Is it better to have two 4-hour sleep cycles than one 8-hour sleep cycle?
On One Hand: Biphasic Sleep Demonstrates AdvantagesIn 1996, the Center for the Study of Sleep and Waking at State University of New York, Stony Brook, conducted a study on a form of biphasic or bimodal sleep in which two sleep cycles are separated by hours awake. The study of seven adolescents found that when they tried to sleep on a schedule of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., they spent less total time asleep yet remained just as alert and did just as well on mental performance tests as when they used a conventional 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. sleep schedule. A 2010 paper by University of California at Berkeley professor Matthew Walker demonstrated that 90-minute afternoon naps prevented mental fatigue and improved memory retention. This suggests that there are advantages to biphasic or polyphasic sleep schedules. The paper was based on a study of 39 healthy young adults.On the Other: Modern Schedules Geared Toward Single Sleep CycleModern society revolves heavily around the standard eig
