6am: Awoke after 3 hours; am sleepy but my mind cleared fairly quickly to a dull haze.
Note: My difficulties with being excessively sleepy, sick, and oversleeping started at the time I cut my core to less than 3 hours. After reading this chart it seems that there are some combinations of sleep/waking patterns that do not work. I wonder if I need to jump right from 3 hrs core to 1.5 hours core? I'll try that next.
Note: Now that I'm stabilizing I feel somewhat confident that I won't get sick on this schedule, and if I do start to get sick, then I have an approach I can take and that would be to take a couple of 2-hour naps to get over it.
So I propose this schedule for me:
Core: 3-6am
Naps: 12noon, 5pm, 10pm
10:30am: so sleepy. I am determined to adhere to the schedule. Closed my eyes while sitting in the chair; woke up as my head fell backwards. Did that twice. It cleared my head a bit.
12:00noon: took my nap on time - awoke refreshed.
3:30pm: very sleepy, eyes closing. Put my head down on the desk and set my alarm for 5 minutes. Fell asleep in a few seconds, awoke in 5 minutes and now feeling sharper. This is definitely an effective technique, better than just closing my eyes until my head nods and wakes me up. I wonder if 10 minutes would have been better or worse.
5:00pm: Napped for 20 minutes, woke to alarm and then decided to sleep a little more because my throat had gotten that scratchy I'm-getting-a-cold telltale feeling a couple of hours before the nap - it was all gone upon waking after a total of 50 minutes. It seems these naps have great healing properties when extended at necessary times.
Note: Was very clear-headed from the nap all the way to my evening nap.
10:00pm: Tried to nap for 20 minutes. Couldn't drift off, possibly because of the lengthened nap at 5pm. Interesting.
11:00pm: Worked out: squats: 200(8), 220(8), 200(8), Leg press: 435(8), 480(9), 435(10). This is my normal workout and improved over last week. Was wide awake and vitalized until bedtime.
2:30am: Cup of chamomile tea.
3:00am: Went to bed.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Day 10
4:00am: Woke to alarm after 2 hours sleep, laid down my head for a second again and unintentionally went right out like a light.
5:00am: Awoke with great difficulty after a total of 3 hours sleep. I am so sleepy that I feel like I have been drugged. Is this good or is it indicative of a lack of sleep? Based on my previous analysis, it is good because I am sleeping so much more deeply now than I have since my 20's, and it is indicative of my body not having adjusted yet to this schedule.
6:37am: Made breakfast, was highly inefficient in the kitchen. Everything I do takes mental effort. I have some mental confusion; for instance, I had to stop and think which cupboard contained the drinking glasses; a normally autonomous action is today a puzzler.
7:00am: I am groggy and my eyes just want to close on their own. Cold air nor running in place did not help. I'll try a 20-minute nap.
7:20am: I am clearer. Funny how the first nap of the day always clears my mind. Let's see how the day plays out.
9:44am: Mind is much clearer. Got to my mail first thing this morning. This is a monumental event for me, since I am a tremendous mail-procrastinator. It usually languishes on my desk for a few days, I'll pick it up, put it down, and leave it there for a couple of weeks before I deal with it, hoping it will go away by itself. It usually doesn't. Who knew polysomnicity would help me deal with my terminal case of procrastination.
11:00am: napped for 20 minutes. Fell asleep like in about the amount of time it takes water to drain through a sieve. Dreaming was vivid and seemed to be continuous from the moment I laid down. Woke up very drowsy, again, like I have been given a dozen sleeping pills.
Note: Today is the most difficult so far. Up until today I have had reasonable through tremendous clarity throughout the day. So far today 50% of my waking time has been spent feeling like I want to go to sleep. I feel that I am either reaching some sort of barrier. Can I break through it and find something better on the other side? Should I try? What if there isn't anything better, or the barrier is impenetrable? I will find out.
4:10pm: I'm getting sick. I have a sore throat and my sinuses are swollen; difficulty breathing through my nose. I set the timer for 45 minutes to give more than double my nap length. Well, I'm not sure what happened - I remember waking up to my alarm but I don't remember if I turned it off. I awoke 2 hours later at 6:10pm. The good news is, I feel great again. Energy to spare, focus is up to normal.
Observation: I was getting sick, probable reason: my immunity levels were down, probable cause: lack of sleep. Confirmation of cause: I got sleep and am no longer exhibiting symptoms of the illness. Possible reasons for lack of sleep: a) body not yet adjusted to polysomnophasicity (ooo I like that one.) or b) It cannot adjust to polysomnosis. (-osis is a suffix expressing state, condition or process.) I'm going to disregard b), considering that I feel fantastic.
12:00pm - 20 minute nap. I was still feeling great, I could probably have gone a couple more hours without being tired, but I don't want to vary too far from the awake 4 hours/nap 20 minutes plan.
Note: I am having small difficulties with remembering things, such as when I go to do something, and then forget what I was just about to do. I haven't had this problem since my 20's. Is it something that will clear up, or is it something associated with my mental state in my 20's, and if I am reverting to my 20's mental state, then it is coming back?
3:00am: core time
5:00am: Awoke with great difficulty after a total of 3 hours sleep. I am so sleepy that I feel like I have been drugged. Is this good or is it indicative of a lack of sleep? Based on my previous analysis, it is good because I am sleeping so much more deeply now than I have since my 20's, and it is indicative of my body not having adjusted yet to this schedule.
6:37am: Made breakfast, was highly inefficient in the kitchen. Everything I do takes mental effort. I have some mental confusion; for instance, I had to stop and think which cupboard contained the drinking glasses; a normally autonomous action is today a puzzler.
7:00am: I am groggy and my eyes just want to close on their own. Cold air nor running in place did not help. I'll try a 20-minute nap.
7:20am: I am clearer. Funny how the first nap of the day always clears my mind. Let's see how the day plays out.
9:44am: Mind is much clearer. Got to my mail first thing this morning. This is a monumental event for me, since I am a tremendous mail-procrastinator. It usually languishes on my desk for a few days, I'll pick it up, put it down, and leave it there for a couple of weeks before I deal with it, hoping it will go away by itself. It usually doesn't. Who knew polysomnicity would help me deal with my terminal case of procrastination.
11:00am: napped for 20 minutes. Fell asleep like in about the amount of time it takes water to drain through a sieve. Dreaming was vivid and seemed to be continuous from the moment I laid down. Woke up very drowsy, again, like I have been given a dozen sleeping pills.
