bon iver - beth/rest (piano solo)

had some friends over for the weekend (seung-hyo and jen aka canada), and we got engaged in a short discussion about various sleep schedules. does it matter what time you choose to sleep and wake up? is polyphasic sleep and/or the uberman's sleep schedule harmful? in addition to rounding up some popular research/answers, i will ultimately try to answer this question: what is the optimal sleep schedule for startup founders to achieve good health and maximum time out of a 24-hour day. (warning: please note that everyone's body works differently and that my sleep schedule would not necessarily work for you and vice versa. this post is just to summarize my research and hopefully provide you with credible/wikipedia resources to get you started on finding the right sleep schedule for you).

my sleep background and my current sleep schedule

my parents have always been worried about my sleeping patterns. i began sleeping at late hours in the 9th grade (sleep around 2-3am, wake up around 7:30). in the summers, it got worse, usually due to an mmorpg i was indulged in at the time (ragnarok online, lineage I/II). i usually played until the sun rose, letting me know that it was time to go to bed. when i got to college, i was finally free, able to define my own sleep schedule. i never stuck to a single sleep pattern (comparison of sleep patterns) but instead followed the simple philosophy of sleeping whenever i felt tired and often waking up naturally. there were days when i'd sleep 12 total hours and there were days when i'd sleep 2 total hours. but on average, i slept 8 total hours per day (usually consisting of at least 1 20-30 power nap). 

now let's jump to the present, where i'm sleeping in my startup's headquarters aka our apartment. i'm still following the rule of sleeping whenever i'm tired and waking up naturally (usually sleeping at 4-6am and waking up at 11am-1pm with no naps). but now that i'm currently uninsured (i may do a follow-up post on finding cheap health insurance packages), i'm beginning to care more about my physical and mental health. so let's answer some questions.

is it harmful to get your 8 hours at an irregular hour?

assuming that you will still have a balanced social life, i have not found any conclusive research that proves it is harmful to sleep at an irregular hour. 

all of the articles/research i've stumbled upon only focus on the amount of sleep you get and not the time you choose to sleep. but there are a few things to consider before you decide to sleep at 6AM:

• stick to a consistent sleeping time: do not try to sleep at 10pm one day, 5am another, and then 9pm. take care of your body's biological clock (suprachiasmatic nucleus or SCN). by continulously changing your sleeping times, you could experience extreme drowsiness and sluggishness (imagine experiencing the effects of jetlag with each change) [1]
• sleep in a dark environment: you will be able to produce melatonin (body's hormone that makes you sleepy) with the sun out if you sleep in a dark room -- it only comes out in the dark [2]
• be exposed to the sun: only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your body (helps bone mineralization) [3]

is polyphasic sleep (sleeping multiple times in a 24-hour period) harmful?

there is a lack of scientific studies on long-duration polyphasic sleep experiments, but anecdotal evidence generally agrees that polyphasic sleep (more than 2 times a day) is not a healthy alternative to monophasic and biphasic sleep patterns [4][5]. however, it is interesting to note that 'polyphasic sleep is common in many animals, and is believed to be the ancestral sleep state' [4]. below is a list of summarized points of why polyphasic sleep is less effective:

• polyphasic sleep will never work naturally: you will have to use an alarm clock, which is an unhealthy mechanism that disrupts your sleep. (nerd metaphor: during the day, you store experiences/new knowledge in RAM. during your first phases of sleep, you write the data to the hard disk. during REM, you execute disk defragmentation. you continue to repeat until RAM is cleared up and ready to be used again. you are then rebooted when you wake up. now imagine rebooting in the process of disk defragmentation. if you use an alarm clock, you endanger your data. [5])
• less sleep leads to more fat: short sleep causes reduced leptin and elevated ghrelin, leading to larger appetites. [6] you'll need to exercise more to keep in shape with an increased appetite (effectively decreasing your freed up time) 
• your health will suffer: studies show that T-cell development is decreased with sleep deprivation, potentially leading to a weaker immune system

so what is the ideal sleep schedule for startup founders?

not surprisingly, the ideal sleep schedule depends on your body's needs. and although it is possible to adapt to the uberman sleep schedule (especiailly if you're self-employed and single), it definitely will not help your mental and physical health. since your startup should have an emphasis on design and other creative components, it is critical to be mentally refreshed on a day-to-day basis. 

personally, i will continue my loose biphasic sleep schedule. i will sleep when i feel tired and will let my body wake up naturally. i'll also be including a power nap (20-30 minutes) mid-day when i feel tired to give myself that little push to stay at my mental peak.

to find the ideal schedule for you, keep these general suggestions in mind:

• do not sleep more than 9 hours every day: research suggests that too much sleep can double the risk of death from heart disease [7]
• do not interrupt REM sleep: to prevent interrupted sleep, consider using a sleep monitoring app or device (the wakemate, sleep cycle for ios) to wake you up during the end of a sleep cycle or NREM sleep
• do not force yourself into an unnatural pattern: if you're trying to sleep when you're not tired just to stick to the everyman 3 schedule, you may be wasting that freed up time in an effort to fall asleep. definitely do not take hormonal supplements just to fall asleep. if you find yourself unable to fall asleep during your 3rd nap, don't fight it. instead take a nap when you feel tired and adapt to another sleep pattern that better works for your body.

don't think there's ever been a better time for bed than this moment. good night!

-mike gao

resources

[1] http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm#circadian_rhythms

[2] http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/melatonin-and-sleep

[3] http://green.yahoo.com/blog/care2/17/you-need-sun-10-healthy-tips.html

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep#Napping_in_extreme_situations

[5] http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm

[6] http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0010062

[7] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/83473.php