How to sleep in a short time: useful tips. How to sleep well in a short time Tips that will allow you to fully relax

In order to know how to sleep in 4 hours you need to understand that sleep is amazing process, through which our brain processes all the information received in 1 day.

Many specialists it is recommended to go to bed at 22:00-24:00 and wake up in 4-6 hours. During this time our nervous system will not collapse, nervousness and irritability will disappear, the body man will go for the amendment. In addition, biorhythms will help you understand what periods of time will be ideal for sleep.

Biorhythms

At a strictly defined time, our body performs some important features:

From 3:30 to 4:00 in the morning, the respiratory center is activated in a person.
At 5 o'clock in the morning, the colon begins to get excited.
From 6 to 7 in the morning, hormones are released.
From 7 to 9 in the morning - it's time for breakfast.
From 9 to 10 o'clock in the morning - a period of mental activity.
From 10 o'clock - better remembered new information, there is a rapid blood circulation.
At 12.00 - you need to study.
From 12.00 to 13.00 - the period for eating.
At 14.00 hours - all processes are restored.
From 15.00 to 20.00 - time for work.
At 20.00 metabolism and blood pressure decrease.
21.00 - preparation for bed.
From 22.00 to 4.00 - the nervous system is restored, cells are renewed in the body.

Types of sleep

Total Distinguish types of sleep:

Slow sleep.
Quick sleep.

Slow-wave sleep consists of the following phases:

1 phase. At this stage, the human brain continues to be active and plunges into slumber. He processes all the information received, creates images, looks for answers to questions.

2 phase. Muscle activity decreases, breathing and pulse normalize, the body calms down, and brain function decreases.

3 phase. The transitional stage of slow sleep.

4 phase. In this phase, the brain rests and fully restores all the ability to work. It is considered the deepest sleep.

In phase REM sleep a person sleeps much more soundly than with a slow one. That's why REM sleep is needed for:

Assimilation of all the information received in 1 day.
Adaptation to environmental conditions.

REM sleep technique

How to sleep for 4 hours and get enough sleep? This question interests many people. To master this technique, you need to familiarize yourself with the main rules " quick getaway»:

— Before going to bed, you need to relax and not think about problems. You can listen to relaxing music for 10 minutes or meditate. Also, making love with a loved one helps to quickly distract and relax.

— Don't eat at night. Use only light food, which is quickly absorbed by the body.

— Cover yourself with a warm blanket in cold weather. In the heat, our body rests more productively than in the cold.

— If you have in the room a lot of extra light then a simple eye patch will help you improve your sleep.

— Earplugs will help you get rid of any noise. Such a useful and simple thing will save your nervous system and sleep.

— Sleep problems (insomnia or parasomnia) best advice there will be the use of special phytotherapeutic pillows.

— Go to bed at a certain time to work out a personal sleep schedule for yourself. Usually it will take you more than a month.

— Give yourself one day of the week so you can sleep at least 9 hours. Thanks to this method, you can quickly and smoothly adjust to your individual regimen.

— And finally, perhaps the most important rule - go to bed before midnight. The ideal time for sleep is from 22.00 to 4.00-6.00.

These rules will help you change your sleep pattern, and you will be able to get enough sleep for the most short time. Your nervous system will be in order, you will not be irritable and sleepy.

In the morning, go jogging or do light physical activity;
Eat healthy food and reduce the amount of alcohol;
Drink at least 1.5 liters of water per day;
Quit smoking;
If possible, sleep during the day.

How to get enough sleep for 2-4 hours a day - video

For many people, in particular for programmers, designers, etc., there is a problem with lack of sleep and lack of good proper sleep. The question "" now torments everything more people. It is difficult for many to fall asleep, it is difficult to break away from the computer. In the morning, a person feels overwhelmed. In this text you will learn the most effective rules, how to sleep and get enough sleep to stay alert.

Foreword

This text will be useful to you if:

You are not satisfied with the mode of life “woke up, ate, left for work / study, arrived, ate, fell asleep.” We will try to teach you how to make better use of your sleep time;
You are annoyed by the fact that in order to keep yourself in good shape - you drink a lot of energy drinks and coffee;
You want to sleep 5-6 hours a day and feel alert;
You want to get up easily in the morning.

