Polyphasic sleep, teens? core sleep?

Question

Hi, I am 15 years old and have read some stuff about polyphasic sleep (Uberman's sleep schedule). I am really interested and would like to try it out, but there are 2 things I would like to know first.

1) Is it healthy for someone of my age to do this

2) What schedule would I use? because I have to go to school from 8 AM to 4 PM. I would then have to have a core sleep but when would I have to have the sleeping periods?

please help me.

Answer 1

1) Most probably no. As you probably know, at your age body and brain are still developing and sleep is widely associated with the development of both. Having naps during the day is no harm but drastically decreasing the amount of sleep probably is. And I assume that your interest in polyphasic sleep is due to the sleep decrease. There is little research on polyphasic sleep. So, there is little known about how and why it works and what are it's long-term effects. There is only a handful of people who have adjusted to polyphasic sleep. Uberman's sleep schedule is extremely difficult to maintain by yourself. So called Everyman's sleep schedule is relatively easier but still very difficult. It also might be that some people are more suitable for polyphasic sleep. Like people with some kind of sleep disorder or people who did not sleep much to begin with. For younger people, who usually have a higher sleep drive, adjusting might be even more difficult. There are also people who sleep polyphasically due to a busy work schedule. But they are mostly unhappy with their situation and get all the sleep they can with the first opportunity.

2) If you decide to have a polyphasic schedule you could have naps right before and after school. You could even nap on your way to and back from school. Quite a few people do that, even though they are not trying to sleep polyphasically. You could also nap during lunch break but you should consider the reaction of your peers (don't say no one warned you). So if you nap before 8 am and after 4 pm that leaves you up to 15 hours. I'd suggest at least 6-7 hours of core sleep so you can go to sleep at 8:30-9:00 pm. You might consider adjusting your core sleep so that you wake up right between sleep cycles, which are usually around 80-90 minutes. It makes waking up much easier. There are even alarm clocks that are supposed to wake you up between sleep cycles. But I have not used them and cannot say how effective they are.

P.S. I've tried polyphasic sleep before and have been following the subject for a few months.