Biphasic Sleep (Napping) FAQ

I keep getting asked a few of the same questions so I thought I’d take a post to gather my thoughts on biphasic sleeping, also known as napping.

1. You sleep… when exactly?

I sleep twice in a day. The first time being sometime in the early evening (around 8:30) and this block of sleep is only for 90 minutes (at least, thats the plan, see #4). After my first block of sleep I’m extremely refreshed and ready to go another few hours. I set myself to be back up by about 6 so I either go to sleep again at 1:30a or 3a. Note these are in 90 minute increments again.

2. What does 90 minutes have to do with anything?

The 90-minute cycle actually refers to one complete sleep cycle. This includes going through REM sleep; the most important part of sleeping. Since I don’t force myself to wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle I’m much more refreshed and it’s much easier to actually get up.

3. Is it hard to get up at 6 every day?

Surprisingly, no. I used to have trouble getting up at 8 or even 9 every day. I’m convinced it was because I was constantly pulling myself up out of the middle of a sleep cycle. Our brains get stuck down in ‘sleep world’ and have a hard time unnaturally coming back up.

4. Do you ever screw up your sleeping schedule?

On occasion, yes. It’s funny but sometimes I’ll mis-set my alarm and find myself taking a 3 or 4.5 hour nap. I actually wake up naturally at 3 or 4.5 hours. I smile because people who thought I’d be ‘back in a few’ or would ‘call them in an few hours’ end up going to sleep that night slightly confused. They know its something nap-related. Oh well. I just adjust my second sleep period. For example, last night I went to bed at 9:30p and woke up at 2a. Oops! I ended up working until 5a, slept until 6:30 and, well, here I am! I had a midterm at 9:30 and have felt fine all day.

5. Do you ever sleep in?

To me, “sleeping in” is anything more than 6 hours. My body is pretty good at waking itself up automatically after a REM cycle (end of a 90 minute increment). On Saturdays I treat myself to 7.5 or 9 hours of sleep. People who advocate 8 hours of sleep are nuts. Seriously.

6. Does this interfere with your (social) life?

Nope. If I’m not in a place where I can’t just decide to take a nap then I simply don’t that day. I will just sleep 6 or 7.5 hours that evening and pick back up the next day. It seems like the simplest solution and hasn’t given me any problems. I do start to yawn quite a bit though as the night wears on..

7. Are there any side effects?

Increased productivity, smaller todo piles, less magazines to read on my bookshelf (hopefully this will carry over to books). But seriously, there have been no medical side effects whatsoever. This is far from anything radical like polyphasic sleeping.

8. Would you try polyphasic sleeping?

I’ll try anything. I don’t see it as something feasable for me at any point in my life. I may be wrong though. If I ever have the ability to control my schedule like that (30m naps every 4h) then sure, I’ll give myself a month or so to try it out.

9. Where did you even hear about this?

I find neat stuff online. This happens to be one of those things…

63 thoughts on “Biphasic Sleep (Napping) FAQ

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  6. Tim

    I stumbled upon the concept of non-monophasic sleep in the comments of a recent Slashdot article about no-sleep drugs. I read about polyphasic sleep on Wikipedia, but found that there wasn’t a chance that it would work with school. From there I got to biphasic sleep, and if what people say about it is true, I’m going to give it a try. I’ve got some questions I’d like to be answered before I attempt my journey with biphasic sleep. If you have the time, that is:

    How long time did it take for you to adapt? Also, did you feel any drowzier during the first time?

    When you have to skip your nap, is it difficult to recover? I think I’d have to skip it at least once a week.

    Thanks for your time,
    Tim.

    Reply
  7. Devin

    Hey Tim, I’d say the entire adaptation took a few weeks. Since then my body is very familiar with only sleeping for approx. 90 minutes in the afternoon.

    I skip the nap very often and it has no bearing on me as long as I get more sleep at night. I always do a 1.5h nap then 4.5h at night and if I only got 4.5 at night after missing a nap it’d be pretty hard the next day. Especially two days in a row.