The article is divided into two parts: first written general theory sleep, and in the second - practical advice. If you want, you can scroll through the theory and go straight to the second part, where only the most useful ones are located. tips on how to sleep if you read them and start applying them, your life will change.

General theory of sleep

It is generally accepted that an adult needs 8 hours to get a good night's sleep. In fact, it is not. You can sleep 6 hours a day and be alert, while a person sleeping 10 hours a day will be completely “broken”. But for effective and proper sleep, you need to follow a number of rules.

Sleep phases

Sleep consists of several phases. talking plain language about sleep phases:

Light nap, that's first phase of sleep. You can observe it in yourself when you start to doze off in front of the screen or to the voice of the rector, and when you come to your senses, you find that 5 minutes have already passed.

Second phase of sleep - good sleep but not deep. During this phase there are rare bursts brain activity. The brain tries to put itself to sleep.

Third phase of sleep and the most important is deep sleep. The brain and the body completely relax, the body restores its strength. The heartbeat slows down, the body temperature drops. There is almost no brain activity.

Fourth phase of sleep- REM sleep phase. The British call it the Rapid Eye Movement, because. during this phase of sleep, the pupils begin to move actively. In 95% of cases, it is in this phase that you have dreams.

This cycle goes through several times during sleep. In the very first cycle, the deep sleep phase is the largest. With each new cycle, the time of the REM sleep phase increases

We can conclude: the more DEEP SLEEP, and the DEEPER it is, the better. In other words, the less brain activity during sleep, the lower the body temperature and the slower all processes in the body, the better for deep sleep.

Body temperature plays an important role and influences your activity and sleepiness. The dependence is quite simple: the higher the temperature, the higher your activity. During the day, body temperature is constantly changing and can fluctuate (even in healthy person) from 36 to 37.5 degrees. It is desirable that the body temperature be higher during the day and lower at night so that the brain can enjoy deep sleep more.

Also, before moving on to practice, it is important to know about hormone melatonin. This hormone is found in the pineal gland and, to a lesser extent, in the retina. Its effect on our body can be described as follows: the more melatonin is released, the more we want to sleep. Melatonin is released when our eyes are exposed to a lack of light (sometimes called the vampire hormone). While in bright light it collapses.

If you want to sleep 6 hours a day and get enough sleep, then you need to stock up on willpower and follow a number of simple principles. In the beginning it will be difficult, but after two or three weeks you will get used to it.

1. Consistent sleep schedule

Every day you need go to sleep and wake up at the same time. If you need to get up for work at 6 am on weekdays, then on weekends you need to do the same. At least approximately The maximum indulgence that you can afford is an extra hour.

WHY is it needed? The body “gets used” to getting up at the same time, as well as sleeping at the same time.
IMPORTANT! You need to wake up in REM sleep. REM sleep is fairly easy to find. Move the alarm clock back and forth for 10-20-30 minutes during the week. When it will be easy for you to get up, it means that you are in REM sleep. Now set the alarm for this time all the time.

2. Charging in the morning

You need a serious exercise, and not sluggish waving your arms and a couple of squats. Exercise should make you sweat. Don't forget to shower after. Or is just as good.
WHY is it needed? Charging seriously increases the temperature of a person's body, and hence the performance of his body and brain during the day.

3. More light

From the very morning and throughout the day you need lots of bright light. It is desirable that this be sunlight. Workplace should also be well lit.
WHY is it needed? Light destroys the hormone melatonin, and you want to sleep less. If you spend most of the day in not the brightest conditions, try to get out more somewhere in the air (for example, for lunch).

4. Physical activity during the day

If you have the opportunity to go jogging in the evening after work (or maybe during?), go to gym or swimming pool - be sure to take advantage of these opportunities.
WHY is it needed? This allows keep body temperature at high level to keep your body active and your brain fresh.

5. Drink water

6. Do not drink alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, energy drinks

Perhaps this is the most difficult rule. To do this, many will need to apply great will power. If you can’t completely get rid of them, then significantly limit the consumption of these drinks.
WHY is it needed? These substances have a very negative effect on your sleep. It is difficult for the body to relax. And if you constantly use energy drinks and coffee to cheer up, then soon your body will no longer be able to adjust itself.

