Is there a way to “hack sleep” and get the most out of your time snoozing? Re/code explores the concept of polyphasic sleep.
When you sleep, your body passes through four stages in every 90-minute sleep cycle. Stage one is a light sleep, bridging the gap from wakefulness to sleep. In stage two, your breathing and heart rate are regular, but your body temperature drops. Stage three is Slow Wave sleep, when your body repairs and regenerates tissue and bone, and strengthens your immune system. Finally, you enter the fourth stage of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, when you convert short-term memory to long-term, and of course, dream.
The basic idea behind the Uberman Sleep Schedule is that you can train yourself to skip the early stages of sleep and head straight into REM. Uberman practitioners think that REM is the only important sleep stage, and that 65 percent of sleep is a waste of time. All you need is a quick dream, and you wake up feeling refreshed. I didn’t need much convincing — and to be honest, I’ve tried things based on less research.
