Polynapping and Excercise

My last post got a comment that warranted a long enough response to spawn another main blog entry. :)

Here we go:

Jim Eastman said...
I'm kind of curious how a polyphasic sleep cycle works for someone with an active exercise/workout schedule. I realize that's entirely unlike you :-D, but do you know if there's info on that?


For formal research, I'm inclined to say that there's nothing out there, but that's being said without actively looking. As for informal, there may be a blog or two of some physically active participants. I know at least one or two of the active uberman list constributors is pretty physical. I'll dig some and see what I can find.

I do know that it has been suggested that one should increase their activity levels when experimenting to stave off weight gain. Most point to an increase in appetite because of the time spent awake. Digging down, it may have to do with muscle atrophy caused by long-term high cortisol levels... but I'll get to that when I think I've researched enough on it. In any case, it may be beneficial to work out extensively because of the above reason.

But then, another concern is how one "repairs" after extensive workouts... I know it's the common wisdom that the NREM stages of sleep are used for physical repair, such as healing and muscle building (though I haven't looked into this to see how true it is). So it may be detrimental because your body healing can't keep up.

So, um, in short, I don't know. It'll be my next research topic.

-sean