7. Sleep in the afternoon if you feel like it.

During the day, you can take a nap if you really want to. It's even helpful. To avoid such a state as Fry in the picture, you need to wake up BEFORE the body entered in deep sleep. Otherwise, the rest of the day will go down the drain. Therefore, it is better that the daily “oversleeping” lasts 15-20 minutes, maximum - 30.
WHY is it needed? In the phase of REM sleep, the human body also has a good rest and relaxes. If the body asks for sleep during the day, then it needs it. Most often, he tends to sleep after dinner, this is not surprising, because at this time there is a slight drop in body temperature. After daytime sleep good to recharge.

Conclusion

These tips work great, but only if you apply them all together. Of course, you can customize each of the points for yourself. And we wish you to sleep well, so that during the day you are happy and cheerful. Be healthy!

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Hi people! Today we will touch on the topic of sleep. Oh, this is a sore subject for me personally. On the this moment on weekdays I can sleep at best 6 hours (sometimes 5.30). It saves only that my work schedule allows me to work only 2 days, and then 2 days to rest, and so on. On the weekends, of course, I sleep.

But sleep is the 3rd extremely important component of successful progress in bodybuilding. This directly affects the growth of our muscles. One of serious reasons slow growth muscle mass is lack of sleep. That is, when a person seriously damaged his muscles by training and did not fully recover, had little rest, did not get enough sleep - and again goes to the gym for the next portion of the load, then he drives himself into a deep minus.

Some write to me that they do not understand why their muscles grow so slowly, or not at all, while they day and night in the gym. Some muscles have become even smaller. This situation is faced by those who forget that the next workout should be carried out only after a CORRECT AND FULL RECOVERY. Sleep plays a very important role in this matter. No sleep - no muscles!

Good sleep improves mood and boosts immunity. As a result, the performance can be stabilized. internal organs. Rest provides an opportunity to cope with weakness and poor health.

But the first question is where to get the time? How to sleep for a short time so that the body gets the maximum benefit? There are several simple and effective advice to help you fully relax.

Before I forget - there is an article on the blog about a powerful dietary supplement for improving sleep - melatonin.

"Siesta"

It is necessary to divide the rest into two separate stages. A person can sleep for 20 minutes during the day to reduce the time it takes to do so at night by a couple of hours. But be sure to set an alarm, because increasing the time of daytime relaxation will lead to poor health.

"Stairs"

This technique is suitable for freelancers, as people with tight work schedules will not be able to stick to it. During the day, a person should sleep several times, but not more than 20 minutes. Thanks to this, the time required for a good night's rest will be reduced by 90 minutes. You will enjoy wonderful well-being, as all strength will be restored.

"Superhuman"

This method is suitable for a person whose willpower is developed. This method can be called tough, but it makes it possible to feel cheerful at any time of the day. You need to lie down to rest for 6 times for 20 minutes. But an equal amount of time should elapse between these stages.

These techniques are widely used among modern people. You can take them into service if you want to get rid of problems related to well-being and health.

Tips for a perfect rest

There are a few important rules which are worth following. They will give you the opportunity to sleep, recharged with energy.

Silence is the key to good sleep

To fully sleep, before going to bed, you need at least a couple of hours to be in complete silence. If you want to prepare for tomorrow or have a get-together with friends, you need to do this long before the planned vacation.

The bed should be as comfortable as possible. Take your TV to the hall, and select another room for the computer. You should not arrange an office in the bedroom, because you will constantly think only about work. If you play sports, then silence is a must, because during the whole day you are in noise.

Rest every 4 hours

This technology was developed over half a century ago. It has been approved by people who live all over the world. This technique has interesting name"Da Vinci's Dream". She came from the time of the life of the artist, who is familiar to everyone. The main phases of sleep are rebuilt for the better.

He slept only an hour and a half a day. However, during the day he remained cheerful and energetic. Da Vinci slept better than people who rested for eight hours.

The secret of this technology is very simple. A person should go to bed every four hours. But total time sleep should not be more than 20 minutes. Of course, not many people can clearly follow this technology. But you can pay attention to it to check the effectiveness of the method in practice.

If you want to learn how to learn how to get enough sleep, remember that you can relax in any conditions: on a minibus, during a lunch break, on the subway, and so on. If you decide to go to bed, eliminate the restless thoughts that interfere with complete relaxation.