    Reply
  8. Kerns

    Me and a friend are guinea piggig for an experiment on poly and bi-phasic sleeping, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Also, how long do you sleep in totale?

    Reply
  9. Doug

    Quick question, i assume you add falling asleep time to the 90 min. periods? so during the nap, if i took 10 min. to fall asleep, i would be in bed for 100 min.? Thanks for your help.

    Reply
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  11. Bengt

    Hey Devin, I was curious as to whether you’re a lucid dreamer; and if so, has a biphasic sleep cycle had any effect on that?

    Reply
  12. Devin

    Hey Bengt, I actually did start having lucid dreams. It was very obvious that the sleeping was making my dreams more real and more memorable. Now when I wake up I can remember a number of my dreams where previous I never really noticed if I had dreamt or not.

    Reply
  13. Chris

    Hi Devin

    I am just wondering. I am a student now in yr 10 and I was wondering if I would feel better and more concentrated

    Reply
  14. Devin

    Hi Chris, I think it really depends on your daily sleep. If you’re doing 3 hours at night and a 1.5 hour nap that might not be enough sleep. I tried that and it wasn’t. Tacking on another 1.5 hours somewhere (either the nap or at night) is probably a good place to start.

    My schedule moves around and varies every day of the week so I’ve found there doesn’t need to be a fixed time for any of this. As long as I get my nap somewhere in there I’m happy. ;-)

    Reply
  15. Tim

    Devin, I finally got to trying biphasic sleep out. I’ve slept biphasically between 6 and 7.5 hours a day for a week now, and I just feel a bit tired after waking from the nap. Thanks for your help.

    Reply
  16. Lawrence

    Interesting website.
    I have been doing biphasic sleep for many many years. In high school I would sleep at 3 am wake up for school, come home and sleep some more- repeat, this was done for all 4 years, on weekends i try to sleep normal. I would average 6 hours a day of sleep. In college my sleep schedule would vary on and off biphasic sleep patterns. For my job I have been reverting back to the biphasic method.

    My problem is that I stay up too late and biphasic sleep is the only solution for a world that thinks 8 am is a good time to start the day. The simple solution would be to sleep earlier, however it is easier said than done. I suffer from high blood pressure which may be caused by my irregular sleep patterns – I am fit, have perfect cholesterol, the cardiologist can’t find out what is causing this and therefore I am being medicated (lotrel).

    Other possible side effects: Lethargy, decreased productivity- when I wake up my mind is groggy, mood swings. I would not advise Biphasic sleep for anyone.

    I would love to sleep like normal people do but I often find myself awake late into the night. At one point in my life I even worked the grave yard shift. Sleep is not some kind of joke if you can sleep normal (7-8 straight hrs/day) then do so.

    Reply
  17. Devin

    Hi Lawrence, thanks for sharing your experiences. While slightly concerning, I’m glad to note I haven’t noticed any of the side affects you mention. I’ll certainly remain keen to this development.

    Thanks again for stopping by..

    Reply
  18. Cactus

    He Devin, thanks for posting on my blog. I was wondering about the effects you might have if you skip a nap, but you already answered that question :). It’s also interesting to see that you don’t have a fixed schedule, unlike some other biphasic sleepers. That was one of my fears, because I know that I’m not going to be able to have the same schedule every day. Do you think that if I’m for instance on a 6hour of sleep per day ( 4.5 1.5 nap) and that I skip the nap, I should get a 6 hour core sleep the next day to counter balance the effects I might experience? Or just keep my 4.5 regular core sleep? Thanks for your help!
    Cactus
    P.S: This FAQ is great :)

    Reply
  19. Devin

    Hi Cactus, no my schedule varies. I’m a big proponent of the bi-phasic sleep cycle but I also strongly support the notion that sleep cycles dictate the quality of your sleep.

