"Hypernapping" (aka Uberman Schedule)

[Raistlin]

Hypernapping (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=892542) is when you sleep 6 times a day only 20 minutes at a time. You basically train your brain to go straight into REM section of the sleep once you close the eyes.

But it's very difficult to validate if that claim is true. And I want to be sure that it's possible before I attempt it. I'm asking here because I've heard that some soldiers use this schedule in order to stay awake more and therefore be ready for battle more. Is this true? Have you ever tried it or knew someone who did?

[Fargin]

I'm narcoleptizzZZZzzZZZZZZzzzZZZZZZZZZ

[usa320]

i too have heard of military folks using a similar system- particularly SAC aircrews at the height of the coldwar and WWII bomber pilots, this way the pilots would be fully rested but still be availible for tasking without taking 8 hours to sleep.

Now they just use powerful drugs to fix that.

[Mark Sman]

Its pretty rare for me to sleep more than 2 hours at a time. But as long as I get enough total sleep I'm OK.

You have to watch your schedule though, you can get caught out if you don't plan well, and end up doing something while very tired.

Never heard of 20 minutes of sleep beofre. No idea.

[Midav]

I've noticed that if I get little sleep, but take short 15-20min naps here and there that I actually feel refreshed.

[Hav218]

Search for Provigil.

[DE_Six]

That all sounds very difficult to maintain. Having to find a quiet, comfortable place to have a nap every four hours? Yeah, if you got nothing to do with your life. Try that during mid-terms with a part-time job... :lol: "S'cuse me boss, I gotta go take a nap..." :lol:

The people who apparently tried this schedule all warned against the negative effects of skipping a nap, even only by an hour. That's what makes me believe there is no military application for this sleep program. War doesn't stop every four hours to allow for a nap. There is inevitably a point where some will skip their nap and become drowsy. Enter stimulants. Which can be used without any fancy sleep method anyway.

I tried sleep deprivation once in college. 73 hours straight (ok, I cheated a little, I dozed off for about 15 min. after the first 48 hours). I was FUBAR, totally worthless. When I hit the rack, I was miserable. Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't try this during mid-terms or finals, I would have failed. I couldn't accomplish but the simplest tasks, forget about getting some schoolwork done.

I had a psy teacher who studied sleep. I went to a lecture he gave, two hours of pure enlightenment as to why one should not f*ck with sleep cycles without a valuable reason. It's more dangerous than people might think. That's why it's used in military training and selection or as a torture method, because next to combat stress, nothing will f*ck you up as bad as sleep deprivation.

And there goes my 500th post. :)

I'll go get some Zs now. Good night, all!

[gilgoul]

Hypernapping (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=892542) is when you sleep 6 times a day only 20 minutes at a time. You basically train your brain to go straight into REM section of the sleep once you close the eyes.

But it's very difficult to validate if that claim is true. And I want to be sure that it's possible before I attempt it. I'm asking here because I've heard that some soldiers use this schedule in order to stay awake more and therefore be ready for battle more. Is this true? Have you ever tried it or knew someone who did?

The technic was used for some time by skippers in solitary travel in order to make it while keeping control of their ship, let`s say in traffic area where they could have to manoeuver quickly to avoid cargo ship and other obstacle.

I tried the "method" on an unmethodic form , taking a 20 to 30 minutes nap whenwever i could not "function" anymore (eyes closing, droping objects) and sustained this for 5 days, with real exhaustion and kind of "mental stress", being very irritable, lacking orientation and so.
I determined that for me the best was periods of 2 days up to 60 hours, then I`d could function normally for the stated period, and then when done could take a normal night of sleep and come back to what seemed to be a normal sleeping rythm.

[Raistlin]

I determined that for me the best was periods of 2 days up to 60 hours, then I`d could function normally for the stated period, and then when done could take a normal night of sleep and come back to what seemed to be a normal sleeping rythm.
Can you paraphrase that please?