Forget about everything until tomorrow

Many people suffer from insomnia due to the fact that they still have questions that they did not have time to solve during the day. They go over the problem in their head, thinking of ways to solve it. But you need to understand that today it will not be possible to deal with the issue. Also, do not consider a new training program, as this will definitely not succeed.

Learn to disconnect from the day that has passed. All important matters are best dealt with in the morning of a new day. At night, such thoughts will prevent you from falling asleep, leading to irritability and absent-mindedness. It is better to think about the warm sea or majestic mountains. Fall asleep to the sounds of nature or to relaxing melodies that make you forget about problems.

Prepare for sleep properly

A new day is preparing for you significant event? Need to wake up very early but feel fit?

Get ready for bed before you go to bed. Starch your bedding for about three hours. Wear warm and cozy pajamas that smell just the way you like them. You can take a bath with fragrant foam or with healing essential oils.

Make your bed and turn on a night light that will fill the room with subdued light. Set an alarm and lie down to rest on your back. Remember that relaxing on your stomach causes all the muscles to tense up.

Thick curtains on the windows

Every person in the body has an internal alarm clock. It makes it possible to regulate the time during which it is comfortable to stay awake and have a good rest.

The alarm is activated by what is on closed eyes man is exposed to sunlight. It is from this moment that the body fully awakens, regardless of what time the person went to bed.

Thick curtains will allow you to sleep longer. They won't let direct sunlight bother you. In particular, this advice is relevant for people who are used to staying up at night. Also, this method can be used when you need a good night's sleep on a day off.

Stick to the biological rhythm

In nature, there are certain biological laws, according to which a person should not sleep during the day or stay awake at night. The best option can be called a rest that lasts from 10 pm to 6 am. This is the time that will allow a person to get as much sleep as possible in a short period of time. This regimen must be adhered to regardless of what day of the week it is: Monday or Saturday. When a certain amount of time has passed, you will be able to restore strength not in 8, but in 5 hours.

Drink a glass of warm milk

Milk is delicious drink, which contains a valuable amino acid that helps a person fall asleep faster. That is why it is worth adding milk to your daily diet. Enough 300 milliliters of warm milk with honey before bedtime. You can drink a drink right in bed, or you can sit with him under a blanket, enjoying your favorite literary work.

Milk will begin to act literally half an hour after you finish drinking it. The main thing is that you do not miss the moment, because otherwise a "second wakefulness" may open. When you feel sleepy, get into bed.

Don't eat heavy foods

You should not eat too salty, smoked, exotic dishes if you are going to bed soon. Be aware that such food causes swelling of the limbs. Plus, it won't let you sleep well.

Do you want to have a snack after a hard and fruitful working day? Then it is better to eat a salad of vegetables or fruits, drink a glass of milk or satisfy your hunger with cottage cheese. Be sure to adhere to food hygiene.

Ventilate your room regularly

In order for you to be comfortable indoors during your rest, the temperature in it should vary between 19 and 22 degrees. That is why regularly open windows for airing for half an hour, regardless of weather conditions. If it's warm enough outside, sleep with the window open.

This advice will allow you to get oxygen in the required amount. In the morning you will wake up with a new charge of energy. The main thing is that you do not freeze. In summer, cover yourself with a sheet, and in winter, with a blanket made of warm material. Do not abuse radiators and air conditioners, as such equipment dries the air in the room.

Don't drink alcohol

Some people think that alcohol is an opportunity to cope with depression and fully relax. But this is a big mistake, because alcohol will definitely make itself felt. You may fall asleep immediately, but then you will become extremely uncomfortable.

Ethyl alcohol leaves the body, turning into a powerful catalyst. You will toss and turn and wake up, which will not allow you to sleep and rest. It is especially difficult for people who smoke. Tobacco in combination with alcohol turns into a major factor in insomnia.

It is impossible to ignore the next morning after a fun evening. You will suffer from fatigue and headaches. Irritability will not allow you to spend the day with joy.

Now you know how to get enough sleep and get a boost of energy. Try to follow these tips, it's very easy even if you have a busy schedule!

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Sleep deprivation is almost everyone's problem. modern man. In pursuit of the desire to be in time for everything, we are often forced to sacrifice the time devoted to sleep. For some, lack of sleep comes easily, while for others, the perpetually half-asleep state causes severe suffering.

