How to Sleep Less and Still Go the Distance

The word “polyphasic” doesn’t mean much to most people, but to sleep scientists, it describes an extremely efficient and widespread (in the animal kingdom) pattern of sleeping, one that consists of many short naps and no sustained period of sleep. As explained in this feature story in Outside magazine, most mammals–like 85 percent of them–are polyphasic, as were humans until about 10,000 years ago. Writer Tim Zimmerman tell us that some of the most productive humans tapped the power of polyphasic sleeping: Leonardo da Vinci, for one, allegedly slept only 15 minutes every four hours. The story focuses on the advantages of polyphasic sleeping for long-distance sailors, who frankly, don’t have much choice about how they sleep, but there is much good stuff here to think about. We suggest you read it, and sleep on it, but not for too long.