Leonardo da Vinci, a master painter, is a diligent and precious person, and his working method of regular short-term sleep delay is highly praised by people. This method improves the time utilization rate by adjusting the hard law of sleeping and not sleeping, that is, sleeping 15 minutes every 4 hours of work. In this way, the total sleep time for one day and one night is only 1.5 hours, thus obtaining more working hours.
A few years ago, Claudio Stapi, a famous Italian physiologist, gave a sailor a similar sleep test for two months with reference to Leonardo da Vinci's method. After testing, the logical thinking and memory operation ability of the subjects are intact. This shows that Da Vinci's sleep method can not only meet the needs of the body's compensatory function, but also indicates the broad development prospect of using human physiological potential.
But interestingly, 20 years ago, a painter personally tried this method and proved its effectiveness. But in less than half a year, he resumed his normal 8-hour sleep. Talking about the reasons, the painter humorously admitted that he was not a genius and didn't know how to spend the extra time.
= = Case 1==
A reminder: When you are in θ wave, your brain cells will adjust the ratio of sodium ions to potassium ions. The ratio of sodium to potassium ions is related to the osmotic pressure of cells and the transport of substances between cells. Usually we are in beta wave, which is a slight tension that makes our sodium &; The proportion of potassium ions is gradually out of balance, which is why we feel tired. A short θ wave (5~ 10 minutes) can restore our sodium &; The balanced proportion of potassium ions makes us refreshed. This is also the advantage of taking a nap.
It is not difficult to change my sleep cycle. I gradually adjust it. Slowly reduce the sleep time at night and set the nap time at night. There are only two options for taking a nap, 20 minutes or 90 minutes. A 20-minute nap only lets you enter the first stage of sleep, prevents you from entering a deeper sleep state, and makes you refreshed when you wake up.
I personally take a 90-minute nap just because I want a complete sleep stage. I like sleeping and I won't run away. For me, the sleep schedule is very fixed. I enjoy taking a nap very much, and I sleep deeply at night (I used to sleep very lightly, and I still feel dizzy after sleeping for 8 or 9 hours a day), awake and comfortable. It's like eating a big meal. You know when to sleep and when to wake up. Everything is so comfortable and natural.
I started writing this article in 2003, and now it's 2005. My sleep pattern is very fixed, I only sleep for four and a half hours every day. I am very healthy, and I hardly get sick. I don't eat sugar now, only vegetables and protein. My cholesterol is very low, and my life was good before I was creative. Many people ask me how to take this kind of sleep. I think there are two keys.
1, measure the length of your sleep cycle. 90 minutes is the average, but it is different for some people. In recent years, my own sleep cycle length has changed from 90 to 75. Now, if I take a nap from 7 pm, I will get up at 8 pm15, and I don't need to use an alarm clock anymore. Because of the change of sleep cycle length, I sleep for 4 cycles every day, 3 cycles at night and take a nap at night 1 cycle.
The key is to divide a day's sleep into two stages. If you only sleep 4.5 hours a day, and then say, "I finished sleeping today", you may not be able to stand the remaining 19 hours. You must divide it into two or more sleep stages. You must take a nap every once in a while to play its role in restoring brain function.
= = Case 2==
The focus of this paper is not lack of sleep, but how to sleep smarter and discuss what is the way to sleep in line with our natural nature.
I always tell others that it is enough to sleep only six hours a day, or even four and a half hours. The secret is not the quality of sleep, but the time of sleep itself-if the sleep time is a multiple of 90 minutes, it will change your life.
1 half hour
3 hours
Four and a half hours.
6 hours
Seven and a half hours
These numbers should be the sleep time you deserve, which is also the natural physiological demand of your body. I promised Chairman Mao that if you turn off the alarm clock, go to bed and wake up to look at the clock, you will find that you have slept for multiple of 90 minutes. And this 90 minutes is the so-called sleep cycle.
Generally speaking, sleep for 3 hours at night and take a 90-minute nap at night. Four and a half hours add up to a * * *, and my brain can always stay awake, feeling full of sleep and energy. If you want to know why, just look at the scientific explanation below. ...
