Case Study Uberman's Sleep

Uberman’s Sleep Polyphasic sleep is a sleep pattern/routine that involves breaking apart sleeping time into two or more separate phases throughout a 24 hour period. Most individuals have a monophasic sleep pattern with the usual 8 hours/day. Uberman’s sleep is a radical version of polyphasic sleep that involves an individual sleeping 20 minutes every four hours or 30 minutes every six hours. By doing this, a person spends only 2 hours asleep and can achieve full alertness for 22 hours a day. This particular topic was performed as a case study due to the personal nature and best regulated by the individual. Personal accounts such as dreams, energy levels, mental activity, and overall performance can be best articulated by the sleeper him/herself.
Studies have shown that REM sleep or deep sleep is crucial to mental and physical rejuvenation. An average 8 hour monophasic sleep contains about 1.5 hours of REM sleep. By training your body to jump directly into REM, an individual with Uberman’s sleep can expect up to 2 hours of REM in a 24 hour cycle. One obvious benefit of Uberman’s sleep is the amount of time that is freed. Many famous icons such as Winston Chruchill, Thomas Jefferson and Buckminster Fuller are said to have adopted polyphasic sleep at one point in their lives. Uberman’s sleep was executed in this case study by taking a nap for 20 minutes every four hours for six months. An alarm clock was used to control the amount of sleep and each nap was to be precise. On the first day, the person experienced a lack of energy from sleep deprivation. The 2nd and 3rd days were the worst days of the entire routine that included extreme drowsiness and the inability to concentrate. After the 3rd day, the individual regained energy and seemed to show improvement. A regular routine was finally achieved with no sign of drowsiness within a week. Uberman’s sleep if controlled carefully was a success. Alarm clocks were eventually not necessary as the body’s inernal clock was fine tuned.