On another note: if polyphasic cuts out everything but REM, does that make people more likely or less likely to remember their dreams?
Steve Pavlina's experience was positive- he would lucid dream and remember them better, I believe.
My experience has been negative. My first dream was a nightmare about falling asleep. A later dream had no visual input (but I recognized where things were and what they were regardless). Recently, at least half of the dreams I recall are just blackness and possibly an ache somewhere (though that has become less recent), where I notice it's a dream and attempt to move my hands until I wake up.
My ability to remember what happened in my dreams appears to have deteriorated, but I have no baseline measurement. I remember the content of 0 dreams from this month, and 0 from last month, and the last one which had details I still recall was in August (luckily, at the time I was keeping a dream journal, so I know the night it happened). I typically write in the diary that I'm keeping of the experience right after waking up from naps, but I don't think I've had much to say about dream content after the minute it takes to get from bed to computer.
My friend and I are starting the Uberman sleep schedule (six 20-minute naps spread evenly throughout each day) tonight. Have other lesswrongians experimented with alternate sleep schedules? Are any of you qualified medical experts who can give input or advice? Success stories and failure stories would both be appreciated, and I'll keep you guys posted on our progress.