    What you described it what I do every other day. I nap one day to get 6 hours, the next day I don’t nap and simply sleep from 12-6am. I don’t think there are really an ‘effects’.. people have been napping since the beginning of time. ;-)

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Reply
  20. Cactus

    Thank you so much, it’s actually a great relief for me since I was afraid I couldn’t follow the schedule and therferore quit the biphasic sleep :)

    Reply
  21. Max

    Hello,

    I am interested in trying a biphasic sleep schedule, but I don’t want to reduce my sleep hours, I just want to get 7.5 daily hours in an easier way. I naturally nap most days. Would extending my 20-30 minute nap to 1.5 hours, and then sleeping 6 at night be a feasible option. Since I might only want to use this for days when I would get up earlier, could I only use this a few times a week and normally stay with 7.5 straight hours? Also, would the adjustment period for this type of pattern be less?

    Reply
  22. Devin

    Hi Max, your 1.5 nap 6 sleep sound perfect. This is what I like to do some nights and its extremely restful. You should no problem switching between a nap day and a non-nap day, I do it all the time.

    As far as adjustment, a week or two may be necessary for your body to realize you’re taking a set nap. Since you’ve already been napping it might not even be an issue. I’m sure you’ll be find.

    Let me know how it goes. :)

    Reply
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  24. Aimee

    Heyy, I’m considering biphasic sleeping but have a few problems; one being that I don’t fall to sleep easily and it often takes me two or three hours to get to sleep if i’m not completely exhausted when i get into bed. Did you just force yourself to have only 4.5 hours of sleep at night until you could nap in the evening?
    I’m hoping to sleep 5:30-7:00 and 1-5:30, but I’ve found I need much more sleep since I turned sixteen, so would it be okay to sleep 7.5 hours every night? And did you find you felt you needed to sleep less when you took up this sleeping pattern?

    Thanks :)

    Reply
  25. Devin

    Hey Aimee, I definitely needed to sleep less when I did biphasic sleep because I was getting rest twice a day. In other words, I had enough energy to keep going until bed time late at night. I think if you try it out for a bit and see what it takes to make you tired.

    Then again, if you can’t fall asleep very easily the napping might not work very well for you.

    Good luck!

    Reply
  26. Jo

    I sleep 7.5 hours now. I was planning on first sleeping 6 hours at night and 1.5 in the day time to get my body used to bi phasic. Then, once I’m already there, decreasing to 4.5 and then 1.5.

    I was wondering though,
    If you sleep bi phasicly, do you notice that you need less sleep overall? Thus- will this plan work and I still have the same energy? Did you need more sleep before you went biphasic?
    How long does it take to get to the point where I would only need 6 hrs point?
    Not sure if you know about this, but I’ll ask anyway. If your core sleep includes the hours 10-midnight (the time when the human body has more restorative sleep then the other hours) do you notice that you need less sleep because your sleep is more restorative?
    Do you exercise? Do you think this does or doesn’t contribute to your amount of sleep you need?
    Great article! If this works, it will be one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

    Reply
  27. Devin

    Hi Jo, I think the point of biphasic sleep answers your first question: the two phases means you need less sleep. :)

    I don’t remember how long it took me but probably a month or so of consistently teaching my body to wake up every ~90 minutes. I was never more/less tired than I previously had been.

    I don’t know about that 10-midnight concept because our sleep patterns are all a bit different. I don’t think my body is capable of telling what time it is… what if I were to travel to a different time zone?

    Reply
  28. Nick

    Under what circumstances would you not recommend biphasic sleep? There may be many people who could benefit from this, including me, however some people really would have problems with this for example irregular shifts, sleep that is not always undisturbed(do you have to be sure that all the sleep you do get is undisturbed?)
    I would love to improve my sleep but there seems to be a lack of reports on the internet from qualified people to convince me of this, and I really can’t afford to make a life changing decision without more support.
    Is there anywhere you can point me that medically reinforces the practice of biphasic /polyphasic sleep?

    Reply
  29. Devin

    I’m not sure how to answer that, Nick. I’ve found no definitive medical opinions on sleep. While one doctor says you need at least 8, 9, maybe 10 hours a day, there is another telling you that it’s a myth and too much sleep can actually harm you.

