Is There A Conspiracy Behind… Sleep?

[dynamo]

Source: http://humansarefree.com/2018/03/is-there-conspiracy-behind-sleep.html

Perhaps just as often or more, we hear the recommendation that we should be drinking 8 glasses of water a day, and we hear that we should be getting 8 hours of sleep.

But, is this just another one of those things that we haven’t bothered to question because it’s something that we’ve heard so many times that we just believe it to be true?

Many creative geniuses from the past thrived on a very small amount of sleep, between 1-4 hours a night in fact, and then a few short naps of 20-30 minutes throughout the day. If you’re thinking, how the heck did they manage that, I’m a complete zombie when I don’t sleep enough, well, you’re not alone.

Are there certain brain types that can function on little sleep? Perhaps this is something that many creative types have in common, or is there a trick to this whole process of sleep that we are unaware of?

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_8Palo4dK5E/WqfBE98NjjI/AAAAAAAAtcg/dmE4LgBxCw4Vq08fVto2k_lp4QvabF2cgCLcBGAs/s1600/aid11765-v4-728px-Adopt-a-Polyphasic-Sleep-Schedule-Step-2-Version-3-728x500.jpg

Who says we need to get 8 hours of sleep and is everyone really the same? Imagine only sleeping for 4 hours a night, you would have all that extra time to do … literally whatever you wanted, but could we be healthy, function, and thrive in our lives on that little amount of sleep?

An author from Bright Side, recently decided to give this alternative sleep cycle a shot, to test this idea for himself. In the video below, he describes his experience and whether or not this is something that he could keep up with, check it out!

Anything Is Possible

Even though this idea of polyphasic sleep goes against a huge part of our lives that we have always believed to be a certain way, it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth a try. After watching the video, to me, the most difficult thing would be to have so much time alone, during the time that you are awake and everyone else is asleep.

However, the idea to unlock several more full days per week is also very enticing, especially if we always feel that there is just not enough time in the day.

Is There A Conspiracy Behind… Sleep?

Maybe we don’t have to give it that label, but it definitely feels like there has been some information that has been withheld from us – where does this “8 hours a night” notion even come from? If so many creative geniuses from our past were able to thrive on such little sleep, why haven’t we heard more about this alternative cycle? Shouldn’t this be more common knowledge?

Perhaps we are truly doing ourselves a disservice by choosing to sleep so much. Imagine everyone in the world started sleeping for only 2 – 4 hours a night, it wouldn’t feel so lonely then at all, and just imagine all of the extra time we would have to focus on how to solve the biggest challenges humanity is facing today.

Check out the following infographic for more information:

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X2Ut3jY_f7M/WqfBYSYa0CI/AAAAAAAAtck/61Oavy2DxLcfEKlidiedIrXu3_-2ReI5wCLcBGAs/s1600/sleep-infographic.jpg

Polyphasic sleep is definitely something everyone should try to see if it works for them. Particularly if you always feel like you need more time and just have a lot more you would like to do.

Our ancestors even slept differently than us, maybe there is something we are missing or some magic that can be unlocked by trying out this alternative sleep method, you’ll never know unless you try!

As mentioned in the video, just be sure to do your research – there are a ton of resources available online and just remember to be aware of the potential risks during the transition period. Check out Alternative Sleep Cycles: 7 – 10 Hours Are Not Needed for some more information.

Sleep when you feel like it, sounds much better than sleep when you’re supposed to, to me! Question everything.

Much Love,
Alanna Ketler

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

The "8 hours of sleep a night" thing probably comes from the internal circadian clock, which is entrenched in the solar cycle of night/day, light/dark. But I think there's a difference between those who get less sleep and those who need less sleep. Some of those listed above may simply have been too busy in their work lives to get a regular 8. On the other hand those who 'need' less may have high levels of energy, particularly creative energy.

I can function on less than 8 (sometimes not very well), but I do prefer a full 8 if I can get it.

[Bill Ryan]

Sleep is when much of the body's healing and maintenance is all done — and research indicates that usually takes place in approximately 2.5 hour cycles, though this can vary.

So that means (but very much only on average) that most people experience three cycles per night, i.e. about 7.5 hours.

It's important to let those cycles complete naturally. This is why when the ALARM goes off, in the middle of a deep-sleep repair cycle, one feels pretty rough: it's like driving your car away from the shop in a big hurry when the mechanics are still in the middle of an oil change. Not always a good idea! :)

[Mike]

Sleep cycles can be a delicate thing. Oversleeping is just as harmful as undersleeping, in my experience. I feel even worse when I oversleep.

The amount of required sleep varies from person to person I think. Those genius' referred to in the OP are unique in more than one way; they may have a different constitution altogether.

