I have so many things I want to do, that I don't have close to enough
hours in a day.  Is there an effective method of utilising, for
example, four or five hours to obtain the same amount of rest normally
needed?  Like a method of obtaining REM faster?  Or is it just
something you have to accustom your body too?  And is it bad for you?

This is a tempting prospect, I'll admit, but every time I start
thinking along these lines, my dog, the aptly named Sluggo, reminds me
that there are fewer things more important than sleep. And really,
when you think about it, if you freed up more time for eating, it'd
get expensive. (If you're talking about freeing up your time for some
activity, Sluggo says he can't even begin to address such an absurd
proposition.)

As I said, though, I understand your temptation, but the short answer
is "It's not worth it."

It's a common belief that REM is the restorative stage of sleep, and
the other stages are simply stepping stones to REM. However, the data
says otherwise.

This page, for example, provides summaries on sleep and wakefulness
from an unnamed Neurobiology textbook:

http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfbpn/ZOO_4950/Chapter_26.htm

According to the section titled "Non-REM Sleep," non-REM sleep does
have restorative functions:

"<...>the metabolism of the brain during slow-wave sleep, as measured
by cerebral blood flow, is reduced by as much as 45%," whereas the
brain remains relatively active during REM cycles. This would indicate
that it is during non-REM cycles that the brain is able to rest.

The next item on the same page claims that "non-REM sleep deprivation
in lab animals eventually lead to a breakdown of homeostatic function,
and ultimately to death."

Like lot-ga, I too had remembered this study as relating to REM sleep,
but apparently, it wasn't.

Further, the information in the next section, on REM sleep, indicates
that one can survive lack of REM sleep with no perceived ill effects.
See this:

"Deprivation of REM sleep in humans for as much as 2 weeks has little
or no effect on behavior.
Similarly, patients taking certain antidepressants have little or nor
REM sleep, yet show no obvious ill effects, even after months or years
of treatment."

See also on this page Crick's theory of REM sleep, "The function of
dreams is to act as an "unlearning" mechanism, whereby certain modes
of neural activity are erased by random activation."

More theories about the purpose of REM sleep are on this page:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper2/Miller2.html

with links to further information at the end of the article.

This page provides a little more cohesive discussion of the sleep
stages:

http://www.infoaging.org/l-sleep-02-stages.html

From this page:

"A normal sleep pattern follows a relatively predictable pattern that
involves alternating periods of REM (rapid-eye-movement) and non-REM
sleep (stages 1 to 4). Typically we drift off to sleep in non-REM
sleep and progress into deeper sleep by moving from stage one through
stage four. Non-REM sleep is accompanied by declines in heart rate,
respiration, and blood pressure. Delta sleep (stages 3 and 4) provides
our deepest and most restorative sleep. The REM stage of sleep is
where dreaming occurs and is a more active stage of sleep in which
your heart rate, blood pressure and breathing patterns are similar to
being awake."

Here's a webpage with some general information about sleep:

http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~jsiegel/encarta/Article.htm

In a nutshell, though, non-REM (or NREM) sleep is necessary. And while
you probably could survive cutting down on REM sleep (perhaps by
calculating your sleep cycles and waking yourself up just as you're
scheduled to reach the REM stage), personally, I wouldn't, just
because I don't think we know enough about it to say that it wouldn't
have an ill effect.

There are also certain drugs that can reduce or eliminate REM sleep,
as can lesions in certain areas of the brain, but I'm going to assume
you're not willing to take it that far, and I wouldn't want to be a
party to it if you did. You can search on - eliminate REM sleep - if
you're dead set on finding this information of your own volition.

I'll leave you with one final tidbit, recalled from memory:

R. Buckminster Fuller, crackpot genius, recommended lying down for a
short nap with a paper cup of water in your hand. He claimed that,
when you were awakened by the act of dropping the cup on yourself,
you'd be refreshed and restored sufficiently to go about your business
with renewed vigor. I do not concur. I think it's enormously
frustrating, and any increase in vigor is cancelled out by
corresponding increase in crankiness.

In conclusion, I'd look for that time somewhere else. Personally, I
like to cut down on my housekeeping chores and just live in squalor;
but you might find timesinks elsewhere. Maybe you could go grocery
shopping less often, cook quantities of food in advance, cut down on
commuting time, or make your sleeping area more restful, so you get to
sleep faster.

I wouldn't mess with the actual sleeping, though. Sluggo concurs.

Good luck,
Lisa.

