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Polyphasic sleep involves multiple sleep sessions throughout a day, while biphasic sleep involves one long sleep session. Proponents believe it can benefit those with sleep disorders or who cannot sleep for long periods. Critics argue that it is not a substitute for deep, restorative sleep.
Polyphasic sleep is a theory about sleep patterns. First coined by psychologist JSSzymanksi, the concept of polyphasic sleep has to do with establishing a pattern of multiple sleep sessions during a given twenty-four hour period. This is in contrast to the concept of biphasic sleep, which addresses the idea of a long period of sleep during the same amount of time.
The polyphasic sleep theory has to do with committing to a daily schedule that allows for small amounts of sleep over the course of the day and evening hours, rather than setting aside an eight-hour block for one long sleep session. This segmented sleep approach is believed by proponents to be particularly beneficial for people dealing with sleep disorders or who have recently experienced a health or life crisis that makes it difficult to sleep for more than a short time. By building more sleep sessions throughout the day, the body learns to adapt to this approach and is able to use these shorter sleep periods to greater advantage.
Some proponents of polyphasic sleep see the approach as a means of short-term compensation when external factors make it difficult to set aside a full eight hours for sleep. Others see polyphasic sleep as a viable sleep alternative that can be used long-term. The usual line of thinking is that the body requires an average of eight hours of accumulated sleep during a twenty-four hour period. As long as an individual is able to achieve this, it doesn’t matter whether sleep is achieved in multiple naps or in one long session.
Critics of polyphasic sleep sometimes note that while napping in addition to a full night’s rest can be beneficial when the individual is recovering from illness or other factors, napping is no substitute. The basic thought process is that the body must enter an adaptive state to slip into the right phase to achieve deep, restorative sleep. This is most often achieved with a long period of sleep. Shorter naps are not thought to provide this level of deep sleep and therefore will not provide the same level of refreshment and rejuvenation that extended sleep can provide.
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