Entrepreneur has another article on the latest trends and research on sleep or sleep hacking. Despite all the claims, the doctor in this article says there’s really no way you can function optimally on a reduced sleep schedule. The article covers the latest sleep hacking gadgets and trends in sleep hacking including poyphasic sleep.

Polyphasic is a method of sleeping in small increments usually no longer an hour at a time so that you aren’t sleeping at all for long periods. People who practice polyphasic sleep say that they can function on less that 5 hours of sleep per day. Polyphasic sleep was made popular in pop culture by Kramer from Seinfeld who tried it, with poor results!

There are claimes that Tesla and DaVinci also practiced polyphasic sleep but there is really little evidence to back this up.

It will be interesting to see what technology actually is effective in promoting sleep efficiency and sleep quality. I don’t think the sleep hacking trend is going to die down anytime soon. However, I would warn against trying to achieve polyphasic sleep as few if any who try it find it successful and there’s emerging research that your brain is doing work while you are sleeping. People who get the recommended 8 hours of good quality sleep have better memories and moods.