    In it’s simplest form it’s just a nap in the middle of the day making up for less sleep at night, right? So, as you mentioned, if you screw up that nap you might have a hard time for the rest of the day.

    Try getting your normal sleep at night (in some multiple of 90m like 6 or 7.5 hours) but work a nap into your schedule, too. Then cut back your time at night and see how that works.

    Reply
  30. Omegas

    Hello there

    I’m also a biphasic sleeper

    But instead of going straight from 8 hours mono, I went down to 6 (4.5 core, 1.5nap)

    And whenever I feel I’m ready to go down to 4.5 (3 core 1.5nap) I wake up dizzy, This has happened twice.

    Do I just stick it out for the two week adaption period, or should I stick with 6 hours.

    How much do you sleep biphasically?

    Reply
  31. Devin

    I’d stick to 6. I never made it a habit to only get 4.5 in a day. I could maybe do it once or twice a week but I wanted to make sure I was getting enough sleep.

    Reply
  32. Omegas

    Thanks for the reply =]

    Another question I have is:
    Wen you have say an operation, or a cold, or anything really,and a doctor says for you to get some rest. Would you convert back to monophasic until you’re healed?

    Reply
  33. Devin

    Haha if a doctor told me to “get some rest” I would sleep biphasic… but like 6 hours 6 hours if possible, haha.

    But seriously, I would still try to get in a nap especially when I’m told to sleep more.

    Reply
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  36. Graeme Street

    Hello there, i sleep from 1.30am to 6Am.. I then nap from 4.00pm to 5.30… and the cycle repeats.
    is this a good sleep pattern? I am unsure.

    any advice on this

    Thank you very much

    Reply
  37. Devin

    That’s exactly what I used to do, Graeme. I’ve even started to decrease the length of my cycle (90 minutes to 80 minutes) so I can do midnight to 5am and get 4 full cycles. That’s an hour less sleep!

    Reply
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  39. Graeme

    hey Devin, I was wondering how one finds out how long their sleep cycle is?… ranging from 60 to 90 minutes. After my 90 minute nap i dont really feel like getting up.
    Any suggestions would be much appreciated

    Thank u for being so helpful and spreading your wisdom and knowledge to the rest of the world

    Reply
  40. Devin

    Hi Graeme, I started by continuously conditioning myself (an alarm set to 90 minutes + time to fall asleep). As my body got used to waking up at the regular interval it almost became more ‘efficient’ at sleep and I could find myself naturally (without an alarm) waking up around 80 minutes.

    Try shifting +/- 10 minutes. Also sleep on the weekends and start tracking how long you slept. See if you can recognize a pattern.

    Reply
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  42. StampidMouse

    Ever since a couple days ago, every time I sleep I just find myself waking up after 1-3 hours feeling alert, relaxed, happy, and energetic (I usually have to pull myself out of bed after 7+ hours of sleep, feeling sluggish, even anxious for the rest of the day). I feel a bit sleep deprived now, but if I can’t stay asleep I obviously don’t need it. No adjustment or preparation needed. Pretty weird, huh?

    Reply
  43. Norbert

    Hey Devin, I don’t know if you’re still answering questions, but I noticed some people are setting their naps in the early evenings, (just like you started out) and some even suggesting the nap to take place no more than 5 hours prior to the core sleep.

    Why is that exactly? And how important is it to have that nap so close to the core? Wouldn’t that make you really tired during the late afternoon, hours before the nap?

    Reply
  44. Devin Reams

    Hey Norbert, basically the reason I had my nap so close to the core sleep was scheduling. Most of us don’t have the luxury of disappearing for 90 minutes mid-day so the nap was done immediately after classes/work.

    If I could nap around 3 (statistically the lowest, least productive part of anyone’s day) that’d be optimal. Realistically, I don’t get home until after 6.