The amount of sleep an individual needs changes as they age. In my 20's i drank beer from the moment I got home from work till the moment I went to bed around 2 or 3am. I'd get up and drink coffee all day long. Btw, don't do that.

I was able to pull it off for a while. I resisted going to bed because I insisted on having as much waking time to myself as possible. I didn't want to return home after a long, crappy day of work, eat a meal, and go to bed and wake up and repeat; I didn't want my life dictated by work. I paid dearly for those long, alcohol fueled nights, but I stubbornly clung to my lifestyle. In the end it only hurt me, but I thought it cunning:)

As middle age approaches, one needs more sleep. The body isn't quite what it once was. Needs more time for repair etc

As one gets even older, sleep requirements go up again...but the irony is, it gets more and more difficult to sleep as one ages!

[ghostrider]

The Creation is the blueprint for all existence... It goes through a wake ( expanding ) and a sleep (contracting) phase seven great times ... Just as nature has a birth and death phase which is another dimension form of life... Becoming and passing, spring and fall , death and rebirth, yin and yang, positive and negative... We are expressions of Creation energy just as planets, the flora, animals, stars, galaxies, etc... We evolve just the same, wake and sleep, live and die, reincarnate, take a step up in evolution ... Sleep is a way the body heals and the 90 percent that is dormant wakes and impulses from the storage banks do their work , we dream, have visions, see shapes, colors, vibrations, etc... Things only done when we sleep ...like a heartbeat, in and out, a breath in and out ... Things we see are temporary, things not seen are eternal...

[Universoul]

I think everyone else has already made a good grounded statement about the necessity of sleep and how it connects to our basic design, but to chime in... There's much to be said about not believing we need a "8 hours a night" schedule. That it's ok to have our own schedules, and we should learn ourselves in and out so we can best care for ourselves. Sometimes experimenting helps that (like trying different sleep schedules). Exploring the overlap between sleeping and waking, and how our bodies want to naturally sleep/wake can be an exercise in itself.

However I differ when it's suggested that deep and long sleep isn't needed. The modern world is an over stimulated toxic soup of stress and beta brainwaves. Information overload and the artificial glow of touch screens is just part of that mess.

It's more important than ever to get deep sleep and re-attune ourselves. Achieve the deeper brainwave states.

I think the issue is more that we can't always sleep/wake when our bodies want to because of real world obligations.

If anyone is pushing their self to "genius" levels of activity then I hope they're doing it for good reasons and know their reasons. Telsa did what he did with a great deal of selflessness. There are many people who burn out from pursuing things that weren't worth it. The thing about "genius" levels of activity is that we don't really choose those times in our lives. It's more often something outside the ego's control. Like we're born with amazing skills and have to write symphonies, or go through a sudden awakening, or the universe puts it on us in some way and says "Swim or sink".

For most of us a more grounded approach to achieving higher states of consciousness and activity may be desired. It seems contradictory but sometimes to realize our highest levels we need to do the opposite. To sink into a deep breath and just "be".

[uzn]

Evidence is accumulating that the alarmclock is the natural enemy of the human being.

[Iancorgi]

I believe that in the not too distant future we'll probably sleep in pods that will restore us to our optimal health in less than an hour. Imagine a world where sleeping isn't really a thing anymore, a 23 hours waking day, so much productivity and creativity would be unleashed and lead to revolutionary technological leaps.

This will be such an new pattern of behavior that it will alter our evolution as dramatically as Ai will. The combination of the two will lead to a humanity 2.0.

I choose to be optimistic and believe we'll move forward and solve most of today's most urgent problems (nuclear waste treatment, cancer, food safety....)

[dynamo]

I believe that in the not too distant future we'll probably sleep in pods that will restore us to our optimal health in less than an hour. Imagine a world where sleeping isn't really a thing anymore, a 23 hours waking day, so much productivity and creativity would be unleashed and lead to revolutionary technological leaps.

This will be such an new pattern of behavior that it will alter our evolution as dramatically as Ai will. The combination of the two will lead to a humanity 2.0.

I choose to be optimistic and believe we'll move forward and solve most of today's most urgent problems (nuclear waste treatment, cancer, food safety....)
I feel as though that wouldn't be a very enjoyable existence for many people except maybe for a trans-human.
Personally, i think some of my greatest ideas come from my subconscious.

For example, I could be working on a challenge for hours or days and develop tunnel vision, blinders, etc.
Walking away from the challenge, taking a nap or going to sleep is sometimes all the "breakthrough" I need and I truly I believe it is my mind working on the challenge in the background and the answer manifesting itself when i have fully recharged, so to speak, with some deep, delta sleep.

