There's definitely no reason to wake yourself up in the middle of the night on purpose. I earnestly advise against setting an alarm clock for 1am just so you can get segmented sleep.

It can occur naturally if you are getting a good amount (read 8-10) hours of sleep time in a dark environment. Turning off TV and other electronics an hour before bed helps too.

Don't force it assuming it's required.

If you want to really play with it, it will come naturally if you give up lighting your house and watching tv/staring at a computer after dark. You'll fall asleep really early, and then will wake naturally for a few hours in the middle of the night, and then get sleepy and finish the night out.

Do not under any circumstances turn lights on in the middle of the night though if you are doing this or your circadian rhythms will get all sorts of whacked out and your brain will say, "Good morning!" That time is for pondering life, staring at the stars, and enjoying your bed mate if they happen to be awake too.

Drink a lot of water right before bed and you will have to get up. Works for me, I wake around 1am to go to the bathroom.

Read this about how you really should interpret the bi-modal sleep results from the research:

http://www.robbwolf.com/2012/02/23/sleep-sleep-sleep-how-artificial-lighting-and-cortisol-impact-zzzs/

2 weeks ago after looking at the Zeo Sleep Age page: http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/sleepage I guessed that perhaps I was automatically waking up after my last REM.

Generally I feel terrible every morning when I get out of bed around 7:30 woken by my alarm, and after dozing off after automatically waking up around 6:00. So I set my alarm for 6:30 and like magic I not only wake up a few minutes before my alarm but I now get out of bed feeling refreshed.

This is awesome since basically I think I have just learnt to do what the Zeo Sleep Manager would have told me/helped me to do. That is to wake up after the earliest sensible last REM cycle and thus not slip into my next REM cycle, only to have it broken by the alarm leaving me feeling very groggy. Saved me $150.00!

So basically if you are someone who wakes up automatically between the hours of 4:00 and 07:00 then I would say note what time you wake and then set your alarm to go off just after that time. You may be waking just after your REM; and having your alarm go off after rather than during and breaking the following REM cycle may make you feel a lot more refreshed.

I would say getting up before 4:00 may not feel so great if you go to bed around 23:00. I am still playing with this all but I can honestly say I have been surprised by simply just getting up when my body wakes me up at 6:00, rather then heading back into a dream.

I've been a segmented sleeper my whole life, and there are a few things I do differently than most people. For one, I've never had much tolerance for heavy curtains and unnaturally dark rooms. I have "light-filtering" mini blinds and sheer curtains that give me privacy, but don't block much light. While it was never a conscious choice, I feel like the natural light has done a lot to keep my circadian rhythms tuned to a more evolutionary normal.

Another thing is that I don't fight it. I go to bed when I'm sleepy. When I wake up in the middle of the night I don't panic - I know I'll be comfortably out again in a couple of hours and I'm not going to wake up tired. I spend my wakeful time doing relaxing, pleasant things.

To give you an idea of my regular sleep schedule, I'm typically ready to zonk out by 10, and I'm asleep within just a few minutes of my head hitting the pillow. I usually wake up from my first sleep around 2, get up, go to the bathroom, maybe have a glass of water or an apple, and settle back into bed to read a book, check the news, or just relax and think about my day. Second sleep usually comes around 3 or 4 (recognize when you get sleepy again and don't fight it), and from there I sleep until around 7. I'm never tired, even when getting less than 8 hours of sleep. It's really all about listening to your body and trusting it to do what it needs.

What's 'natural' for you, is how you tend to sleep when you are getting enough hours of sleep in good conditions (dark quiet room, no tv right before bed, etc).