    But, if I get an extra 30 minutes or an hour out of the day by taking a nap, the evening interruption seems worth it to me (no matter how close to core it is).

    Reply
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  46. Andre

    Hi Devin,

    This is a very interesting subject. I’ve only heard about it from a ted.com talk. Did a Google search on it, followed a few links and here I am.

    My question is, what do you do when you wake up in the middle of the night? I can’t seem to find anyone talking about that part.

    Awesome blog, by the way.

    Cheers

    Reply
    1. Devin Reams Post author

      Hey Andre, I’m glad you stumbled in, thanks for commenting.

      what do you do when you wake up in the middle of the night?

      This rarely, if ever, happened. You’re intentionally giving your body windows to get into the “deep sleep” it needs. Once you get into a routine, it took me mere moments to fall asleep and I often woke up unassisted.

      If you were to wake up in the middle of the night, it’s likely at the top of a REM cycle (~80-90 minutes) so it wouldn’t be the end of the world. You’d likely not be groggy, so falling back asleep may actually prove challenging. But this is mostly speculation.

      Hope that helps!

      Reply
  47. Rod

    Hi, just stumbled upon this blog. I just want to say I had read about it this somewhere else and have been on this sleep cycle around a month now. It’s now showing its worth to me. My schedule is varied, I DJ sometimes at night, promote…etc. During the day I work a 10-4 office job. I usually sleep around 4-5am till about 9:00 and then come home do some excercise and sleep from around 7:30-8:00 10-11:00. This is a great pattern for me because it leaves me more focused and less tired throughout the busy times of my work schedule.

    I just want to say though for all your comments about skepticism or simply not being able to follow it. I think a lot of it has to do with discipline. You really need to focus a good month zealously following a select amount of time. Let’s say you need a minimum of 7 hours. Make sure that every 24 hours you get a good 7 in a split session and you will be good although you definitely want a 2/3 ration of sleep. Do that for a month and it’s cake because your body really adjusts to take advantage and I feel almost no grogginess after the short nap.

    Keep it up telling people about it!!

    Reply
    1. Devin Post author

      Hey Matt, I was only able to maintain a biphasic sleep schedule through college when my schedule was a bit more flexible.

      Reply
  48. Henrik

    Hi, thanks for the great information on biphasic sleep. This subject is not covered that much i find. I want to ask the same question that the previous commenter asked. Are you still a biphasic sleeper and if you are, are you still sleeping the 3-4.5h at night and 1.5h in the evening. Can you also comment on how this has been in the long run (any side effects, have you had periods of monophasic, did you feel a need to pay a sleep debt here and there, mental focus? , physical energy? and please share more details).
    Thanks in advance. Henrik

    Reply
    1. Devin Post author

      Thanks for the comment, Henrik.

      I am no longer taking naps in the afternoon. I usually get up around 7 AM, do some work and things around the house, then go to work around 9.

      I often don’t get back home until after 6 PM. For some folks that may be a good time to take a nap then get up and eat. My schedule is so unpredictable after work that I can’t expect to do this regularly. Regularity is essential when first trying to get your body “used” to the ~90 minute naps.

      I had no obvious long term side effects. No sluggishness but no super abilities. Just more time on my hands and, effectively, a bit more energy for prolonged periods.

      If you do miss a nap though and say, only did 3 hours of sleep the night before, you can be sure you’ll crash (as expected). The point is to do less sleep but more frequently. If you miss one of those chances to sleep it can definitely create a ‘debt’.

      It’s been over 4 years since I experimented with biphasic sleep so my recollection is a bit hazy. It may be something I look into again if my schedule becomes a bit more predictable.

      Because of the added time and prolonged energy, a biphasic sleep schedule is certainly something I’d recommend for freelance developers, people starting their own web startups, and college students (most are already taking naps anyway!).

      I hope that helps…

      Reply
  49. Bojan

    Hello Devin, Great info you have going on.

    I wanted to ask I will have to work night shift approximatley 2 times a week and for those two days i will switch to biphasic sleep and the rest of the week use my mono. I was wondering would 2 four hour sleeping periods be sufficent to sleep or is the 1.5h + 4.5h still the best?