Also, OBEs and lucid dreaming are very similar and to lose that experience would not be something I would look forward to.
OBEs and lucid dreaming are not easily done with the routine that daily living requires of most of the population.

[Flash]

I have been living the byphasic sleep when I lived and worked in Mexico for a year.

During the lunch hour which duration was 2 hours, I would go to my room and have one hour nap. I would wake up completely refreshed, as if starting a new day altogether, and obviously much more productive and enjoying file much more.

I could stay up untill midnight without feeling tired. My night sleep was between five to six hours.

I could never do that in Canada because we only have 45 to 60 min. of lunch and I had no bedroom or closed office nearby to have a nap. I always wished I could have done it in Canada. A nap in daytime makes you enjoy life so much more.

I know that the video game creators often nap during the day, then go for long stretch of creation with enthusiasm. In fact, their work premises has pool rooms, exercise room, library (yes a physical one despite being in computers work) and A DORMITORY. Gosh! they have a dormitory for naps and for those who want to create in many days of work stretches. My dream place!! (I visited the fenshui design premises of Ubisoft, this is why I know).

[Universoul]

I have been living the byphasic sleep when I lived and worked in Mexico for a year.

During the lunch hour which duration was 2 hours, I would go to my room and have one hour nap. I would wake up completely refreshed, as if starting a new day altogether, and obviously much more productive and enjoying file much more.

I could stay up untill midnight without feeling tired. My night sleep was between five to six hours.

I could never do that in Canada because we only have 45 to 60 min. of lunch and I had no bedroom or closed office nearby to have a nap. I always wished I could have done it in Canada. A nap in daytime makes you enjoy life so much more.

I know that the video game creators often nap during the day, then go for long stretch of creation with enthusiasm. In fact, their work premises has pool rooms, exercise room, library (yes a physical one despite being in computers work) and A DORMITORY. Gosh! they have a dormitory for naps and for those who want to create in many days of work stretches. My dream place!! (I visited the fenshui design premises of Ubisoft, this is why I know).

That seems like it could work if you like your job and are in a pleasant work environment (that supports your naps). Having worked on games before I can attest to napping. Even a half hour nap is enough to counter the tire of a 24 hour work run sometimes. Although for me, I'd work long periods then hit roadblocks with exhaustion where I'd have to sleep for long periods to recharge (from the "sleep debt"). I tested my limits and overdid it at times yet we live and learn.

[triquetra]

The real conspiracy is not regarding the duration of sleep (at least not directly), but rather the quality of sleep, which has become poor in modern, urban, electrified reality. As uzn suggests, the alarm clock burns at the candle on one end with a very sudden awakening, and on the other end are the electronic devices bombarding the eyes with blue light late into the evening after the sun has gone down.

Our circadian rhythms look more like square waves with abrupt changes between constantly on-the-go waking periods of 16 hours and 8 hours of exhausted sleep. It is true that less hours of restful sleep, or less hours which include gradual transition periods with proper evening relaxation and morning energizing techniques is still better than a longer period of restless or interrupted sleep.

Polyphasic sleep cycles with a deep and complete REM cycle at each break would add up to the equivalent amount of continuous, quality deep sleep, which is why some were able to do it so successfully.

The takeaway is that we should worry more about the lifestyle choices that contribute to better or worse quality of sleep, and less about the duration. Once the quality improves enough, just about anyone could cut back on quantity without any real adverse effect. But doing that while ignorant of the many contributors to poor circadian rhythm will almost definitely have disastrous results.

[skyhigh]

I think regular sleep is important, although I don't need eight hours of sleep daily to become fully recharged when I wake up just like many others. Also, according to medical studies, healing hormones are released in your body from 10 p.m. up to 2 a.m., although I usually sleep at 11 p.m. up to 5 a.m. The quality of one's sleep, IMO and from my experience, is also vital to function well during your waking state especially problem-solving skills, focusing ability and stamina. Just recently, I requested my servitor to give me a very good sleep at night a number of times and I'm happy because it complied. :highfive:

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

A recent radio interview covers this subject, touching on how important it is to get enough sleep.

Sleep expert Matthew Walker: "The shorter you sleep, the shorter your life!"

(4 min clip)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p061pxj4?intc_type=promo&intc_location=sport&intc_campaign=chrisevans_sleeplife&intc_linkname=radio2_rm_mid_c3

[Universoul]

The real conspiracy is not regarding the duration of sleep (at least not directly), but rather the quality of sleep, which has become poor in modern, urban, electrified reality. As uzn suggests, the alarm clock burns at the candle on one end with a very sudden awakening, and on the other end are the electronic devices bombarding the eyes with blue light late into the evening after the sun has gone down.