I usually wake often during the night for less than 10 minutes, but I've never been a bi-modal sleeper. Even when my parents forced me to lie in a dark room, sleeping or not, from 7pm or 8pm onward, every night (they were very strict about it until I was 11 or 12) - never did I wake up during the middle of the night for an extended period of time. I don't tend to be an easy waker in general; I sleep through violent storms and any number of crazy noises, and have to force myself up in stages in the morning. On the other hand my ex-BF has woken up for an hour or two between 2 and 5 his whole life. He is also a very easy/natural waker and easily startled. Maybe this has something to do with sleep style, who knows.

The sleep pattern requires about 10 hours sleeping time. This would be ideally from 7-8pm to 5-6am, with a 1-2 hours break in between. Obviously nothing would be forced. You just prepare yourself for bed with no lighting at 7pm, and go with the flow.

Question is can you leave aside so much time for sleep. You could do some light reading during the break hours. But it cannot be something that is engrossing, so not really productive work. It should make you more productive during work hours though.

Nice to see that biphasic (or segmented) sleep has hit mainstream news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

My husband & I found ourselves naturally doing this. We wake up around the same time to pee & then cuddle & talk for an hour or so. We've had some really great discussions at 3am!

I agree that if you sleep through the night, there is no need to wake yourself up!

I wonder if this is a natural pattern for older folk (I'm 49 & my husband is 55). I used to sleep through the night when I was younger, simply because I didn't get up to pee...

Have kids. My infants have made my sleep extremely segmented. I don't recommend it; it's not any fun.

Hi Everyone ! Since I eat super healthy and have become a lean bean hehe I usually have a 2phase sleeping pattern and I LOVE IT . I go to bed usually before 10 pm , wake up at 3:30 am , going to bed again at 5 am and sleep until 7 am .

I absolutely embrace it . I talk to my mum , think about my dreams or write down some ideas I get as I am working on printing out some books now.

If I had a partner I would perhaps have a sex with him during this time.

It's natural.

it's for longevity .

I wake up fresher , feeling younger , can push harder during my workout in a day . I think it also means you detox and therefore waking up .strong text

currently i have been getting segmented sleep occurring naturally to me, and it has been a nightmare.

i am currently in a job working long hours with a small break and finishing late at night, the divided sleep pattern just isn't providing the same amount of energy as a solid 6-7 hour sleep would and after a week of this pattern setting in a have been know to wake up still very sleepy and am unable to function normally after around 3pm.

Have become increasingly sensitive physically and emotionally and as a person am quite "fragile" which is very unlike me. There doesn't seem to be anyway for me to break this sleep cycle and the fatigue has been compounding over the last 3 weeks.

I graduated high school this past summer and while i was in school i slept in segments. I came home mostly at 3:30pm then grabbed something to eat, watched tv or hoped online and went straight to sleep usually between 6-7pm cuz that when i felt tired. i didnt want to fight thru tiredness with any stimulants since ive been raised to do what i felt was right and using coffee to stay awake i thought was dumb since you are fighting a losing battle by doing something like that. When a car needs gas, you dont put oil in the tank kno what i mean.

i would sleep from 7pm until 12am-1am. No alarm clock needed. So from 12am up until about 3am i would be doing homework. I was very familiar with the moon and its different shapes during these times. After the homwork was complete i would just play with itunes then jump straight to bed and wake up at 7:00am to prepare for school like eat breakfest, brush & bath. Honestly i had true peace of mind during these times, i was fully awake and had extraordinary confidence and optimism for all challenges the next day brought. Plus theres no distractions at 2am on a business day. And my sleep segments were completely voluntary, i could have had a shot of 5hr energy but i did what was truly natural. oh and i never even heard of sleep segments and these regimes while i was doing it.

And reading some of these stories on the thread it looks like the segmented sleepers are forced into it and thats really the wrong way to go. It needs to happen the way your body naturally wants it, everyone is different what works for you will not work for someone else. i kno people that thrive on 5 hours sleep per day and some the conventional 8 hours. Its not magic theres always somthing that works well for you and not someone else. Just experiment around and find what works. That may not be possible for everyone but really only you control your life. Dont make excuses for a healthier life