    I would wake up as normal in the mornings anywhere from 8am to 11am depending when i go bed the previous day and then my job starts at 10pm-6am. What would be the most efficent way to do biphasic sleep i was thinking of taking a 2-4hour sleep during mid-day and then sleeping a 4.5-5h session after i got back from work around 7am and sleep into 1pm.

    Reply
    1. Devin Post author

      Thanks, Bojan.

      I think 4 hours doesn’t quite fit into the typical “sleep cycle” of 80-90 minutes. I’d aim for 3 or 4.5. Waking up after 4 hours may make you extremely groggy coming out of deep REM sleep and “fail” at this type of schedule.

      I’d say 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon, then 4.5 hours after back from work if you can manage it. Good luck!

      Reply
  50. Anna

    I’m not sure if you’re still answering, but I have a few questions if you are.
    I love the idea of playing with sleep to find the best schedule to suit me. I am a student and I think I can get this working for me. I have a housemate that gets up 4-5ish for work, so I like the idea of starting my day at that time. I’ve always enjoyed being a night owl, so it seems perfect for me. At the moment I’m planning my classes for the next semester and it looks like I will have class 2pm-6pm (with little breaks but nothing worth going home for) on at least 2 days of the week and work from 1-5pm on another. I have another class to fit in somewhere, but that is what it is looking like. I am not sure how I feel about having my nap during the actual night, being a part of a share house and, on most of the days anyway, it isn’t practical to have it before my classes. On the days that I have classes finishing at 6 (and work at 5), would it be practical to have nap from 8:30-10pm or even 9-10:30pm and then have my real sleep from 12:30am-5am? Or Would it be more beneficial to nap 6-7.30ish and then do the main block of sleep as I said earlier? Of course, I do have the benefit of not having to be anywhere super early.

    I’m thinking on days I don’t have classes in the afternoon I will be trying to nap mid-afternoon when my housemates aren’t at home because I’m not sure I want them to know that I will be trying this, at least at first.

    I’ve never been a big sleeper, and for much of my life have woken up after a few hours sleep, read for a while, then gone back to sleep. Obviously it is my body telling me what is best for me, but I’ve never really obeyed it lol.

    Reply
    1. Devin Post author

      Hey Anna,

      I used to do ‘evening’ naps and in the beginning (before your body is used to waking up) you may sleep through the night and wake up at some odd hour like 3 AM and not get back to sleep. But with consistency in having a 90 minute nap at the ‘end’ of the day, it becomes a great way to “recharge” and spend the night and early morning hours getting in a second day.

      If you don’t need to sleep much I’d would certainly recommend a 90 minute nap in the evening (then a late “dinner” to help wake you up). Then maybe 3 or 4.5 hours around 1 or 2 AM and you should have a schedule fairly close to what I did for a semester.

      Good luck!

      Reply
      1. Anna

        thanks for your quick reply. I realised after I posted that you are no longer doing biphasic sleep and was wondering if there was a particular reason? Is it mainly because work is unpredictable or more that it isn’t a practical way to live?
        Thanks

        Reply
        1. Devin Post author

          It’s not entirely practical from a ‘social life’ perspective. I usually have a few activities scheduled after work during the week, I have a wife to come home to and spend time with, etc. Steve Pavlina cites similar reasons for halting his polyphasic sleep pattern.

          I’ve thought about picking it back up because we both come home pretty exhausted from a day of work and become pretty useless in the evening after dinner. It may be worth rethinking…

          Reply
          1. Vinicius

            This made me think about modifying my apropach to insomnia but I do think patient acceptance and compliance of this strategy would be middling to poor. Patients are often quite desperate due to chronic poor sleep leading to impaired performance at work/ irritability affeting interpersonal relationships etc. Perhaps combining this apropach with the short term use of a hypnotic would improve patient compliance and reassure them that you appreciate the impact of this problem in their life.

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