Uberman

Last night I was on StumbleUpon (the bain of productivity) and came across an article describing weird, but more productive, sleep schedules.  This article caught my attention since I absolutely hate sleep.  But, it is necessary.  So I decided to look into the polyphasic sleep cycles a bit more, specifically the Uberman cycle.  Basically they are based on the premis that the REM sleep cycle is when the actually recovery takes place, and it therefore the most valuable part of your nightly sleep.  Unfortunately, REM occupies a very small segment of time.  Stages 1 through 4 are occupied by nonREM sleep with Stage 5 being a short period of nonREM sleep, where dreams typically take place.  The Uberman cycle attempts to eliminate Stages 1 through 4 so that you only experience Stage 5, the valuable stage.


While this sounded great to me, I was also skeptical about missing Steps 1 through 4.  Can you really have 4 steps that have no specific purpose and if not, what do you need to change to make up for that loss?  So I did some research as to the value of nonREM sleep and finally came up with this from webMD:

"During the deep stages of NREM sleep, the body repairs and regenerates tissues, builds bone and muscle, and appears to strengthen the immune system. As you get older, you sleep more lightly and get less deep sleep. Aging is also associated with shorter time spans of sleep, although studies show the amount of sleep needed doesn't appear to diminish with age."

Ok, so nonREM sleep is associated with the repair and regeneration of tissues, but why do you need to be asleep for that?  Is there anyway to get the benefits of nonREM sleep without wasting so much time?   I'm specifically interested in foods that would help ensure proper healing because I'm fairly confident that while I sit here and type this I am fully capable of regenerating just as many tissues as when I am lying on my bed, dead to the world.  The key things that I learned are as follows:

1. Keep a high nutritional value to caloric intake level.  While this may seem obvious, it is important that you spend as little time digesting food as possible so that your body can focus on removing toxins from the body.  This means reducing fat and high carb intake, which increases caloric intake with little to no nutritional value.
2. That said, the body still needs enough calories to continue working at optimal levels.  In layman's terms, you still need to eat.  This means avoiding foods that digest slowly which are, again, high in fat/lipids.
3. Protein is incredibly important as it provides a foundation for body maintenance.  Consuming lean meats such as fish, poultry, lean cuts of red meat, and nonfat dairy products will help get you the protein you need without adding too much fat to your diet.  A protein intake of 1 - 1.5 grams per kilogram (bodyweight) per day is a good amount to shoot for, although higher numbers may be beneficial.
4. Eat fruit and vegetables.  Vegetarians and vegans have reported a higher success rate on the polyphasic sleep cycles than anyone else, perhaps because their diet is already rich in fruits and vegetables.  I think this fact is probably the most important on this post.

I think this should make up for the lack in the first four cycles.  I'm not really sure though, needs experimentation.

Either way, I'm planning on trying out the Uberman here soon.  I'll be interested to try it out and see what results it yields, so look for an update soon on that front.


UPDATE:  I decided to wait to try out the Uberman cycle, mostly because I didn't want to give up everything for a week for an experiment that may not work.  I'll probably try this summer though, because this really does interest me.