Note: Today is the most difficult so far. Up until today I have had reasonable through tremendous clarity throughout the day. So far today 50% of my waking time has been spent feeling like I want to go to sleep. I feel that I am either reaching some sort of barrier. Can I break through it and find something better on the other side? Should I try? What if there isn't anything better, or the barrier is impenetrable? I will find out.
4:10pm: I'm getting sick. I have a sore throat and my sinuses are swollen; difficulty breathing through my nose. I set the timer for 45 minutes to give more than double my nap length. Well, I'm not sure what happened - I remember waking up to my alarm but I don't remember if I turned it off. I awoke 2 hours later at 6:10pm. The good news is, I feel great again. Energy to spare, focus is up to normal.
Observation: I was getting sick, probable reason: my immunity levels were down, probable cause: lack of sleep. Confirmation of cause: I got sleep and am no longer exhibiting symptoms of the illness. Possible reasons for lack of sleep: a) body not yet adjusted to polysomnophasicity (ooo I like that one.) or b) It cannot adjust to polysomnosis. (-osis is a suffix expressing state, condition or process.) I'm going to disregard b), considering that I feel fantastic.
12:00pm - 20 minute nap. I was still feeling great, I could probably have gone a couple more hours without being tired, but I don't want to vary too far from the awake 4 hours/nap 20 minutes plan.
Note: I am having small difficulties with remembering things, such as when I go to do something, and then forget what I was just about to do. I haven't had this problem since my 20's. Is it something that will clear up, or is it something associated with my mental state in my 20's, and if I am reverting to my 20's mental state, then it is coming back?
3:00am: core time
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Day 9
3:20am: Awoke from core sleep; drowsy.
I'm spending the day driving 11 hours home to Pittsburgh, so I moved my core up to 1:30am. No problems falling asleep or staying asleep; sleep was deep and refreshing. I am not nearly as foggy now as I was after last night's core.
Note: It seems the core is easily moved hours ahead at this phase of sleep adaptation, probably due to some physical and mental fatigue due to the adjustment to polyphasia. I'm guessing it would be harder to delay it by a similar amount. Therefore a possible general rule-of-thumb for adaptees could be: taking core earlier (advancing it in the schedule) is easier than taking it later. This is the opposite of my monophasic sleep experience; it is easier to delay my sleep to later than to sleep earlier. What does that tell me? Well at this stage it tells me that I had a sleep surplus before (even though I didn't feel like it) and I have a sleep deficit now.
6:30am: tried to nap in the truck while the SO was driving. Got some rest but no sleep - the radio kept me awake.
9:10am: Took 20-minute nap as passenger while SO drives. I was out like a light, and slept deep until my alarm went off. I know I slept deeply because a) I'm very refreshed, and b) I found out after I woke up that we went through a toll plaza and I didn't even know it.
Observation: My body is adapting to the polyphasic approach by making me able to nap deeply and block everything else out. I have never been able to nap like that before in my life. Apparently, it is a skill that can be learned.
12:30am: A 20-minute nap turned into a 30-minute nap when I failed to hear my iPhone alarm or to feel it vibrate. My SO woke me up. I am napping very soundly today.
4:00pm: nearly home - am so drowsy I am dropping off to sleep, almost uncontrollable. What is interesting about this is that I went from fully awake to gripping drowsiness in about 5 minutes. The only warning I had was there was a dull feeling of fatigue in the back of my brain that built for about 20 minutes beforehand. It's good to know these episodes can occur. I have read about them in other polyphasic blogs. I closed my eyes for a few minutes to clear it up a bit, not wanting to sleep before I got home.
Note: I don't really like the term polyphasic - it doesn't contain any reference to sleep - I could just as easily be phasing in and out of this dimension with a vague term like that. Something that includes the latin roots somni-, somno-, somn-, -somnia, -somniac for sleep or dream. Polysomniac? Heh, sounds crazy, I like it. Polysomnia seems a better term, meaning multiple sleep. I can see myself saying "I have polysomnia," or "My name is Ken and I am a polysomniac." I tried "I'm polyphasic" on a couple of my friends and they thought it was a next-stage bipolar disorder, maybe one where I have multiple personalities who are all bipolar.
5:00pm: Took a one-hour nap. My throat had gotten scratchy through the day, and I felt I was coming down with my trademark sore throat/cold that has always accompanied a prolonged period of insufficient sleep. What I good idea that was. Awoke feeling like I had 8 hours sleep, and no vestiges of a cold or sore throat remain.
7:00pm: attended conference call for my job. I was as tuned in as I have ever been. Every sense bristled. This is the first time I have interacted with others from my work since I started this experiment. I was a bit of a steamroller, I'm afraid. But then again, that's what I am at work. This confirms to me that I will have no lack of verve when I go back to teaching in 2 weeks.
I'm spending the day driving 11 hours home to Pittsburgh, so I moved my core up to 1:30am. No problems falling asleep or staying asleep; sleep was deep and refreshing. I am not nearly as foggy now as I was after last night's core.
Note: It seems the core is easily moved hours ahead at this phase of sleep adaptation, probably due to some physical and mental fatigue due to the adjustment to polyphasia. I'm guessing it would be harder to delay it by a similar amount. Therefore a possible general rule-of-thumb for adaptees could be: taking core earlier (advancing it in the schedule) is easier than taking it later. This is the opposite of my monophasic sleep experience; it is easier to delay my sleep to later than to sleep earlier. What does that tell me? Well at this stage it tells me that I had a sleep surplus before (even though I didn't feel like it) and I have a sleep deficit now.
6:30am: tried to nap in the truck while the SO was driving. Got some rest but no sleep - the radio kept me awake.
9:10am: Took 20-minute nap as passenger while SO drives. I was out like a light, and slept deep until my alarm went off. I know I slept deeply because a) I'm very refreshed, and b) I found out after I woke up that we went through a toll plaza and I didn't even know it.
Observation: My body is adapting to the polyphasic approach by making me able to nap deeply and block everything else out. I have never been able to nap like that before in my life. Apparently, it is a skill that can be learned.
12:30am: A 20-minute nap turned into a 30-minute nap when I failed to hear my iPhone alarm or to feel it vibrate. My SO woke me up. I am napping very soundly today.
4:00pm: nearly home - am so drowsy I am dropping off to sleep, almost uncontrollable. What is interesting about this is that I went from fully awake to gripping drowsiness in about 5 minutes. The only warning I had was there was a dull feeling of fatigue in the back of my brain that built for about 20 minutes beforehand. It's good to know these episodes can occur. I have read about them in other polyphasic blogs. I closed my eyes for a few minutes to clear it up a bit, not wanting to sleep before I got home.