---

Clarification of Answer by lisarea-ga on 30 Jul 2002 17:15 PDT

Oops. Should've read all the way through this one:

http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/sleep_deprivation/intro04.html

This is an article that claims that REM deprivation isn't harmful, and
could, in fact, be beneficial. Until the last paragraph, that is:

"Ultimately, REM deprivation in rats is fatal.  One of the main
symptoms during this time was hypothermia, despite observable effects
to increase heat production (e.g., by eating).  This has led to the
hypothesis that the function of REM is to prevent heat loss.  This is
interesting because one of the state characteristics of REM is loss of
thermoregulation."

But it appears that you could shorten your REM sleep times if you
choose to try it by sleeping on some sort of a surface that requires
you retain muscle control, such as a platform.

Lots of info, thank you.  Shame there's no miracle solution.

Interesting question! 
I have seen experiments which have been broadcast on UK TV to find out
the effects of no sleep on rats. The rats were kept active and were
not allowed to sleep and were disturbed from doing so, they eventually
died.... but that is extreme. The body is a 'fuel cell' and it was
shown from these preliminary experiments that if you eat more you die
earlier, as the body uses more oxygen which is actually quite
'poisonous' to our bodies and causes ageing at cell level with free
radicals floating about too. Again the experiment was performed on
rats. The rats that were fed in small doses, outlived the ones that
were allowed However, there was no conclusive proof that sleeping more
or sleeping less allowed you to live longer. There was a correlation
that animals with fast heart beats lived shorter lives than animals
with slow heart beats like the tortoise which can live over 100  years
quite easily. It makes me wonder if a person who sleeps say 12 hours a
day, (consequently eats less, has a slower metabolism and average
heart rate coupled to the fact that sleep mode is a replenishment
cycle) outlives a person who only sleeps a few hours (like me).
Hmmm... anyway I tend to find with my own cycle if I sleep around 4-5
hours during the week, I always need it back at the weekends sleeping
10-12 hours! I keep wondering if the time I am gaining now by sleeping
less, is actually borrowed time from the body's biological clock from
the future... gulp! Maybe they should have put 30 hours in a day and
not 24!
kind regards lot-ga

I'm not a sleep authority, so these are purely my comments.

According to: http://www.thesleepsite.com/hygiene2.html people need at
least 7+ hours of sleep.

My own experience suggested the same thing. If I sleep just about the
right amount of time (7 - 7 1/2 hours), I will woke up feeling 'just
right'. A little too much will make me feel a little lazy. The
'strange' thing is about when I sleep less.

If I sleep less (about 4-5 hours a day everyday) and I was active
enough during I awake, I will feel sleepy sometimes later (7-10 hours
later), which then I will sleep for 15-30 minutes and it 'fixed' that.
If I was not active enough physically, somehow I was not sleepy on the
day. Maybe my body metabolism was slowed down when I did nothing. And
I did this for years now, so probably my body get used to it.

For your questions, I read in some books/articles that Deep Meditation
might make your body rested as well, and it can be better than sleep
itself. However, this method have to be practiced for years. Buddhist
monks seem to sleep about 4-5 hours a day everyday (maybe less), but
then they already achieve those high quality meditation standard.

So, for your case, there is no shortcuts to have a great 4-5 hours
sleep. You need to slow down your awake metabolism and take short naps
if possible. Some said naps will disturb the needed night sleep, so do
it as early as possible (probably around lunch time) for a very short
time (15+ mins). When it is time for you to sleep, don't let anything
bother you (make sure that your mind really want to sleep and didn't
worry about anything). When it is possible, have a really good 7-8
hours sleep once a week (maybe on the weekends?). During the other
days, try make your brain activity more uniformed (to make it used to
be in 'meditated' condition). To cover for the loss 2-3 hours of real
sleep, you can try to put your mind set into a virtual sleep, like 1-2
hours before your real sleep (when you watch TV, or taking shower, and
such), and another 1-2 hours after you woke up (when you have
breakfast, went to the work place in the bus (don't sleep when you
drive!), reading newspaper and such).

In short, you have to make your body accustomed to these (shorter)
cycle, but don't give it a hard time. Is it bad to your body? Only you
(your body) can tell. For me, my body got used to it, and I always
give them a 'payback' period once a week. :)

Have a nice day!

You might also check this previous question for information on famous
people who sleep/slept four hours or less.
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=2201

Personal anecdote to serve as encouragement.

I once believed I needed 10hrs. of sleep a day and did so all through
my college years (avoiding those insane 8am classes like the plaque)
and well into my 20s. Then a funny thing happened: we had kids. The
kids get me up like clockword, every morning at some insanely early
hour: "Dad, I want breakfast" ("oh yeah?"), "Dad, I have to go to
school" ("what would you want to do that for?") "Daaaaad" ("ok, ok,
already").

As I am the type who can't sleep before midnight, and often not until
2am, I just get about half the sleep I previously thought I needed.
It's been at least 6 years this way and I honestly can't tell any
difference.

Hope your body responds the same way!