and Atom feeds a while after starting this thread. Now you can stay up to date on my experiment with out having to check the site all the time. There's also a quick tut if you're interested in RSS but haven't used it before. 
#18
I used to be a light sleeper, suffer insomnia, and have trouble falling asleep some nights.
Now I sleep heavy, I fall asleep on schedule VERY easily (my head hits the pillow, and I don't even have time to wonder how quickly I'll fall asleep), and I awake very refreshed and ready to rock. But the problem is that the schedule doesn't compress easily. If I stay up an extra hour, I *WILL* be feeling it the next day.
04/19/2006 (11:37 am)
I get 5-6 hours of sleep every night. My body has adjusted over time.I used to be a light sleeper, suffer insomnia, and have trouble falling asleep some nights.
Now I sleep heavy, I fall asleep on schedule VERY easily (my head hits the pillow, and I don't even have time to wonder how quickly I'll fall asleep), and I awake very refreshed and ready to rock. But the problem is that the schedule doesn't compress easily. If I stay up an extra hour, I *WILL* be feeling it the next day.
Torque Owner Badguy
so at 19 hrs I think im pretty close.
However on weekends I do a catchup sleep (you seem to term it: crash)
and here I can sleep an easy 18hrs.
heh So im not really doing this currently.
But I might give it a try.
there is def not enuff time in the day.
I get home at 5:30 and only have 3 hrs to play with my kids.
gives another hour to hang out with wifey.
leaving me the remainder to do my own thing (play games research code)
If I could even get 1 more hour in there... I could goto work earlier
come home earlier
and have another hour for the boy and his lego :)