Is it true that the human body is better off with 2 sets of 4 hours of sleep?

[hitmankratos]

I've read somewhere the human body is better off with 2 sets of 4 hours of sleep rather than 8 hours of sleep and was wondering if it was true. Are there any studies that can prove that?

 

Thanks !

[Tsuyoiko]

I don't think this is true, at least I can't find any evidence for it. I think it's a confusion based on the way an eight hour period of sleep works.

 

Apparently, when we are awake our alertness is maintained by our biological clock, in particular by something called the 'circadian alerting system'. As the day wears on, these signals increase, as does the 'sleep drive'. Eventually, the alerting signals will start to drop off and the sleep drive will become overwhelming so that we fall asleep.

 

The first four hours of sleep are maintained by the sleep drive, but since this is declining over this time, the absence of the alerting signals isn't enough to maintain sleep any longer. So the function of the biological clock now changes to sending signals that promote continued sleep.

 

More info here: http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/science/how/internal-clock

 

So it looks to me as though the idea of two periods of four hours comes from the way an eight hour sleep period changes halfway through.

[hitmankratos]

Allrighty. Very informative. Thank you !

[granpa]

rem sleep, which is a necessity, occurs mainly at the end of our regular 6-8 hours of sleep.

[MM6]

REM sleep usually ensues 60-120 minutes after falling asleep. We have several bouts of REM per 6-8 hour sleep session, so I don't think lack of REM would be a problem in the OP's query.

 

Reference

 

Sasaki Y; Fukuda K, Takeuchi T, Inugami M, Miyasita A (March 2000), "Sleep onset REM period appearance rate is affected by REM propensity in circadian rhythm in normal nocturnal sleep", Clin Neurophysiol. 111 (3): 428–33, doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(99)00254-0, PMID 10699402.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10699402

[Moontanman]

If only I could sleep four hours a day, often I feel lucky to get two hours of sleep a day. I've been like that since I was a kid.

[granpa]

rem sleep occurs at the end of each cycle. but as the night wears on rem sleep becomes more dominant and regular sleep less dominant.

 

2 hours is not enough. see a doctor.

[Moontanman]

I do see a doc, sleeping pills give me three or fours hours but without them I often go days without sleep.

[granpa]

what pills do you take? have you tried remeron?

[Moontanman]

I'm not sure this is something I've struggled with most of my life. I now take ambien. I've tried many things over the years but ambien seems to give me about 4 hrs sleep with some regularity.

[iNow]

I presume that your lack of sleep has something to do with the pain in your shoulder?

[Moontanman]

To some extent it does, the collapsed vertebra in my neck keep me from being able to lay down for long periods of time. I wake up in extreme pain in my arms hands nd shoulders. but even before I was injured sleep was a seriously rare thing for me. As a child i seldom slept more than 2 hours at a stretch or a night so it has been a life long problem. i often go several days with out any sleep at all but i get very irritable after four or five days.

[granpa]

ambien didnt do much for me. remeron works great though.

[June]

Sorry, this probably seems like a stupid question, but could someone explain the sleep cycle thing to me?

(Would it effect how rested or not rested you feel after any amount of time spent sleeping, if you wake up at the wrong time in the cycle?)

Thanks.

[Tsuyoiko]

Sorry, this probably seems like a stupid question, but could someone explain the sleep cycle thing to me?

(Would it effect how rested or not rested you feel after any amount of time spent sleeping, if you wake up at the wrong time in the cycle?)

Thanks.

 

This is a pretty good site, with all kinds of info on sleep:

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/