Note: I don't really like the term polyphasic - it doesn't contain any reference to sleep - I could just as easily be phasing in and out of this dimension with a vague term like that. Something that includes the latin roots somni-, somno-, somn-, -somnia, -somniac for sleep or dream. Polysomniac? Heh, sounds crazy, I like it. Polysomnia seems a better term, meaning multiple sleep. I can see myself saying "I have polysomnia," or "My name is Ken and I am a polysomniac." I tried "I'm polyphasic" on a couple of my friends and they thought it was a next-stage bipolar disorder, maybe one where I have multiple personalities who are all bipolar.
5:00pm: Took a one-hour nap. My throat had gotten scratchy through the day, and I felt I was coming down with my trademark sore throat/cold that has always accompanied a prolonged period of insufficient sleep. What I good idea that was. Awoke feeling like I had 8 hours sleep, and no vestiges of a cold or sore throat remain.
7:00pm: attended conference call for my job. I was as tuned in as I have ever been. Every sense bristled. This is the first time I have interacted with others from my work since I started this experiment. I was a bit of a steamroller, I'm afraid. But then again, that's what I am at work. This confirms to me that I will have no lack of verve when I go back to teaching in 2 weeks.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Day 8
6:20am Slept for 2 hours. Awoke to alarm - very sleepy. Possible causes: a) missed nap previous night, or b) too much sleep ( 40 minutes + 2 hours ), or c) not enough sleep, or d) started core sleep at the wrong time, or e) worked out hard the night before + A. I'm guessing A + D + E = C.
Observation: I'm sleepiest when I wake up. Last two days I've overslept a couple of naps, and been very sleepy this morning.
Let's try a hypothesis, starting with the obvious:
a) my brain must be releasing some chemical that makes me sleepy (uhm, melatonin - duh?)
b) The more it releases at once, the sleepier I get, the deeper I sleep. If I wake up after it has done that but before my body has used it up, I am groggy for a while until the melatonin? disperses. It feels a need for deeper sleep because I have shortened my sleep periods, so it releases more hormone to drive me deep quick.
c) So in my brain's attempt to adapt to shortened sleep periods it appears to exhibit signs of a lack of sleep i.e. sleeping through alarms and excessive sleepiness upon waking.
If this is true, then this inadvertently sabotages the effort to shorten the sleep period by exhibiting symptoms of lack of sleep when I awake and making me so drowsy that I fall back asleep as soon as I shut off the alarm. Thus, excessive sleepiness upon waking is a measure of the effectiveness of the adaptation but in the reverse way - the drowsier, the more the body is adapting. I imagine another measure of the effectiveness of the adaptation is the amount of bodily and mental energy exhibited throughout the waking period. The more alert and the more energy available at peak periods, the more effective the recovery during sleep. If this theory is true, then the following characteristics should present on a par with pre-polyphasal experience:
a) Mental acuity. This would encompass all mental abilities, i.e. alertness, clarity, powers of observation, memory, and more (testable, observable)
b) Physical strength and endurance (measurable)
c) Emotional. (Subjective; observable)
d) Immune system function. (Measurable; observable)
e) Spiritual. (Subjective)
f) others?
Regarding the above, so far:
a) I ran the pool table early in the experiment, even though I don't play pool well, and haven't played in years. (Externally verifiable; witnessed) Periods of increased clarity and alertness above the baseline pre-polyphasal clarity, periods of hyper-alertness.
b) Workouts are at the expected levels. Feeling a little less endurance, but this is explainable as I am radically altering my sleep patterns fairly quickly, there is bound to be some physical wear. Perhaps this could be avoided by extending the period of adaptation.
c) Feeling calmer, less stressed, more patience.
d) No illness as of yet. This is remarkable for me because I have, in the past always gotten sick (usually a cold, sometimes turning to laryngitis) whenever I went with less than 6 hours of sleep more than a few days in a row. In fact, recovery from the lung congestion I experience each time I visit South Carolina has been rapid.
e) unchanged.
Conclusion: My body is currently adjusting from old sleep patterns to the new ones. Old ones were less than optimal because I have experienced periods of increased alertness and ability. Perhaps the new ones will not be optimal either and it is unknown if they will ultimately be better, but during the transition phase I have encountered improved sleep abilities and patterns, so there is something that has improved by what I have done.
Comment on the efforts of others to reach polyphasic sleeping by suddenly changing their sleep patterns overnight to a radically different sleep schedule: this seems to me to be more prone to failure due to the inflexibility of the technique. Reasoning: the body recovers during sleep. Less recovery time at lower levels of recovery leads to a decrease in all measures, eventually making the body desperate for more recovery. If the body is not able to adapt to the new patterns quickly enough, then the attempt at changing the sleep patterns will fail and the body will fall asleep on it's own in order to recover. Thus, the number of successes will be determined by the average ability of the general population to adapt quickly. Perhaps this is why there is a high failure rate.
11:45am : Napped for 20 minutes. Prior to that my head got clearer and clearer. Wasn't tired, but when I laid down, I left my eyes open and after a minute they naturally closed and I instantly drifted off. Now am nicely alert.
Some interesting information on sleeping in general can be found here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026781.600-time-to-wake-up-to-the-facts-about-sleep.html
4:00pm: 20-minute nap. Awoke with a feeling of pressure behind my eyes. This feeling started a couple of days ago and comes when I don't have enough sleep.
4:40pm: 20-minute nap. I decided to do two naps with 20 minutes in between to see if I could get rid of the behind-the-eyesocket pressure. It helped. It's not disabling, simply present and indicates I am not well-rested enough. I hope it will be alleviated as I get better at napping.
8:00pm: 30-minute nap. I tried 30 minutes this time because I noticed my nasal passages are closed. I thought a little more rest might be useful. I am certainly less foggy (today my brain has been a little foggy all day) and now I am clearer.
Note: I read on a couple of other blogs (stevepavlina.com for one) that when polyphasers - or perhaps polyphasician would be more accurate - get sick, they revert to monophasic sleep to recover and then return to polyphasary. At this time I could understand the core and nap times longer, but it seems extreme to return all the way to monophasicity, especially since people who are truly sick tend to lay down a lot during the day and often sleep during the day.
10:11pm: Note: I am studying for periods of hours at a time without experiencing the mental exhaustion, frustration and re-reading necessary I have always encountered when studying a new course. It seems odd that I should feel a little sleepy and yet still have better long-term concentration. Possible explanation: I am more focused? It makes me think I should have started this experiment with baseline mental metrics using PC applications or web applications and then performed the tests over the period of adjustment.