Is it possible in our bustling world with a busy work schedule, huge amounts of information and other benefits of civilization to find a way to sleep little and get enough sleep? Yes, there are "secret technologies" that allow you to sleep for 5 hours. But they do not always work and are far from suitable for everyone, but anyone can reduce sleep time from 10 to 7-8 hours. You just need to develop the right habits in your body.

Proper sleep preparation

The first thing you need for a good night's rest is relaxation. The ability to relax the whole body is a real art, but it is not only possible but necessary to learn it. It allows you to fall into deep sleep and fully recover faster. By remaining tense during sleep, the body consumes additional time to come to a relaxed state.

To relieve tension before going to bed, it is advisable to stop vigorous activity, turn off the TV and tune in to rest. This can be helped by evening meditation, calm soothing music, or a few yoga asanas. If all this is alien to you, just take a cool shower or bath with a soothing essential oil sandalwood, frankincense or roses, turn off the TV and try to switch from active to passive. And already lying in bed, calm down, turn off all thoughts and watch your body, eliminating tension where it is present.

The room should also be prepared for a comfortable stay. Firstly, where you sleep should be comfortable for you - not too soft, not too hard, the blanket should not be very heavy, and the pillow should be high, but most importantly, you should feel safe in your bed. That is, you should not hang shelves with books, paintings in heavy frames over the head of the bed, but sleeping place arrange in front of a mirror or front door. Subconsciously, the body will feel threatened, and part of the resources will be spent "on protection."

Before going to bed, it is advisable to ventilate the room. It should not be hot or stuffy, but too cold air will not let you fall asleep normally. In addition, you should not arrange a living room or office from the bedroom. This is a place to relax and there should not be a computer or office equipment here, and even better if the TV is in another room. Having made a firm decision to get a quick sleep, you can wake up in the morning from the bright rays of the sun, so hang blackout curtains in the bedroom so that the sun does not become a kind of alarm clock for you. Ordinary earplugs bought at a pharmacy will help protect yourself from noise.

Good habits to help

Do not eat up at night - in this case, the energy will be spent not on relaxation and falling asleep, but on digestion. At the same time, going to bed on an empty stomach is also wrong - thinking about food will definitely not let you sleep. Eat something light - fruit, yogurt, a cup of warm baked or regular milk, or a piece of boiled chicken. According to scientists, a person gets enough sleep in much less time if he follows his biological rhythm. As general recommendation they advise going to bed before 10 pm (maximum at 11 pm), and waking up no later than 6 am. It is believed that one hour before midnight replaces two hours after. And you need to do this not only on weekdays, but also on weekends, so as not to knock down the schedule. Having got used to such a routine, the body will recover in much less time.

Bad habits cannot but affect our nightly rest. Struggling with sleep, try not to abuse coffee - it is excreted from the body for more than 12 hours, so it is advisable to drink a cup of coffee before noon. Alcohol and cigarettes can also interfere normal sleep and lead to insomnia. These recommendations will allow the body to develop healthy habits, which can not but affect sleep. The body will learn to fall asleep deeply, which means that you will be able to get enough sleep in a short time: for example, not in 10 hours, but in seven. But sometimes you need to recover in a very short time, in which case the following techniques can help.

REM sleep techniques

The Da Vinci technique allows you to get enough sleep in 1.5 hours: 15 minutes of sleep every 4 hours. If you can’t follow this method, but during the day there is an opportunity to take a nap - in the subway, taxi, at lunchtime - be sure to use it.
Student way: set the alarm for half an hour ahead, sleep for this half an hour, wake up on a call, set the alarm for another half an hour, and so on 4 times in a row. With this method, you can sleep for 2 hours.
Gymnastics. First you need to eat a small meal, then lie down and relax for one minute. Then stand on your head against the wall and stand for three minutes. Lie back on your back and relax completely. Roll over on your stomach and stretch your head to your feet for two minutes. At the end, raise your legs and keep them on weight for about three minutes. Deep dream after such gymnastics, restore you in 3-4 hours.

« Sometimes you just need to sleep between lunch and dinner. You undress and get into bed. That's exactly what I always do. Don't think you'll get less done if you sleep during the day. This is the opinion of idiots without imagination. You will do even more. You will have two days in one. Well, by at least, one and a half. When the war started, I had to sleep during the day because that was the only way I could handle my duties.» Sir Winston Churchill

Sleep for beginners

Sleep, as we might know from encyclopedias if we read them, is a state of rest inherent in humans and animals, which is characterized by a reduced response to the world and minimum level brain activity(that is, even more reduced and even more minimal than usual).