"The research team of Harvard University trained volunteers in a special visual task, which required volunteers to identify specific patterns from some rapidly changing patterns on the screen. /kloc-When tested again after 0/0 hour, the volunteers who rested for 90 minutes performed better than those who didn't. In fact, they did almost as well as volunteers who had a night's rest. "
"Some studies have pointed out that sleep time is not the reason for waking up, but the key is the number of sleep cycles completed during sleep. Each sleep cycle has five different stages, showing different brain wave signals. From our research, this means that each sleep cycle has an average of 90 minutes: 65 minutes of normal sleep or non-rapid eye movement (REM); Then there is a 20-minute REM sleep period (when the brain dreams); The last five minutes were non-rapid eye movement. Generally speaking, the duration of REM phase is shorter (less than 20 minutes) in the early sleep cycle and longer (more than 20 minutes) in the late sleep cycle. If we fall asleep naturally without setting an alarm clock and any other external interference, we will wake up in multiples of 90 minutes on average-for example, like four and a half hours, six hours, seven and a half hours or nine hours instead of seven or eight hours, because these are not multiples of 90 minutes. In the period between the two periods, we are not really in a state of sleep: during this period, people's consciousness is hazy, if there is no interference at this time (such as light, cold, urgency, noise, etc. ), they will enter the next 90-minute sleep cycle. A person who has only slept for four sleep cycles (that is, six hours) usually feels more rested than those who have slept for 8 to 10 hours but have not completed the (last) sleep cycle. "
So this also explains that even after sleeping for 8 hours, I still feel tired and dizzy, or it is almost impossible to wake up after sleeping for 4 hours. As ordinary people, almost all of us are taught to "sleep for 8 hours". Nevertheless, some people feel that they sleep better than others. Why is this? Is the above theory wrong? Of course not. In fact, those who seem to have not finished their last sleep cycle, but still feel well rested, actually slept for almost seven and a half hours, or nine hours (another reason is that the length of each person's sleep cycle is different, which is explained at the end of the article).
Napping is the key to directly improve θ brainwaves.
θ brainwaves, that is, super-conscious brainwaves. When awake, more theta brain waves mean higher creative intelligence.
It is said that most of the "prolific" celebrities in history know this well and abide by it. Leonardo da vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Buckminster Fleur all used this technique all the time, and other clever "brains" such as nikola tesla, Thomas Edison, Napoleon and Winston Churchill also benefited a lot from taking a nap at the same time.
In addition, taking a nap seems to have the benefit of longevity. Furong lived to be 87 years old, and Leonardo da Vinci died in his 60 s-they both lived twice the average life expectancy of men in their respective eras!
Interesting knowledge: When the brain is in theta brainwave state, brain cells will reorganize the ratio of sodium to potassium. The ratio of sodium to potassium is related to osmosis, which is a chemical process in which various chemicals enter and leave brain cells. After being in the state of β brainwave for a long time, the ratio of sodium to potassium will be unbalanced, which is the main reason of so-called "mental fatigue". However, a short θ brain wave cycle (about 5 ~ 15 minutes) can restore the normal sodium-potassium ratio, that is, restore the mental state.
The primitive nature of human beings is more suitable for polyphasic sleep than the monophasic sleep behavior we are used to.
Monophasic sleep is equivalent to people's common sleep behavior, that is, sleeping at night and working during the day.
Polyphasic sleep means that there are many sleep/waking events in a day. If the daily sleep plan includes a nap, this is an example of polyphasic sleep.
First of all, the behavior of almost all animals in nature is multiphase and complex. Moreover, polyphasic sleep is the dominant sleep mode in human infancy, and children are gradually isolated from the concept of nap only when they are a little older. In addition, when people are isolated from the external environment-it is guaranteed that they cannot judge the actual time from natural factors (such as sunlight) or artificial hints (such as clocks and watches, TV programs)-they tend to show more short-term sleep behavior instead of maintaining monophasic sleep that only occurs at night. Finally, a nap-that is, a short sleep-is more refreshing than a long sleep.
But unfortunately, we all seem to have "forgotten" this physiologically natural way of sleeping, and kept the same sleeping habit from nine to five.
Change from monophasic sleep habit to polyphasic sleep
This is not a very difficult thing-but it should be done step by step.
Gradually reduce sleep at night and take a nap at night-you should only choose two kinds of naps: 20 minutes or 90 minutes (or multiples of 90 minutes). Because a 20-minute nap can only get you into the first stage of sleep, and you won't fall into deep sleep, and you can still get some rest after waking up.