[gilgoul]

I determined that for me the best was periods of 2 days up to 60 hours, then I`d could function normally for the stated period, and then when done could take a normal night of sleep and come back to what seemed to be a normal sleeping rythm.
Can you paraphrase that please?
Right, It wasn`t clear sorry :oops:

So I said that with this system of "hypernapping", I didn`t know it was called like that ( :oops: ), taking short break (about 20 to 30 min all in all)s every now and then, I could stay without sleeping and maintaining let say "acceptable" level of performance for 48 to 60 hours of operation. any attempt to go further would allow me to still function, but with a dramatic drop in performances, especially in term of navigation, reaching this "drunken tired" state.
I don`t know about "training your brain", but this system, if not suplemented by at least a few hours of "real" sleep once in a while is not to be maintained. Even the skippers of those soliary transat take care of having a nice "5 hours" night once in a while.

[Raistlin]

So you're saying that taking the 20-30 minute naps whenever you're sleepy and taking a full 5-6 hour sleep once in few days won't affect the person's mental and physical performance?

[gilgoul]

So you're saying that taking the 20-30 minute naps whenever you're sleepy and taking a full 5-6 hour sleep once in few days won't affect the person's mental and physical performance?

It does, but you can maintain a reasonable level of performance for short period of time.
try it yourself, you`ll see :D
Otherwise you have amphetamines, but I wouldn`t recommend that ;)

[oldsoak]

OMG - dont let the planners see this or we'll all be screwed.

[jassemon]

I read about this "Uberman Schedule" a long time ago, only in that text the "hypernapping" was only the first phase. After your body and mind got used to going to REM in an instant the subject would then, instead of 15-20 minute naps every few hours, sleep a solid 2 hours/night. Technicality, I know, however the article also mentioned that getting used to the new rhytm easily took 2 weeks or longer and that almost everyone needed help from others in order to maintain the schedule. Keep that in mind if you're going to try and let me know how it goes, I've been thinking about this myself.

[khukuri]

Hypernapping (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=892542) is when you sleep 6 times a day only 20 minutes at a time. You basically train your brain to go straight into REM section of the sleep once you close the eyes.

But it's very difficult to validate if that claim is true. And I want to be sure that it's possible before I attempt it. I'm asking here because I've heard that some soldiers use this schedule in order to stay awake more and therefore be ready for battle more. Is this true? Have you ever tried it or knew someone who did?

Well ive tried something similar.... but not that organized thou

I used to sleep no more than 20 minutes... if you sleep more than 20 minutes you wake up to tired

its just like powernap
You wake up like anew person with new powers
sounds wierd i know

[khukuri]

So I said that with this system of "hypernapping", I didn`t know it was called like that ( :oops: ), taking short break (about 20 to 30 min all in all)s every now and then, I could stay without sleeping and maintaining let say "acceptable" level of performance for 48 to 60 hours of operation. any attempt to go further would allow me to still function, but with a dramatic drop in performances, especially in term of navigation, reaching this "drunken tired" state.
I don`t know about "training your brain", but this system, if not suplemented by at least a few hours of "real" sleep once in a while is not to be maintained. Even the skippers of those soliary transat take care of having a nice "5 hours" night once in a while.

Yup pretty much the way it is forme too---
Remember its not a systematic way to compensate the normal sleep with "hypernapping".
Parts of your body will need a longer sleep to "rest". Its just some parts of you that get rested during a powernap. Your stomachesystem for example need a longer sleep just as many organs in your body.

[gilgoul]

OMG - dont let the planners see this or we'll all be screwed.

LOL
:D

Actually, it could be better than the "boys, we need to push a little for the next 36 hours!" where they don`t give you a minute in their planning, and you always end up after schedule in anyway ;)

[usa320]

I might try this...

I work from 5 to Midnight on Mon, Tues, Wed, and Fri. I work 7am-2pm on Sunday...

