Diet

Eat healthily

The more healthily you eat, the more energy you should have. Steve Pavlina says that when he went to a vegetarian diet, he received an energy boost, and that, later in his life, when he went to a vegan diet, he got another energy boost. No doubt others claim different results, but Steve is well-known as one of the most sucessful polyphasic sleepers. See if you can find recipes, etc, ahead of time; I made some refried beans so that I could have tacos without meat. It's also well-known that herbivores need less sleep than carnivores.

Particular recommendations

• Water: Drink 4 litres (a gallon) of water a day.
• Grapes: Everyone seems to talk about craving or eating grapes, so it might be an idea to have some on hand. Some people, though, say that polyphasic grapes are a myth. It may just be the sugar high combined with the water (water is good).
• Someone has recommended small, light meals of fruit and nuts (see also Eat Often, below)
• Vinegar: Others have recommended vinegar (mixed with something of course); you can mix it with apple cider, or drink pickle juice

Eat often

Polynappers need more to eat than monophasic sleepers. This is because you burn more energy, so the extra food doesn't make you gain weight. If you eat smaller meals more often, your energy levels are less likely to crash. My experience is that it's best to eat immediately following a nap.

Eat non-sleep-inducing foods

Some foods induce more sleep than others. Specifically, anything with tryptophan in it. However, tryptophan is much more likely to make you sleepy if the food has no other amino acids in it. You should avoid these in the night periods, but they should be safe enough during the day (depending, naturally, upon your sleeping patterns).

Some examples of high tryptophan, low other amino acid foods (hi-try foods) are:

• Dairy foods
• Nuts
• Meat (any kind)
• Chocolate
• Oats
• Bananas
• Dried dates
• Sesame

Tryptophan also enters your brain more easily if you eat high-carbohydrate foods, so you may want to avoid those too. Basically, that's at least anything with sugar or starch (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, corn, etc).

It takes the tryptophan in your food about an hour to reach your brain.

Note: Lowering tryptophan may affect ADHD related disorders.

Low-GI foods

Some have also suggested that low-GI foods may help you manage your energy levels better. You can find out which are which here.

---

If you thought this page was valuable, please consider returning some of that value by either:

• Buying yourself something using one of the links to Amazon on this site
• Donating a book to me.