Note: Listening to music while studying; found a new artist: Stephan Bodzin. At the time I first started to listen to his tracks they seemed to captivate my attention, almost hypnotically. The tracks were rich, deep and pulsating. Maybe the artist's sound is really that captivating, or maybe I was having an enhanced auditory experience - or maybe a combination of both. It didn't seem that I was having an enhanced experience at the time, but now reflecting back (it is 4:45 am the follwing day and I am editing this day's post) it seemed too good to be true, too real to be simply music in my ears. It was an engrossing experience; so much so that I had to stop studying and simply close my eyes and absorb the sound for a while. Now I have done that in the past - prior to polyphasia, but I can't remember getting that much enjoyment out of a track since I was a teenager. How interesting that so many of my experiences on this journey not only remind me of how I experienced my senses during that time of my life, but it seems that my senses have been revitalized and are reaching a refreshed state, as if the hands of time had been turned back on them all. The important thing for me to emphasize at this time is the nature of the enhancement seems to be in the cerebral processing of the signals, not in the receivers. To give you an analogy, it's as if my brain before polyphasia was taking analog signals and converting them to digital, discrete packets and processing each one, resulting in a someone choppy feeling and discontinuous exprience of the world, and now it is as if it is no longer converting, but processing the analog signal directly as a smooth unbroken and continious input. It is as if my brain had before been clogged like a drain, restricting the flow of information, and now is rinsed out and free-flowing.
12:10am: 20-minute nap. Awoke clear-headed.
1:30am: Core sleep: 1 hr 50 minutes.
Observation: I'm sleepiest when I wake up. Last two days I've overslept a couple of naps, and been very sleepy this morning.
Let's try a hypothesis, starting with the obvious:
a) my brain must be releasing some chemical that makes me sleepy (uhm, melatonin - duh?)
b) The more it releases at once, the sleepier I get, the deeper I sleep. If I wake up after it has done that but before my body has used it up, I am groggy for a while until the melatonin? disperses. It feels a need for deeper sleep because I have shortened my sleep periods, so it releases more hormone to drive me deep quick.
c) So in my brain's attempt to adapt to shortened sleep periods it appears to exhibit signs of a lack of sleep i.e. sleeping through alarms and excessive sleepiness upon waking.
If this is true, then this inadvertently sabotages the effort to shorten the sleep period by exhibiting symptoms of lack of sleep when I awake and making me so drowsy that I fall back asleep as soon as I shut off the alarm. Thus, excessive sleepiness upon waking is a measure of the effectiveness of the adaptation but in the reverse way - the drowsier, the more the body is adapting. I imagine another measure of the effectiveness of the adaptation is the amount of bodily and mental energy exhibited throughout the waking period. The more alert and the more energy available at peak periods, the more effective the recovery during sleep. If this theory is true, then the following characteristics should present on a par with pre-polyphasal experience:
a) Mental acuity. This would encompass all mental abilities, i.e. alertness, clarity, powers of observation, memory, and more (testable, observable)
b) Physical strength and endurance (measurable)
c) Emotional. (Subjective; observable)
d) Immune system function. (Measurable; observable)
e) Spiritual. (Subjective)
f) others?
Regarding the above, so far:
a) I ran the pool table early in the experiment, even though I don't play pool well, and haven't played in years. (Externally verifiable; witnessed) Periods of increased clarity and alertness above the baseline pre-polyphasal clarity, periods of hyper-alertness.
b) Workouts are at the expected levels. Feeling a little less endurance, but this is explainable as I am radically altering my sleep patterns fairly quickly, there is bound to be some physical wear. Perhaps this could be avoided by extending the period of adaptation.
c) Feeling calmer, less stressed, more patience.
d) No illness as of yet. This is remarkable for me because I have, in the past always gotten sick (usually a cold, sometimes turning to laryngitis) whenever I went with less than 6 hours of sleep more than a few days in a row. In fact, recovery from the lung congestion I experience each time I visit South Carolina has been rapid.
e) unchanged.
Conclusion: My body is currently adjusting from old sleep patterns to the new ones. Old ones were less than optimal because I have experienced periods of increased alertness and ability. Perhaps the new ones will not be optimal either and it is unknown if they will ultimately be better, but during the transition phase I have encountered improved sleep abilities and patterns, so there is something that has improved by what I have done.
Comment on the efforts of others to reach polyphasic sleeping by suddenly changing their sleep patterns overnight to a radically different sleep schedule: this seems to me to be more prone to failure due to the inflexibility of the technique. Reasoning: the body recovers during sleep. Less recovery time at lower levels of recovery leads to a decrease in all measures, eventually making the body desperate for more recovery. If the body is not able to adapt to the new patterns quickly enough, then the attempt at changing the sleep patterns will fail and the body will fall asleep on it's own in order to recover. Thus, the number of successes will be determined by the average ability of the general population to adapt quickly. Perhaps this is why there is a high failure rate.
11:45am : Napped for 20 minutes. Prior to that my head got clearer and clearer. Wasn't tired, but when I laid down, I left my eyes open and after a minute they naturally closed and I instantly drifted off. Now am nicely alert.
Some interesting information on sleeping in general can be found here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026781.600-time-to-wake-up-to-the-facts-about-sleep.html
4:00pm: 20-minute nap. Awoke with a feeling of pressure behind my eyes. This feeling started a couple of days ago and comes when I don't have enough sleep.
4:40pm: 20-minute nap. I decided to do two naps with 20 minutes in between to see if I could get rid of the behind-the-eyesocket pressure. It helped. It's not disabling, simply present and indicates I am not well-rested enough. I hope it will be alleviated as I get better at napping.
8:00pm: 30-minute nap. I tried 30 minutes this time because I noticed my nasal passages are closed. I thought a little more rest might be useful. I am certainly less foggy (today my brain has been a little foggy all day) and now I am clearer.
Note: I read on a couple of other blogs (stevepavlina.com for one) that when polyphasers - or perhaps polyphasician would be more accurate - get sick, they revert to monophasic sleep to recover and then return to polyphasary. At this time I could understand the core and nap times longer, but it seems extreme to return all the way to monophasicity, especially since people who are truly sick tend to lay down a lot during the day and often sleep during the day.
10:11pm: Note: I am studying for periods of hours at a time without experiencing the mental exhaustion, frustration and re-reading necessary I have always encountered when studying a new course. It seems odd that I should feel a little sleepy and yet still have better long-term concentration. Possible explanation: I am more focused? It makes me think I should have started this experiment with baseline mental metrics using PC applications or web applications and then performed the tests over the period of adjustment.
