I am a polyphasic sleeper since11 years now. I organically grew into it, because it feels much better and more natural.
My core sleep is 4,5 to 5 hours and I take a 45 to 75 nap. During wintertime I go to bed between 5 and 6 AM till between 9:30 and 11 AM. I take my nap between 7 and 9 PM. During summertime I want to benefit from the cool mornings and the long evenings outside, so I go to bed around 4 AM and get up around 9 AM, with a late siesta between 5 and 6 PM.
It was only a couple of years ago that I learned from a to me very reliable source that in the very beginning the human species were nocturnal beings. Like me, they slept during the early mornings, for safety reasons. This was changed for practical reasons. So the coach that Cristiana is talking about, is just conditioned and not really informed, from my perspective.
To me, my current sleeping schedule feels far more natural then the one I was forced to have when I was still working or had to bring my kid to school. And I think that a lot of sleeping problems are caused by the fact that we actually were never meant to sleep 8 hours in a row at night. Not so long ago even, humans slept for 4 hours, then got up to take a walk, socialize, have sex, etc…, after which they went back to sleep for another 4 hours.
What we now consider as a “normal” sleeping schedule is to me nothing more than conditioning, and not natural.
I love my long creative nights, when the world around me is asleep. And maybe it’s because of my confidence, but although people are surprised when they hear about my sleeping habits, I have never felt judged for it. On the contrary: often people tell me that they wish they could do the same. :)