According to some sources, Sir Isaac Newton used to sleep only 2 hours a day (working 22 hours everyday). Some famous people including Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison used to follow a specific type of sleep, called polyphasic sleep. “poly” referring to “many” and “phasic” referring to “phases”, i.e. sleep in many phases/cycles.
Polyphasic sleep is historically linked to polymaths who optimized day for better productivity. Polyphasic sleep contrasts to traditional monophasic sleep.
The term “polyphasic sleep” was coined by J. S. Szymanski,a psychologist who observed daily fluctuations in sleep activity patterns.
nowadays monophasic sleep is the norm, but history suggests something else. It suggests that polyphasic sleep was common practice in many societies before industrialization.My reasoning why the practice dwindled after industrialization is as follows:
Industrialization required people to work for long hours every day, especially men, therefore not allowing room for sleep in chunks throughout the day.
I personally follow a specific phase type sleep known as “biphasic sleep”. A person sleeps in two chunks in 24 hours instead of the normal 7-9 hour sleep at night. If you take a 1-2 hour nap during afternoon then you too follow a biphasic sleep schedule unknowingly!
As far as I have practiced this sleep schedule, I classify this in two sub categories
- 4-4 hour schedule
- 6-2 hour schedule
I regularly try to get 6-7 hours of sleep, usually following the the 6-2 hour schedule ( slightly adapted -> (4-2.5 ) ). As of september 2025, I try to sleep around 23:30-24 and wake up at 5 A.M. . The next sleep phase starts around 14:00 or 15:00 and goes till 16:00 or 17:00 depending on the situation, respectively.
