Well while that’s probably true, there is plenty proof out there that it can work on the web if you look hard enough, and many bloggers have undertaken the Uberman sleeping schedule, and have nearly unanimously said that it is possible, and it works. However a larger amount of people have attempted the schedule and failed during the adjustment period. You need a strong will-power to do this.

But how does it work!?

Well there are 5 stages of sleep, the last one (REM) being the most important. But what if it were possible to just have REM sleep and nothing else?

Well a way to have more REM sleep than a normal sleep cycle is to spend about a week depriving yourself of it, by sleeping in 20 minute bursts every 4 hours minutes. At first this will be a bitch to get used to, but once your brain decides that this is the way it’s going to be, it will quickly adapt to your new way of sleeping, and make up for it’s lost REM.

In essence this means you will start to get your REM sleep during the 20 minute bursts. You will wake up feeling refreshed, with a higher awareness, and you will remember your dreams.

Is it safe?

From what I’ve read online, the most important phases of sleep are deep sleep, and REM sleep. Now from what I can see, the Uberman sleep is all about REM sleep, so I’m not sure how much deep sleep you get from the Uberman sleep schedule. From what I’ve read though, there haven’t been any physical energy constraints from using the Uberman sleep schedule, and deep sleep replenishes physical energy, so I think you get deep sleep in the same way you get REM sleep from the Uberman schedule.

The long term affects haven’t been tested by experts, but the general consensus on people who have experimented with the schedule is that it’s fine, and the only downsides are social and work constraints. The fact is, everyone sleeps monophasicly, meaning you’ll be awake whilst everyone else is asleep. You may see this is a good thing, I know I do.

Can I adapt to this way of sleeping?

Most probably you can’t. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but if you want to adapt to this sleeping schedule, you will have to make sure your life suits this kind of schedule. If you have a full-time job and/or children, this probably isn’t the best way to live.

However there is an alternative called the Everyman schedule which includes a 3 hour core sleep, and 4  naps throughout the day. This is an easier alternative, although it would probably be easier to adapt to the Uberman schedule first, during a holiday or something, then change to the Everyman schedule when you are back at work. Feel free to bookmark this page for reference if you want to adapt at a more suitable time for you.

If you think you can handle the Uberman schedule, the best advice I can give is allow yourself about a weeks adjustment period, and then just dive right in and don’t look back. Also, if you get the urge to sleep during your adjustment period, just keep busy. The more you think about it, the more likely you are to slip.

In recent future posts (when I next get a week off in college) I will attempt to adjust to Uberman and blog my progress. After I have experienced Uberman’s schedule personally, I will write a new article going into extensive detail of how to adapt to the Uberman schedule. If you wish to follow my progress, you can subscribe to the RSS feed.