So usually i dont get to bed until like 2am. Then i sleep until like noon the next day... i get like 10 hours of sleep but when i wake up i feel like complete crap. So i think maybe if i just did this 20 minute thing i would feel more refreshed.

[Harpago]

We were told to do this while in the army, you were sitting on 2 man patrols inside a vehicle listening for radio traffic. the trick was to hold an item in your hand and close your eyes, when your muscles relaxed and spasmd so you dropped it you woke up and you picked it up again and redid it for the duration of your break.

After a few days you could function like normal but with only a fewminutes "sleep" per night. although after a week you had to sleep for an extended period ( 8-10 hours )

[Abolith]

I read about this like two years ago, the guy who was doing it said that he loved it for the first 6 months. after that things started going bad, seeing ****, hearing voices ect...

He was awake and rested but his mind was playing weird tricks on him. Afdter he got in an accident he stopped and went back to 8 hours a night. Claims that things cleared up after that, so i guess the moral of the guys cliam was to do it for short periods of time, but extended use could lead to problems....

[Tane Angle]

I would highly recommend the most extreme caution with messing with sleep patters, especially for someone below the age of 25. It very likely will cause extreme psychological problems, much less physical ones. It can work for about two days, but after that, the problems are extreme. Sleep deprivation (and sleep pattern disruption) very readily induce problems that I don't you folks want.

Also, don't drive when sleep deprived or if your pattern got screwed up.

Have a good one, and just some thoughts...

[oldsoak]

I would highly recommend the most extreme caution with messing with sleep patters, especially for someone below the age of 25. It very likely will cause extreme psychological problems, much less physical ones. It can work for about two days, but after that, the problems are extreme. Sleep deprivation (and sleep pattern disruption) very readily induce problems that I don't you folks want.

Also, don't drive when sleep deprived or if your pattern got screwed up.

Have a good one, and just some thoughts...

Happy with that. Did 72 hours straight once and it was NOT fun. I got shafted for stag during my rest periods because our drivers were chinstrapped and needed rest. ( we were under manned as per usual ). First time I ever had hallucinations without alcohol. I've heard of blokes doing it for longer and I take my hat off to them.

[gilgoul]

One thing I forgot to emphasize, it`s better to start those naps in the first 24 hours, it helps also later during he recuperation sleep.

[vryhpyammoadded]

During a controlled Army test on this subject I found that eating twice as much and doing PT twice as much and more helped delay the onset of problems by as much as a week or more. Be in good shape for this!

Personally I don't reccomend screwing with sleep patterns for very long. During the Army test I found my immune system would totally crash after a month or so and the hallucinations eventually bought me a ticket to the hospital when I shorted myself to ground on a HV power supply. Not fun, my back is still tricky at times.

The next year I change to analysis and found myself back in the test. Much to my relief they were now testing a 10hour day x 4 day week with a 3 day weekend. Oh god that was paradise.

[Mongrel]

"Now they just use powerful drugs to fix that."

Personally I wouldn't trust drugs...tends to make people edgy and drop bombs on their allys troops.

Also this system of 'cat naps' would work for a little while, but it would catch up with you big time.

Sleep is good.

Cheers!
M.

[Raistlin]

Well ive tried something similar.... but not that organized thou
For how long? When? Where there any side effects you've noticed?


Personally I don't reccomend screwing with sleep patterns for very long. During the Army test I found my immune system would totally crash after a month or so and the hallucinations eventually bought me a ticket to the hospital when I shorted myself to ground on a HV power supply. Not fun, my back is still tricky at times.
What pattern exactly did you have?

[Deuterium]

Go to Ranger school, BUDs, or the "Q" course and you'll get to learn all about hypernapping. I got to where I could fall asleep in about 5-30 seconds flat or get into REM while walking.

[Raistlin]

Go to Ranger school, BUDs, or the "Q" course and you'll get to learn all about hypernapping.
That's not really helpful, is it :)