Without sleep, a person becomes useless faster than without food. A chronically sleep-deprived person runs the risk of acquiring cardiovascular disease, diabetes and weakened brain function in a matter of weeks. The Englishman Tony Wright, who set the world record for continuous wakefulness (11 days and 11 nights), looked after this event, to put it mildly, unimportant and then was treated for a long time. But even three or four days without sleep can be enough to get serious problems with health.

Why does everyone on this planet sleep - both animals and even plants? (Yes, yes, plants also have a period of night rest.) There is no one hundred percent correct answer to this question yet, but there are a lot of hypotheses, one crazier than the other.

The evolutionists seem to have come closest to the truth by viewing living organisms as a machine for the survival of genes. In their concept, sleep is a temporary partial shutdown of the self-management function of this machine for, roughly speaking, preventive work.

In a dream, wounds heal faster, in a dream we recover, in a dream we process and rethink in some completely inhuman way the information learned during the day, in a dream we accumulate energy. It may seem to us that in a dream we lose control over ourselves, but in fact it is at this time that our body is in charge of its real owner. Or, more precisely, the hosts are our genes, which once built us according to their taste and understanding, obeying the strict requirements of evolution.

It hurts to think about it, but what can you do.

Sleepy little animals

Most animals sleep several times a day. And even those of them who are forced to function only in the light or only in the dark, still periodically take a nap during their activity. Ravens, let's say, are strictly sleeping from dusk to dawn, and during the day they like to snore for half an hour, putting their head under their wings. And hedgehogs awake at night always go to the side between their nightly hunts.

Any well-fed, played enough, calm animal will willingly sleep, albeit not for long, and in the active phase.

An exception here are highly organized collective animals such as bees or people, whose biorhythms are forced to take into account the needs not only own body but also the needs of the team. Perhaps this body suffers from this, but society as a whole benefits.

Before the invention of electricity, man was useless at night, because his eyes are extremely mediocre in terms of the ability to see in the dark. Therefore, during the day he could not waste time on too frequent siesta, because, like any collective animal, he always had a lot to do. This raccoon can eat dumpster pizza and go to sleep with a sense of accomplishment. And man had to plow, dig, chop, fight and build pyramids. In a word, the transition to unceasing daytime wakefulness at a certain stage of development was practically inevitable for us. The folklores of all the peoples of the world (advanced enough to invent a plow) are teeming with proverbs and sayings about how cool it is to get up before dawn and go to bed after dark, saturating your life with various labors.

And, of course, winding up the day before the state of non-standing, humanity has learned to sleep soundly and soundly at night.

The postman always sleeps twice

Nevertheless, there were daredevils who challenged the foundations of the universe. Reading the biographies of great people, we now and then stumble upon the names of those who turned their regime into something unimaginable from the generally accepted point of view. Napoleon, Peter the Great, Goethe and other glorious men managed to restore their strength in four hours. The creator of the incandescent lamp, Thomas Edison, fit in only two or three hours. Leonardo da Vinci went further than others: he did not sleep at all at night, replacing this tedious process with short naps lasting 15–20 minutes. Surely the maestro called his sleep system some beautiful Italian word, but scientists are boring people. Because of them, this type of recreation entered the scientific literature under the name " polyphasic sleep».

Strictly speaking, polyphasic sleep is not an invention of some limited group of people. The researchers dug into the European literature of the 18th century, historical documents, personal records and other waste paper and found a bunch of references to the fact that people then slept not for many hours in a row, but with breaks. For example, it was considered normal to go to bed early, then wake up in the middle of the night, read, pray, make heirs with your wife, and lie down again until morning. There is also a hypothesis that the nightly "wake break" among Europeans is associated with the extremely unsuccessful design of their fireplaces. Most of the heat went out into the street, and people had to get up in the middle of the night to throw in firewood. Be that as it may, the development of technology has gradually brought human sleep to its present form.

Electricity made it possible to stay up late or get up after dark. Heating appliances eliminated the need to jump out of bed and keep the fire going. Broadband Internet access and did put healthy sleep to the brink of extinction. Around the same time, self-development fans, life hackers and other urban lunatics became preoccupied with the problem of personal effectiveness.