Note: Listening to music while studying; found a new artist: Stephan Bodzin. At the time I first started to listen to his tracks they seemed to captivate my attention, almost hypnotically. The tracks were rich, deep and pulsating. Maybe the artist's sound is really that captivating, or maybe I was having an enhanced auditory experience - or maybe a combination of both. It didn't seem that I was having an enhanced experience at the time, but now reflecting back (it is 4:45 am the follwing day and I am editing this day's post) it seemed too good to be true, too real to be simply music in my ears. It was an engrossing experience; so much so that I had to stop studying and simply close my eyes and absorb the sound for a while. Now I have done that in the past - prior to polyphasia, but I can't remember getting that much enjoyment out of a track since I was a teenager. How interesting that so many of my experiences on this journey not only remind me of how I experienced my senses during that time of my life, but it seems that my senses have been revitalized and are reaching a refreshed state, as if the hands of time had been turned back on them all. The important thing for me to emphasize at this time is the nature of the enhancement seems to be in the cerebral processing of the signals, not in the receivers. To give you an analogy, it's as if my brain before polyphasia was taking analog signals and converting them to digital, discrete packets and processing each one, resulting in a someone choppy feeling and discontinuous exprience of the world, and now it is as if it is no longer converting, but processing the analog signal directly as a smooth unbroken and continious input. It is as if my brain had before been clogged like a drain, restricting the flow of information, and now is rinsed out and free-flowing.
12:10am: 20-minute nap. Awoke clear-headed.
1:30am: Core sleep: 1 hr 50 minutes.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Day 7
7:20am Woke without help from my alarm. Rolled over and fell asleep with the intent to get up in a few minutes.
7:45am Woke and got up. Core sleep: 2.5 hrs.
Today's alertness: very good.
10:30am: 20 minute nap. Decided to take it 1 hr early because I was getting just a little tired and wanted to stay alert and rested throughout today and not have another really sleepy episode like last night, even if it was caused by the alchohol.
Notes:
Another approach to getting to the Uberman schedule occurred to me: maybe I should split my core sleep into two segments, e.g. instead of a core of 2 hrs, sleep 2 1-hour cores, and then gradually reduce their duration. Perhaps one in the evening, one in the early morning. Or perhaps one in the early morning and one at noon. Or one in the early evening and one at noon. I'm trying to accomplish two things by doing this: arriving at a schedule that I can stay on while I'm working: sleep before work, at lunch, and after work, without having to take naps.
I realize now that I have had two episodes of what I will call hyper-awareness. Last night when I was bringing in firewood from the back yard, I was acutely aware of every minuscule moment passing by, as if I had high-definition consciousness. This also occurred the morning of Day 4 as well and lasted about 20 minutes. I wonder if it will happen again.
1:30pm: 20 minute nap - awoke refreshed and alert
3:30pm: 20 minute nap. I'm spacing naps a little closer together today to ensure I get enough rest. I don't want a repeat of last night.
6:30pm: 20 minute nap. Asleep in less than a minute. Awoke refreshed.
Observation: alertness higher than baseline before the experiment - lower than hyper-alertness. I'll call it elevated alertness. Occasional mild tinnitus (ringing in the ears) ... possibly an artifact of caffeine withdrawal.
10:00pm: gym, squats (warmup) 125(8), 145(8), deadlifts: 285(8) 315(7), 285(8), stiff-leg 225(8), 245(7). Observation: these are normal weights and reps for me, considering I took a week off. I feel like i have slightly less endurance; strength is unchanged.
11:00pm: blood pressure 120 over 77, heart rate 74. My normal heart rate is around 60-64. Could be due to recent workout,
12:30pm: attempted 20 minute nap. Could not sleep. Remained in bed for the entire time. I am highly stimulated - I haven't had caffeine that I know of, although I feel as stimulated as that but without the jitters. I attribute it to the workout. Animated conversation feeling a familiar caffeinated intense focus, but without the caffeine, jitters, or shortened patience; a form of heightened awareness with associated energy burst.
3:30am: attempted 20 minute nap. Awakened by my SO after 40 minutes. I either forgot to set my alarm or I awoke and shut it off. Awake for 10 minutes, decided to move my core sleep up to see how that goes. Slept for 2 hours. Awoke to alarm with difficulty.
7:45am Woke and got up. Core sleep: 2.5 hrs.
Today's alertness: very good.
10:30am: 20 minute nap. Decided to take it 1 hr early because I was getting just a little tired and wanted to stay alert and rested throughout today and not have another really sleepy episode like last night, even if it was caused by the alchohol.
Notes:
Another approach to getting to the Uberman schedule occurred to me: maybe I should split my core sleep into two segments, e.g. instead of a core of 2 hrs, sleep 2 1-hour cores, and then gradually reduce their duration. Perhaps one in the evening, one in the early morning. Or perhaps one in the early morning and one at noon. Or one in the early evening and one at noon. I'm trying to accomplish two things by doing this: arriving at a schedule that I can stay on while I'm working: sleep before work, at lunch, and after work, without having to take naps.
I realize now that I have had two episodes of what I will call hyper-awareness. Last night when I was bringing in firewood from the back yard, I was acutely aware of every minuscule moment passing by, as if I had high-definition consciousness. This also occurred the morning of Day 4 as well and lasted about 20 minutes. I wonder if it will happen again.
1:30pm: 20 minute nap - awoke refreshed and alert
3:30pm: 20 minute nap. I'm spacing naps a little closer together today to ensure I get enough rest. I don't want a repeat of last night.
6:30pm: 20 minute nap. Asleep in less than a minute. Awoke refreshed.
Observation: alertness higher than baseline before the experiment - lower than hyper-alertness. I'll call it elevated alertness. Occasional mild tinnitus (ringing in the ears) ... possibly an artifact of caffeine withdrawal.
10:00pm: gym, squats (warmup) 125(8), 145(8), deadlifts: 285(8) 315(7), 285(8), stiff-leg 225(8), 245(7). Observation: these are normal weights and reps for me, considering I took a week off. I feel like i have slightly less endurance; strength is unchanged.
11:00pm: blood pressure 120 over 77, heart rate 74. My normal heart rate is around 60-64. Could be due to recent workout,
12:30pm: attempted 20 minute nap. Could not sleep. Remained in bed for the entire time. I am highly stimulated - I haven't had caffeine that I know of, although I feel as stimulated as that but without the jitters. I attribute it to the workout. Animated conversation feeling a familiar caffeinated intense focus, but without the caffeine, jitters, or shortened patience; a form of heightened awareness with associated energy burst.
