I looked into that first, actually, mainly cause XKCD did a comic on it. I couldn't really find much solid on it-- in particular, I didn't find any accounts of people that have successfully used it for long periods. There were two or three things that really decided me against it, though-- first off, you'll have to go to a lot of effort translating between 24-hour time and 28-hour time, and you won't be able to use a watch to figure out when your sleep/wake hours are unless you also remember what day of the week it is and do some mental calculation, and I'm not good at that, especially if I'm getting tired. Second, the 28-hour day plays havoc with the body's circadian rhythms, and I haven't seen anything that suggests that people can actually adjust to that over the long-term, especially given you'll be exposed to a lot of sun and bright light during the 24/7 daylight hours while trying to adjust to a 28/6 schedule. And finally, the rest of the world works on 24/7, and you'll be throwing yourself out of sync with them. Maybe that's only a little thing, but it seems significant to me.
On the other hand, a polyphasic sleep schedule maintains the 24-hour cycle and your body can ramp up and down in time with the sun as it wants to. Even though you're awake for more of the day, it doesn't mean you're running at full steam for 20 hours in every 24. In fact, each waking phase begins to take on very different characteristics in terms of how active you are-- for me, on my schedule, the morning phase is very low-energy since I'm not a morning person. But after my morning nap, when I wake up it isn't morning anymore, it's midday. And after a couple minutes to clear the nap from my head, I feel a lot more active, though usually my day phase is better suited to mental activity than physical. And my evening phase is more physically active, and my night phase begins to wind down, though I can still be fairly active mentally and physically if I want to.
On the other hand, a polyphasic sleep schedule maintains the 24-hour cycle and your body can ramp up and down in time with the sun as it wants to. Even though you're awake for more of the day, it doesn't mean you're running at full steam for 20 hours in every 24. In fact, each waking phase begins to take on very different characteristics in terms of how active you are-- for me, on my schedule, the morning phase is very low-energy since I'm not a morning person. But after my morning nap, when I wake up it isn't morning anymore, it's midday. And after a couple minutes to clear the nap from my head, I feel a lot more active, though usually my day phase is better suited to mental activity than physical. And my evening phase is more physically active, and my night phase begins to wind down, though I can still be fairly active mentally and physically if I want to.
That answer your question? :)
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