Some people, however, teach themselves to sleep for a few minutes at a time, many times a day. That's called polyphasic sleep.
Everyman schedule is a type of polyphasic sleep characterized by a longer "core nap" or a "major sleep episode" followed by a few shorter naps spread through the day.
"Uberman" schedule is another polyphasic sleep schedule characterized by short naps every 4 hours (with no "core nap" a la Everyman schedule). As you can imagine, it can be incredibly hard to adjust to. The term 'Uberman' is derived from Übermensch, German for super-human.
Matt Mullenweg (born January 11, 1984), is one of PC World’s 50 Most Important People on the Web, Inc.com’s 30 under 30, and Business Week’s 25 Most Influential People on the Web. He is also the CEO of Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), valued at over $1 billion. Matt says he once used to follow the “Uberman” polyphasic sleep schedule. He would sleep 6 times a day, about 40 minutes each time.
He talks about it on this podcast (~22 minutes into the podcast).
He claims this was one of the most productive periods in his life, but the sleep pattern required a fanatic adherence to the schedule.
"What would happen if you missed one nap"
"You are wrecked"
Why did he give it up? Because he got a girlfriend.
Uberman sleep should not be taken lightly. It is usually not socially acceptable (or compatible). It needs a huge amount of motivation. No one knows the long-term (or even the short-term) side effects of a polyphasic sleep schedule. It could wreak havoc on your hormones, your immune system and your social life; make you more sleepy, predispose to traffic accidents, increase the risk of seizures, cause weight imbalance and a lot more. However, if you were really inclined to try this (at your own risk, of course), this site provides some basic guidance on how to do it.
By the way, if someone tells you that Leonardo Da Vinci, Napoleon, Edison and many others were polyphasic sleepers, it's probably not true.
And if you want some good reasons not to try Uberman or other polyphasic schedules, this website does a good job of providing those reasons. My personal recommendation: DON'T DO IT.