3:30am: attempted 20 minute nap. Awakened by my SO after 40 minutes. I either forgot to set my alarm or I awoke and shut it off. Awake for 10 minutes, decided to move my core sleep up to see how that goes. Slept for 2 hours. Awoke to alarm with difficulty.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Day 6
9:27am Woke to my alarm at 8am. Slept for 2 1/2 hours. It is less effort this morning to concentrate than yesterday - I feel sleepy and more normal than yesterday. I'm looking forward to my first nap that always makes the sleepy feeling go away.
A comment on last night: watching TV was difficult last night. It was much easier to study or do pretty much anything else, probably because activity clears my thinking because I maintain brain activity, while apparently TV requires so little thought that it induces sleep. This is the reverse of my responses with a monophasic 8-hour sleep pattern. Before trying this polyphasic sleeping TV was easy and would never make me sleepy, while studying was sure to induce mental fatigue and drowsiness after a couple of hours. Interesting...
10:55, and no nap needed yet. It feels like there might be a slight headache looming, but for now it is in abeyance.
11:59am: the need for a nap came on quick and strong at 11:15. I think I might be falling into the groove - I was awake and not feeling tired until 11:15 then it was like a door opening, I just felt like I really needed to sleep. When I laid down, I set the alarm for 22 minutes to give my body 2 minutes to get to sleep and then 20 minutes of rest. As I laid my head down and closed my eyes my breathing instantly changed to a really really deep slow rhythm like I was already in a deep sleep, even though it was still a couple of minutes before my brain blinked off. I'm now awake, alert, energetic and feel great. It's odd that I always feel better after my first nap of the day than I do after I initially wake up. It could be that my body is still adjusting to a shorter core period, because I keep shortening it each day.
2:48pm: I was on hold for WoW support, and my alertness was flagging. It was going to be a 10 to 15 minute wait so I closed my eyes to see if I could rest while still staying just conscious enough to know when the support rep came on the line. I managed to get 10 minutes of refreshing rest before the rep came onto the line, and I feel comfortable I'll make it to the 4-hour mark before I need my next nap.
4:29pm: Napped for 20 minutes at 4pm. This is working out great - my naps are starting to come every 4 hours. Maybe the way to get from Everyman to Uberman is to train myself to nap 20 minutes every 4 hours with a 3-hour core, and then gradually reduce the core down to 20 minutes.
8:57pm: Napped at 7pm for 20 glorious minutes. I could have gone the four hours but my brain has been fuzzy all day and I wanted to clear it. It is clearer now.
An interesting observation is that before this experiment I couldn't nap, now whenever I lay down my head I'm deep asleep within a couple of minutes.
1:37am: Had a couple of glasses of wine at 11:30. Went for a nap at 12:30 - this was 5 hours after my last nap. Woke up an hour later at 1:30am by my SO. I remember waking up and turning off my alarm, and thinking I'll just roll over, and I guess I instantly fell asleep again. When I was awakened at 1:30 my alarm was set to 10 minutes instead of 20, so I'm not sure what happened. Did I sleep for 20 minutes and the set it for 10? or did I accidentally set it for 10 to start with, and then it wasn't enough sleep? In any case, my body is telling me I was unaware of what I was doing. The wine might have been a bad idea. I think I'll stay away from booze for now, and not go more than 4 hours between naps.
Watched an old movie with the SO - couldn't keep my eyes open. Kept drifting off and waking back up again a minute later. I really think it was the booze. No more of that for me at least for a while. Went to bed at 5:15am.
A comment on last night: watching TV was difficult last night. It was much easier to study or do pretty much anything else, probably because activity clears my thinking because I maintain brain activity, while apparently TV requires so little thought that it induces sleep. This is the reverse of my responses with a monophasic 8-hour sleep pattern. Before trying this polyphasic sleeping TV was easy and would never make me sleepy, while studying was sure to induce mental fatigue and drowsiness after a couple of hours. Interesting...
10:55, and no nap needed yet. It feels like there might be a slight headache looming, but for now it is in abeyance.
11:59am: the need for a nap came on quick and strong at 11:15. I think I might be falling into the groove - I was awake and not feeling tired until 11:15 then it was like a door opening, I just felt like I really needed to sleep. When I laid down, I set the alarm for 22 minutes to give my body 2 minutes to get to sleep and then 20 minutes of rest. As I laid my head down and closed my eyes my breathing instantly changed to a really really deep slow rhythm like I was already in a deep sleep, even though it was still a couple of minutes before my brain blinked off. I'm now awake, alert, energetic and feel great. It's odd that I always feel better after my first nap of the day than I do after I initially wake up. It could be that my body is still adjusting to a shorter core period, because I keep shortening it each day.
2:48pm: I was on hold for WoW support, and my alertness was flagging. It was going to be a 10 to 15 minute wait so I closed my eyes to see if I could rest while still staying just conscious enough to know when the support rep came on the line. I managed to get 10 minutes of refreshing rest before the rep came onto the line, and I feel comfortable I'll make it to the 4-hour mark before I need my next nap.
4:29pm: Napped for 20 minutes at 4pm. This is working out great - my naps are starting to come every 4 hours. Maybe the way to get from Everyman to Uberman is to train myself to nap 20 minutes every 4 hours with a 3-hour core, and then gradually reduce the core down to 20 minutes.
8:57pm: Napped at 7pm for 20 glorious minutes. I could have gone the four hours but my brain has been fuzzy all day and I wanted to clear it. It is clearer now.
An interesting observation is that before this experiment I couldn't nap, now whenever I lay down my head I'm deep asleep within a couple of minutes.
1:37am: Had a couple of glasses of wine at 11:30. Went for a nap at 12:30 - this was 5 hours after my last nap. Woke up an hour later at 1:30am by my SO. I remember waking up and turning off my alarm, and thinking I'll just roll over, and I guess I instantly fell asleep again. When I was awakened at 1:30 my alarm was set to 10 minutes instead of 20, so I'm not sure what happened. Did I sleep for 20 minutes and the set it for 10? or did I accidentally set it for 10 to start with, and then it wasn't enough sleep? In any case, my body is telling me I was unaware of what I was doing. The wine might have been a bad idea. I think I'll stay away from booze for now, and not go more than 4 hours between naps.