Years of practice and experimentation (and then, as a result, treatment) made it possible to identify several of the most “working” techniques of polyphasic sleep:

sleep every 6 hours for 30 minutes (dymaxion mode);
sleep every 4 hours for 20 minutes (uberman mode);
sleep at night for 1.5–3 hours and then 3 times during the day for 20 minutes (everyman mode);
sleep at night for 2 hours and then 20 minutes in the middle of the day (tesla mode);
sleep at night for 5 hours and then 1.5 hours in one fell swoop during the day (siesta mode).

Is this way of life really more natural for our species, as various studies show?

We decided not to guess and just try out the idea of polyphasic sleep on our author. Let's give him a word.

Sleep Tester's Notes

An editorial task made me try to change my sleep pattern. And also winter, beriberi, fatigue, stress... Okay, let's not deceive readers. The Champions League playoffs are approaching, and they start late. It was necessary to accustom the body to be cheerful both during football broadcasts and at morning planning meetings. In general, before experimenting on your own body, you should consult a doctor. You need to get up very early to get an appointment with the doctor without any problems. And for this you need to do something with your sleep pattern. In general, the doctor at this stage was replaced by the Internet. Of the modes found, only the siesta mode seemed more or less humane to me. I chose him and went to change my life for the better.

The easy way to stop sleeping

Waking up at five in the morning was surprisingly easy. I took a survival kit in the morning (laptop, phone, notepad, unwashed cups) and sneaked into the kitchen. In principle, it was possible not to try to be quieter: to wake up a healthy person at such a time can only be shot by Aurora or the voice of Grigory Leps. Breakfast was the first problem. It was not clear when to eat - immediately after waking up, or as usual (half a minute before leaving the house, muttering "I'm late, I'm late"). Just in case, I had breakfast twice.

It's laptop time. By tradition, having sent a couple of work letters, it was useful to check social networks. There was an eerie silence. The authorities were not scolded. Breakfasts are not Instagrammed. The cats didn't like it. The only thing missing to complete the picture was a digital tumbleweed that swept across the screen. Finally figured out the mail and checked again. Nothing changed.

Decided to clean up my computer. I cleaned the Downloads folder (if Hercules performed his feats in our time, instead of the Augean stables, he would have been offered exactly this). Deleted games that were outdated without waiting for the first launch. Renamed "New folder", "New folder (2)" and so on according to their contents. The clock was 5:30. morning time dragged on maddeningly slowly.

But my cat was completely delighted. Usually, to get my attention at this time of day, he had to meow, scratch at the door and walk on my face. And here the owner was sitting, ready to feed, water, stroke and generally worship the sacred animal in every possible way.

Waking up so early, you feel like the hero of a movie about interstellar flights, who came out of suspended animation before the rest of the crew of the spacecraft. In order to somehow bring the awakening of everyone else (and, obviously, the appearance of the Alien), I decided to do exercises. The body, which had not known the charms of the warm-up since the beginning of the 2000s, creaked in surprise. When the exercises that I remembered from school physical education lessons stopped causing pain, I felt like I switched to new level cheerfulness. Usually you feel like this at a corporate party, when you have already been rude to your boss and have fun, not hoping to return to the office.

When all the joints were kneaded, the dishes were washed and the flowers were watered, the accursed morning finally came. Gathered without haste, left the house and arrived at work on time.

In the office, I realized how different a waking person is from an ordinary one. While my colleagues were drinking tea to pass the time before a smoke break (and there lunch is not far away), I completed all the tasks planned for the day by noon. The rest of the day passed pleasantly. Social networks woke up, the streams of delirium rustled, and I bathed in them, not tormented by remorse, unlike my colleagues. I rode home standing up, giving way to old people, women and bad-looking men.

The time for the second sleep session was approaching. I thought that I would not be able to fall asleep a second time. I made this conclusion based on memories from my childhood. Quiet time at kindergarten or the pioneer camp seemed something idiotic, unsuitable for recreation. Only the Spaniards and other inhabitants of the southern countries can sleep at night. Thinking about it, he undressed - and fell asleep, flying up to the bed.

