{"id":622290,"date":"2024-07-03T10:00:35","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/?p=622290"},"modified":"2024-07-01T18:36:36","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T22:36:36","slug":"sleep-shaming-or-bio-hacking-feline-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/felines-weekly\/sleep-shaming-or-bio-hacking-feline-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleep Shaming or Bio-Hacking: The Science of Feline Polyphasic Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi, I\u2019m Dr. Lauren!\u00a0Read my introduction<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about me and my two adventurous cats, Pancake and Tiller.<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK, I admit it. I sleep shame Pancake. If you\u2019ve read my previous articles, you\u2019ve likely seen multiple comments about how often she can be found\u2026 sleeping<\/a>. To the point that some days I actually wonder if she does ever leave the sofa during the day, while I\u2019m at work.<\/p>\n

A recent podcast by the Huberman Lab, however, made me question if I needed to rethink her hours of time whiled away sleeping.<\/p>\n

When we are born, as babies we enter the world as polyphasic sleepers. So what happens, and what is polyphasic sleep?<\/p>\n

According to the sleep foundation, polyphasic sleep is sleeping marked by multiple intervals of sleep and wakefulness throughout the 24-hour day.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Apparently there are even further schedules such as the Uberman, the Everyman, and the Triphasic, if you want to get really nitty gritty.<\/p>\n

\"Pancake<\/p>\n

The Benefits of Polyphasic Sleep<\/h2>\n

In newborns, our brains lack the capability to discern day and night signals that indicate sleep and wakefulness patterns in adulthood. But adult cats don\u2019t; they are diurnal creatures, so they obviously understand such signals. So why do animals such as cats retain this sleep pattern as they age? In fact, even fire ants<\/a> participate in polyphasic sleep. So, what are we humans missing?<\/p>\n

Some initial studies theorized that predation risk may have meant an evolutionary tendency towards polyphasic sleep. Basically, you were probably less likely to be a larger someone\u2019s snack if you weren\u2019t caught snoozing for 8 hours straight.<\/p>\n

But a more recent study<\/a> refuted this idea, suggesting that predation risk did not correlate with polyphasic sleep; instead they theorized that small animals may simply need more frequent feeding<\/a> and therefore their sleep schedule evolved to mimic their appetite and energy needs. (No one has yet done a study on whether, given the option of a memory foam mattress, and endless take out deliveries, if cats might elect to change to a monophasic sleep schedule!)<\/p>\n

\"Pancake<\/p>\n

The Drawbacks of Polyphasic Sleep<\/h2>\n

When done in a human context of using polyphasic sleep to limit non-waking periods to two hours today, at least one review study<\/a> found no benefits, and actually detrimental effects in physical and mental wellbeing, as well as productivity levels.<\/p>\n

But cats aren\u2019t limiting their sleep to two hours, attempting to squeeze every last drop of productivity into their day. Perhaps, a smarter approach would be to take a page from their book: relax more, sleep more, schedule less, and slow down. Unless it\u2019s a red dot, or a feather toy, or a particularly tasty bug<\/a>, in which case, all bets are off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, I\u2019m Dr. Lauren!\u00a0Read my introduction\u00a0to learn more about me and my two adventurous cats, Pancake and Tiller. OK, I admit it. I sleep shame Pancake. If you\u2019ve read my previous articles, you\u2019ve likely seen multiple comments about how often she can be found\u2026 sleeping. To the point that some days I actually wonder if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3870,"featured_media":622295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[448],"tags":[459,449],"yoast_head":"\nSleep Shaming or Bio-Hacking: The Science of Feline Polyphasic Sleep - Catster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"OK, she admits it: Dr. Lauren sleep shames Pancake. 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