Unless you suffer from insomnia or are suffering from disorders like anxiety and depression (which we hope you are not), most of us adults love sleeping! Nothing beats the feeling of crashing into bed after a hard day at work and retiring into the world of sweet slumber. And according to leading sleep studies from across the world, a minimum of 6-8 hours of sleep is necessary for the healthy functioning of a mind and body. Not only this, apart from this, taking small naps a few times in the day adds to all the advantages that sleep brings with it.
However, in the pre-industrial age, people never used to sleep for the entire night. They used to sleep for 3-4 hours, get up, do their chores (such as cooking and eating) and then go back to sleep. This it is said worked for them and made them healthy and wise.
However, there was something even more peculiar than this time of sleep cycle. It was called Uberman sleep cycle and was followed by people like Leonardo Da Vinci, the great Italian Renaissance artist and the creator of the iconic Mona Lisa painting. It is said that they practiced the most intense example of polyphasic sleeping, which means sleeping more than three times a day. Called as the Uberman cycle, these include short duration naps of 20 minutes each, spread throughout the day for around 6 times.
This practically meant no sleeping at all or very little at night and even if people did, they woke up after 20 minutes and carried on their work. People said that such a cycle gave them more energy and stamina and they were not spending those 8 hours in the day “just sleeping” and used the time to do something constructive.
However, there has been no research on the health benefits of the long term health effects of being an Uberman, although it is said that people sustained on such a sleep for more than a year with no serious health complications.
According to the author and researcher of small naps Claudio Stampi, Da Vinci had a unique sleep cycle. “He would sleep 15 minutes out of every four hours, for a daily total of only 1.5 hours of sleep. Therefore, it appears he was able to gain an extra six productive hours a day. By following this unique regimen, he ‘gained’ an additional 20 years of productivity during his 67 years of life,” he says in his book “Why we nap“.
Not only Da Vinci, people like late UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill too slept in naps throughout the day and often conducted his work meetings in the darkness of the night!
However, there has been no medical theory to support this unusual sleep behaviour. Scientists around the world believe that night is meant to sleep and day is meant to work and anyone who tries to alter this theory too much, might have to face severe health repercussions.
So, apart from that pulling that once-in-a-blue moon all nighter, it is essential to get that 8 hour shut eye everyday (and only in the night!)
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