Polyphasic Sleep - Addiction

Even one week of polyphasic sleeping was too much.

It's been nearly a week since I stopped this, but I still remember the taste of the forbidden fruit. I remember it keenly, and can't stop thinking about it - I'm intoxicated by what it felt like during the nights. For someone like me, it's an addiction that is haunting me, however brief the contact.

On a side note, I have to admit that my sleep has been changed during the last week. In particular, I can remember most of my dreams when I wake up, while I used to never remember them.

This week, I continued reading articles and study reports on the internet. I have come to realize that the object of study is sleep deprivation, and not light- and deep-sleep deprivation. They say that deep-sleep is essential to the human body, but it has never been studied in isolation, by itself - I can't find any that doesn't turn out to be generic sleep-deprivation. What if the body only needs REM sleep?

I also learned (today, actually), that the amount of deep sleep decreases with age. I don't know if older people don't sleep as well as younger people, or if their lives are more at risk, but they seem fine to me. That gives me a small idea that maybe, just maybe, deep sleep is overrated.

What about sleep debt? What if it really is an REM-sleep debt? Would it make sense? Sleeping a shorter night can cut a whole sleep cycle from your night, and along with it, its REM section. Since an average sleep cycle lasts 1.5 hours (mine is closer to one hour), and an average night lasts 7 to 9 hours, that gives you an average of 5 or 6 cycles during the night. And what do you know? The uberman polyphasic sleep schedule gives you 6 naps every day, and every nap gives you a whole REM section (which itself lasts 15 to 20 minutes).

If what the body really needs is REM sleep (and only REM sleep), you get as much of it as a normal person in a whole night. And if this turns out to be the case, my strongest point against polyphasism (Con - Lack of Deep Sleep, and Sleep Debt (7/10), in my last post), is rendered invalid. This section was the tipping point in my list, and helped me make my decision to stop this schedule.

So what should I do? This is a rhetorical question to myself, but if you have any insight that would help me...