Watched an old movie with the SO - couldn't keep my eyes open. Kept drifting off and waking back up again a minute later. I really think it was the booze. No more of that for me at least for a while. Went to bed at 5:15am.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Day 5
8:58am Awoke at 7:30am to my alarm after 2 1/2 hours sleep. Not wanting to get out of bed because I like laying in bed with my SO, even when he is asleep. I lazed in bed until 8am, drifting in and out. Got up at 8am. Mentally noted that my mind cleared gradually and surely as I got ready for the day. Mind is functioning with great intent and focus. Skin is tighter, energy is normal; change that - above normal. I seem to have rolled back the clock on my mind and body. I did not expect skin to tighten, nor my mind to operate as effectively as it did as when I was child. I recall that when I was pre-teen, my consciousness was always like a tool that I directed, as if I were two people - one the observer and the second the functional mind. I have that functionality back today. I had often remembered that capability with fondness prior to this experiment, today, I have it back; it is remarkable. In addition, I have lost body fat but not muscle. Perhaps the two are related. I cannot attribute this entire process to the cessation of caffeine intake, because I have gone without caffeine for stretches of weeks at time without this mental clarity, nor noticeable bodily changes.
I feel like I have stumbled onto a tremendous revitalization technique even more powerful than fasting. It would be interesting to combine both - but I will leave that for the future.
I am seeing progress each day; this is in contrast the to other polyphasic diaries I have read where there is always a great struggle during the initial one or two weeks with sleep deprivation, a lack of focus and tendency to oversleep uncontrollably at random times. These people set their sleep and nap times rigidly from day one and attempt to stick with it through thick and thin. My approach has been to ease into it, cutting my core sleep by an hour or half-hour per night, and napping when sleepy, but never for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time. Perhaps this is a more natural way to do this; one that encourages the body's desire for a polyphasic sleep pattern without denying it when it tells you it needs sleep. In turn, my body has rewarded me with gradually increasing mental clarity and gradually increasing physical energy. Mind you that these elements come and go, and I do get hazy and physically tired several times throughout the day. It seems the peaks are higher and the valleys are lower, which seems more natural to me. Prior to this experiment, I never wanted to go to sleep when I should have to get eight hours of sleep for the next day because I was almost never tired. Now I am tired before I sleep, and alert within minutes of waking. What a joy!
I am awake when people go to bed, and awake when they get up. I am more focused and more productive. I have more time, less stress and enjoy my life more because I have the time to laze around and still do a lot each day. I feel a little superhuman.
Side-note: chocolate contains caffeine and I have been eating chocolate each day. I will cease to see if this enables me to fall asleep quicker when I nap. I find it currently takes me 2 to 10 minutes to go right out.
5:40pm - I took a nap at noon - 22 minutes - went out like a light. No trouble waking up. I took another nap at 2:30pm, no trouble at all. Woke feeling refreshed. Still alert and energetic at 5:40 and have studied most of the afternoon.
1:19am - Watched two movies between 8 and midnight - I really should have napped between them - felt flushed and drowsy during the second one. Was developing a slight headache - might have been due to caffeine withdrawal since I haven't had one yet, but I'm inclined to think it was lack of sleep because I had a couple of cups of tea today. Napped immediately after the moview at around midnight. Woke up after about 18 minutes. Just got up - feel great now. Note: lung congestion has not returned, but there is still a tiny bit present. I took a second decongestant. However, I have recovered much quicker this time than the last time I got lung congestion in South Carolina. The last time it took 2 weeks to completely disappear. How odd. Could it be that too much sleep is bad for my health? And by too much, I mean 7 to 8 hours per night?
Studied and then napped at 3:30am for 20 minutes. Tried to watch another movie, but was too sleepy. Retired at 5:30am.
I feel like I have stumbled onto a tremendous revitalization technique even more powerful than fasting. It would be interesting to combine both - but I will leave that for the future.
I am seeing progress each day; this is in contrast the to other polyphasic diaries I have read where there is always a great struggle during the initial one or two weeks with sleep deprivation, a lack of focus and tendency to oversleep uncontrollably at random times. These people set their sleep and nap times rigidly from day one and attempt to stick with it through thick and thin. My approach has been to ease into it, cutting my core sleep by an hour or half-hour per night, and napping when sleepy, but never for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time. Perhaps this is a more natural way to do this; one that encourages the body's desire for a polyphasic sleep pattern without denying it when it tells you it needs sleep. In turn, my body has rewarded me with gradually increasing mental clarity and gradually increasing physical energy. Mind you that these elements come and go, and I do get hazy and physically tired several times throughout the day. It seems the peaks are higher and the valleys are lower, which seems more natural to me. Prior to this experiment, I never wanted to go to sleep when I should have to get eight hours of sleep for the next day because I was almost never tired. Now I am tired before I sleep, and alert within minutes of waking. What a joy!
I am awake when people go to bed, and awake when they get up. I am more focused and more productive. I have more time, less stress and enjoy my life more because I have the time to laze around and still do a lot each day. I feel a little superhuman.
Side-note: chocolate contains caffeine and I have been eating chocolate each day. I will cease to see if this enables me to fall asleep quicker when I nap. I find it currently takes me 2 to 10 minutes to go right out.
5:40pm - I took a nap at noon - 22 minutes - went out like a light. No trouble waking up. I took another nap at 2:30pm, no trouble at all. Woke feeling refreshed. Still alert and energetic at 5:40 and have studied most of the afternoon.
1:19am - Watched two movies between 8 and midnight - I really should have napped between them - felt flushed and drowsy during the second one. Was developing a slight headache - might have been due to caffeine withdrawal since I haven't had one yet, but I'm inclined to think it was lack of sleep because I had a couple of cups of tea today. Napped immediately after the moview at around midnight. Woke up after about 18 minutes. Just got up - feel great now. Note: lung congestion has not returned, but there is still a tiny bit present. I took a second decongestant. However, I have recovered much quicker this time than the last time I got lung congestion in South Carolina. The last time it took 2 weeks to completely disappear. How odd. Could it be that too much sleep is bad for my health? And by too much, I mean 7 to 8 hours per night?
Studied and then napped at 3:30am for 20 minutes. Tried to watch another movie, but was too sleepy. Retired at 5:30am.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Day 4
I must be crazy. I awoke 20 minutes before the 3-hour timer went off. Thinking I should get more sleep I slept until the alarm went off. That's an old habit of mine, even though I wake up I think that I must ensure I get enough sleep so I go back to sleep and wait for the alarm. Seems to me now that I should probably get up when I wake up. I will have to remember that.