Our circadian rhythms look more like square waves with abrupt changes between constantly on-the-go waking periods of 16 hours and 8 hours of exhausted sleep. It is true that less hours of restful sleep, or less hours which include gradual transition periods with proper evening relaxation and morning energizing techniques is still better than a longer period of restless or interrupted sleep.

Polyphasic sleep cycles with a deep and complete REM cycle at each break would add up to the equivalent amount of continuous, quality deep sleep, which is why some were able to do it so successfully.

The takeaway is that we should worry more about the lifestyle choices that contribute to better or worse quality of sleep, and less about the duration. Once the quality improves enough, just about anyone could cut back on quantity without any real adverse effect. But doing that while ignorant of the many contributors to poor circadian rhythm will almost definitely have disastrous results.

You made a good point Triquetra, about the quality of sleep and what the real gem in the varying opinions on sleep schedules is. Kudos for the clarity. Of course, it can be a challenge to get that quality sleep but knowledge is the first step and any lifestyle change for the better is a step in the right direction.

Square waves would seem to indicate an abrupt or binary on/off nature to the circadian rhythms. Is that what you meant or something else?

As for blue light, I wonder if it's addicting in some ways ala this thread (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?102205-The-product-online-is-not-the-content.-The-product-online-is-you---18-March-2018-YouTube-Channel-Nicholson1968-), at least contributing to technological addiction. I've always believed that TV and phone screens mimic the light that we'd get from the stars, moon and natural nighttime surfaces, which are peaceful and harmonizing. I'm just theorizing here but we seem designed to look up and connect to the cosmos. The toxic smog of devices we use has largely taken over this important connection we're supposed to have with the natural night, which connects with the inner world.

[Scottoz]

Thanks for the interesting thoughts everyone on the importance of sleep and the things that impact on the quality of our sleep.

Blue light screens would be having a huge impact on many peoples ability to sleep, as iPads and mobile phones are everywhere.

We also have a wireless connection box. I suspect this is a potential source of electromagnetic pollution, and am considering locating this in a different part of the house, further away from the bedrooms. It is pretty hard to get away from EM pollution these days, even in rural areas.

Thanks for your thoughts on the quality of sleep and circadian rhythms Triquetra, I like the idea of getting a siesta nap. Sometimes when I am on holidays, I get into the habit of doing this or just doing a deep meditation for an hour in the afternoon (which has the same effect). However, when I am at work, it is not really possible to do this in our western culture and the rat race culture that goes with most peoples employment.

Any thoughts on what impact microwave ovens can have on sleep if one is turned on but not in use?

Cheers

Scott

[triquetra]

Universoul - yes, square waves in circadian rhythm are indicative of the perpetual exhaustion cycle, which is epidemic in the Western world and now also more gradually other parts of the world. It is the complete opposite to the sine wave circadian rhythm, which is the most natural state. To awaken suddenly to a loud alarm clock, push oneself until late hours, fall asleep abruptly out of exhaustion, and do it all again 6 days a week is pretty typical. No one can possibly "spare the time" to make more gradual transitions. People are looking for quick fix solutions, usually around getting better sleep as they think that is the area that will least affect their ability to keep up otherwise.

Not very many are seeing it holistically, that they have to look at how they spend each of the 24 hours and adjust just about everything possible.

But this is going to change. Gradually the tide is turning away from celebrating the exhaustive state as some sort of personal badge of being a hard worker, and choosing smarter approaches instead that actually do more to increase productivity than just throwing more exhausted hours of time at things ever could. In the world that's shaping around us, people will find success through being at peak performance and being as clever as possible, rather than a brute force approach.

Scottoz - another possibility is creating wireless blackout zones, some people will do this for their bedroom areas, there are many variables at play but when symptoms appear it's good to try and cut down on potential agitators and wireless signals are one of the usual suspects. Some people just aren't cut out to live in densely urban areas where you will be bombarded by them no matter what you do.

I wouldn't worry about microwave ovens outside of what they do to the food itself.

[TomKat]

I believe you almost can't get too much sleep, because what isn't used for rest and recovery is used for repairing the body. If you ever get real sick, the thing that fixes you is, invariably, sleep.

[dynamo]

...Any thoughts on what impact microwave ovens can have on sleep if one is turned on but not in use?...I believe, if it is not being used, it is the same as any other 120VAC appliance, i.e. there will be an electromagnetic field (small) around the power cord and receptacle it is plugged into, but that's about all.
No worry about microwaves leaking except when it is being used.

[Scottoz]

Hi Dynamo and Triquetra

thanks for your thoughts on microwave oven risks, I don’t use our one often, occassonally for defrosting things when we are pushed for time, most of the time it sits there unused.

Cheers

Scott