MonoCore-4
Warning: Schedule different than may be expected
This schedule differs significantly from older resources like polyphasic.net and polysleep.org| TST | 4h20 |
|---|---|
| Cores | 1 @ 3h |
| Naps | 4 @ 20mins |
| Difficulty | 4-5 / 5 |
| RSR Difficulty | 2-3 / 5 |
| Flex-potential | Medium |
Difficulty
Having more than 4h of TST, the schedule is likely to be a bit easier than M3, though still firmly in the zone that would be impossible for a notable amount of sleepers. It is Not recommended for those with difficulty napping, due to its many naps and reliance on getting vitals in them. For those with difficulty napping deeply, it is probably more difficult than M3.Mechanism
The naps in M4 are scheduled such that:- N1 is during the night and is slightly affected by REM peak (or fully within it).
- If N1 was during REM peak, N2 may still benefit from being close to it and not being too far into the alertness peak.
- If N1 was NOT during REM peak, N2 will be. Most likely, N1 will also have benefited from it even in this case.
- No naps are scheduled during the awareness peak during the later morning and early noon.
- N3 sits right in the (here slightly early due to circadian shift) midday awareness dip.
- N4 leaves enough space for getting tired before the core.
- N4 sits in the most efficient timespan to nap in during the afternoon without risking the nap becoming highly prone to oversleeps due to deep SWS.
The core is schedules to be during SWS peak and should contain most of the required SWS. Depending on needs, some more SWS may happen during N3 or N4, with some chance of N1 having it as well.
M4 usually relies on deepening.
3.5h variant
The core can be extended by half an hour for a 3.5h variant, like with M3. No other adjustments need to be made for this and it can be treated as equal but easier.Scheduling headroom
Scheduling headroom does not refer to flexing. Once chosen, Consistency within the schedule remains a requirement. All schedules can be rotated arbitrarily with sufficient dark-period and light period.The first nap can likely be moved around an hour or two back without causing too many problems, though this may cause issues with REM peak. This modification should therefore only be made by experienced sleepers.
The first nap can also be moved forward, by around an hour or two again, of course including moving the DP. This firmly solidifies it as the REM peak nap and makes N2 possibly less effective, unless N2 is really close to N1 while remaining sleepable. This depends on your skills in falling asleep.
N2 should not be moved much further into the day as to avoid it falling firmly into the alertness peak. This would likely make it unsleepable or inefficient, depending on napping skill.
N3 should be placed at or right after the midday alertness dip, which is individual and thus no hard recommendations can be made. It can not be moved far back due to alertness peak, but it can usually be moved forwards relatively significantly (by about 2 hours) without losing effectiveness.
N4 must not be too close to either N3 or C1, and thus is relatively fixed in place, though it should be movable by one hour or so.
As always, all of these depend on your own abilities and are merely things to consider - not hard boundaries. If you're inexperienced, you should try to stick as close to the vanilla schedule as possible.