There is another system known as Interrupted Sleep, which is primarily a biphasic sleep pattern where two periods of night-time sleep are punctuated by a period of wakefulness. And along with a siesta in the day, tests have proven that this is the natural pattern of human sleep and is important in regulating stress and consequently, productivity.

Here you can see my partner & baby, breaking their usual monophasic cycle to enjoy the beach at night.

For centuries we have been encouraged to adopt a monophasic sleep pattern and certainly our body design appears to favour this system. Unlike many other mamals, our visual acuity is greatly reduced at night, making daylight hours the logical choice for optimal productivity. In addition to this we are told that our natural circadian rhythm regulates the production of hormones which create wakefulness during the day and sleepiness at night. Whilst this may be true, the vast array of artificial lights in the average person's life and general lack of natural daylight certainly cannot be helping us connect with our true circadian rhythm.

London, 2012 (shot at sunset from the top of the Shell Building)

I don't know about you guys but I can think of a fair few times when I felt more awake at night than I did during the day. It all depends on the energy of the moment and our connection to that which our bodies require. Which in my world boils down to two simple options: rest or play?

Before the Industrial Revolution, Interrupted Sleep was the dominant system in Western civilization. Yet today monophasic sleep is the norm...for everyone! It is forced on us from birth, not because of any big conspiracy, but simple naivety relating directly to modern society and its obsession with money. The average person works 9-5 Monday to Friday, giving them little hope of ever adopting a polyphasic sleep pattern.

Hong Kong at night, 2015

In some warmer, more relaxed countries (like Spain) the biphasic pattern is the norm and an afternoon siesta is assisted by the complete shut down of all the shops during this period. Studies clearly show that these people live longer & less stressful lives as a consequence.

The South of France, 2015

The catalyst for my new discovery

The introduction of a baby into my life has literally woken me up to the necessity of leading a fully functional polyphasic lifestyle. An option I was previously aware of but never had the motivation to put it into practice. So, thank you baby!

This picture was taken on Esteban's first day of life on the outside :)

Babies are polyphasic and sleep when they feel tired. Free from all responsibilities & stress I wonder if we as adults would naturally re-adopt this system?

Here you can see my son Esteban in this montage of quick-fire shots, having a good old yawn, ready for snooze time :)

There are many other mammals on this planet which clearly adopt the polyphasic system because like babies they are unconcerned with money making pressures or the stresses of daily life. They simply do what feels most natural to them: they sleep when they are tired!

Here you can see my very fluffy cat perfectly illustrating this point :)

Bali dawn, 2016

There is no question that the morning sunlight on my skin makes me feel alive in a way that is hard to describe with words and re-invigorates me completely after my 5 hours of night work. I am a sun-gazer too, a subject I promise to explain to you in detail soon.

In essence what this means is that I look directly at the sun in a meditative state when it rises and this further energises me, pushing me on till that lunch-time siesta, at which point I fall asleep the moment I get comfortable on the bed.

Here is my little wooden office in which I am currently spending most of my time.

My life in Bali has been very busy recently with plenty of manifesting to be done and in order to maximise my time I am now capable of making the switch from a monophasic lifestyle to a polyphasic lifestyle. I don't use the Interrupted Sleep pattern which appears to be the optimum system for many. Instead I do what feels right to me:

My Polyphasic Day

I am in no way strict with myself about sticking to this schedule but in general I seem to sleep around 4.5 hours and get in a minimum of 18 hours work per 24 hour cycle. It constantly amazes me how much I can get done each day, and how much energy I have with which to do it. However, my body speaks to me when my mind is quiet enough to listen. And what it says is this: do not abuse me...everything in moderation please.

And so I do not adopt this system for any longer than one month at a time. I didn't do any research to come up with this number. It's just what feels right to me. And for you it might be different. But there is only one way to know for sure. And that my friends is to give it a try!

So why not see how much more productive you can become? Simply by better understanding your options and putting into practice that which feels right to you.

Please let me know how you get on... I would love to hear from anyone who tries this!

Thank you for your time my Steemit friends. Hope this helps you create some more of it :)