The interval between the second sleep and midnight was also full of accomplishments. There was even enough time to assemble the drawers for the closet. For the past few months, they've been lying in a corner, slowly driving me insane. I even had the idea to take them to the Museum of Impossible Physical Objects, they were so difficult to assemble.

The next three days were mega-productive. I was like the ideal hero of business literature: active, friendly, cheerful. He completed projects on time, greeted accountants and people. As happens in such cases, colleagues slowly began to hate me. I was happy. AT free time scoured the site for successful people like me and found more and more arguments in favor of two sleeps a day.

The End of a Vigorous Era

I would have rolled into the abyss of success, if not for the end of the year. At this time, all employees who are not busy cutting snowflakes are forced to write reports. One evening I had to stay in the office. The time allotted for the second phase of sleep flew by unnoticed by compiling fascinating tables and diagrams. Arriving home, I decided not to go to bed: I considered the loss of an hour and a half of sleep insignificant. Fatal mistake. The next morning, the phone sang its invigorating songs in vain. I didn't manage to wake up at five, six, or seven. Something inside me broke. I came out of a coma at a time when the office people were already downloading their honest labor solitaire games on their computers.

Very late, I arrived at the office, sat down in my seat. It didn't work.

All day I looked at the world around me as if from the bottom of a deep well. Sailed through a world of dull colors and muffled sounds. After work, I went to the dentist and fell asleep in the chair. It can happen to anyone: a warm room, a saliva ejector, the lulling sounds of a drill. The doctor included the cost of an anesthetic injection on the check, although I suspect that there was none.

Returned home broken. There was no mention of any Friday night. Friends who had already begun to lose in my person a nice friendly loser, in the end did not get anyone.

I remember, as a child, I laughed at my dad, who came home, sat in front of the TV and fell asleep to some worker-peasant show. On that day, the genes took their toll. Switching to the state Belarusian channel (thank you, useless cable TV!), I switched off. Woke up late Saturday morning. Belarusian brothers showed the same program as the previous evening.

In general, biphasic sleep seems to be a really good way to slow down the frantic pace of life a little, clear out forever unfinished tasks and be efficient at any time of the day. However, as in any other business, here you need to follow the measure and follow the rules.

Think in advance what you will do from early morning until the second sleep

Even if it's still dark outside, you can start breakfast

No matter how you shorten your night sleep you wake up hungry and dehydrated. The balance needs to be restored. So that the body does not spend a lot of energy on the assimilation of food, make a choice in favor of something light.

If you allow yourself to drink from time to time, sleep longer these days

Alcohol helps you fall asleep quickly (sometimes very quickly), but sleep is deep. Lying down in bed tipsy, you run the risk of being left without the REM phase, and in fact it is it that allows you to restore strength.

The Bad News: Caffeine Takes a Long Time to Absorb in the Body

Therefore, if you drink coffee less than 5–7 hours before bedtime, with fast falling asleep may have problems. So either drink coffee in the first hour after getting up, or gradually switch to dark chocolate and green tea(Yes, there is even more caffeine in tea, but there it is combined with tannin, and together they are excreted much faster).

Good news: you can have sex without restrictions!

The main thing is not to delay the event for hours, so as not to further reduce the period of night sleep. Otherwise, you can treat sex like a good evening workout (that is, as usual).

What the somnologist said

Head of the Department of Sleep Medicine First Moscow State Medical University named after I. M. Sechenov, Mikhail Gurevich Poluektov believes that polyphasic sleep is a generally sound idea.

Polyphasic sleep is a completely natural thing. Just look at babies, cats or freelancers. They sleep several times a day and feel great. In addition, multiple sleep can be very useful for people whose work is associated with the "wrong" mode: the military, pilots, rescuers. The correct distribution of periods of sleep and wakefulness helps them to stay alert at the right moments, think soberly and protect ordinary citizens. Or in last resort, save.

For people whose activities are not related to everyday exploits, polyphasic sleep is also not prohibited. You just need to remember that the transition to a new regime is associated with serious stress on the body. To avoid unpleasant consequences it is possible thanks to iron discipline (going to bed and getting up every day at the same time), proper nutrition and sports. Or you need to be absolutely obsessed with your work, like the same Leonardo da Vinci, Edison and Peter I. As for your experiment, the mistake was not getting enough rest at night. Still, 5 hours of sleep is not enough for a beginner. At first, you need at least 6-7 hours.