I got up at 7:20. I'm somewhat bleary-eyed, but I feel no tremors and have no hangover. I've had a glass of milk and am sipping red tea.
Went to the gun show, alert and energetic. Wasn't quiet tired but anticipated that the outing would last a couple of hours longer so at 11am I started a 20-minute nap, interrupted when Kurt and the SO appeared at the truck. Still, it helped.
Napped for 20 minutes around noon.
1:30pm: So far today: 3 1/2 hrs sleep, and feeling fine.
3:00pm: napped 20 minutes, rolled over and napped another 20 because I was feeling lazy lol
6:30pm: napped 5 minutes - was on my way to the gym and didn't have time for a full nap. Even 5 minutes seems to help.
7:15pm: lifted weights - everything normal. Bench was down a bit but I expected that because I took a week off weightlifting prior to this.
9pm: At a friend's house, took a 22-minute nap. Feel asleep quickly; slept deeply.
1am: My lungs are congested. I believe it is due to the extreme and unrelenting South Carolina humidity. I become congested each time I visit here for a few days, so I believe this is unrelated to the change in sleep patterns. Took a decongestant tablet. Set the timer for 30 minutes to give myself some extra time for sleep due to my congestion, but awoke after 15 minutes. Got up.
1:38am: My mental focus is very sharp. Studying is more productive than I can remember since my pre-teens.
5:00am: Congestion is gone. No ill-effects nor drowsiness from the decongestant. Time for my core sleep.
I got up at 7:20. I'm somewhat bleary-eyed, but I feel no tremors and have no hangover. I've had a glass of milk and am sipping red tea.
Went to the gun show, alert and energetic. Wasn't quiet tired but anticipated that the outing would last a couple of hours longer so at 11am I started a 20-minute nap, interrupted when Kurt and the SO appeared at the truck. Still, it helped.
Napped for 20 minutes around noon.
1:30pm: So far today: 3 1/2 hrs sleep, and feeling fine.
3:00pm: napped 20 minutes, rolled over and napped another 20 because I was feeling lazy lol
6:30pm: napped 5 minutes - was on my way to the gym and didn't have time for a full nap. Even 5 minutes seems to help.
7:15pm: lifted weights - everything normal. Bench was down a bit but I expected that because I took a week off weightlifting prior to this.
9pm: At a friend's house, took a 22-minute nap. Feel asleep quickly; slept deeply.
1am: My lungs are congested. I believe it is due to the extreme and unrelenting South Carolina humidity. I become congested each time I visit here for a few days, so I believe this is unrelated to the change in sleep patterns. Took a decongestant tablet. Set the timer for 30 minutes to give myself some extra time for sleep due to my congestion, but awoke after 15 minutes. Got up.
1:38am: My mental focus is very sharp. Studying is more productive than I can remember since my pre-teens.
5:00am: Congestion is gone. No ill-effects nor drowsiness from the decongestant. Time for my core sleep.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Day 3
I slept 3 hours last night, and surprisingly awoke refreshed and alert this morning at 7:30am to my alarm clock. This came as a complete surprise; I expected to be dog-tired. I kept thinking while I was showering that I am hooked - why would anyone want to sleep more? I felt much worse yesterday morning with 4 hours of sleep than today. I'm pretty sure the frequent naps have a lot to do with that.
A shower, some breakfast, and browsing the net news with a glass of warm milk at 9am - ahhh this is the life.
At 9:15 I took a 20-minute nap. Awoke feeling fine, but decided it was such a lazy day to just roll over. Ended up sleeping another hour for 1.5 hrs in total. It was a nice deep sleep and although I had some great dreams I regret it a little. I won't count it as a failure since I had the time and place and was only just relaxing and am starting out on this program, and the goal is to ease into it and have good quality sleep and feel as good on less sleep, so as long as I have that I'm happy. So so far, so good. No harm done, since I have only slept a total of 4 1/2 hours today and feel like I have slept a great 8 hours!
On re-reading my last paragraph I realize the dreams I just had were more vivid and detailed and I remember them far easier than I have since my 20's. Check. Another milestone and another great benefit to this program; I love remembering my dreams and it has been so many years since I have had detailed and vivid dreams - I really missed them and now they are back! I am all the more encouraged.
I should mention that I had blamed caffeine and power drinks for adding a couple of inches around my waist and dulling my hearing; yesterday I noticed that my pants were looser and my hearing sharper.
I got sleepy at 3 and took a 22-minute nap - didn't sleep much due to SO activity but it helped.
Sleepy again at 6pm - started to nap and SO comes in after 3 minutes, after I had started to dream. This time I got up when I woke up 3 minutes after starting my nap, and I feel rested. I think it's due to having started REM. I thought this might be worthwhile - if I have drempt and re-awake before 20 minutes is up, to just get up. I may try that again.
7pm and a 20 minute nap later - ahhhh I slept so deeply. It was quiet and I was alone. That sure helps a lot. It also helps to be very tired. I have tremors a bit.
Had another nap at 9:30 for 20 minutes - nice and deep. Then went to the clubs with the SO. Played a quick game of pool with Kurt. It was quick because I almost ran the table. I am not a good pool player - in fact I usually chase the balls around the table, but this time the game was over real quick. Kurt got 2 balls down by the time I won. Ouchie for Kurt. It may have been a fluke, but I haven't played pool in about 3 years. Hmmmmmmm.
Had a couple of Jim Bean's with ginger ale. With the buzz came a feeling that was a little surreal. Everything seemed to slow down as I sped up a bit. Seconds grew continuous and seamlessly flowed end-to-end as I observed everyone around me. I am normally impatient and bored in a bar. Last night I was in what could best be described as a stream of consciousness that flowed around and within me; I was a part of everything that was going on around me. Maybe that sounds crazy, but I wondered if maybe I had experienced the bar the way other people usually do, and that may be why I wasn't bored this time. This sure is interesting.
By 1am I needed a nap. I put it off but at 1:30 I mentioned it to my SO. He complained that there was only 30 minutes before we all left so why nap, but I figured I could be in trouble if I pushed my luck because home was an hour away so I foresaw at least 1.5 hrs before I could nap again or possibly two. I thought I would stick it out but 5 minutes later I started to fall asleep standing up, so that convinced him maybe I should nap after all. I slept in the truck laying across the seats - not comfortable, maybe that's why it took about 10 minutes to get to sleep, but after my 22-minute nap I returned, and was energized. I was frankly dubious of the efficacy of that nap because I had two drinks prior to it and I was sure I only slept 10 minutes of it, but when Kurt started to laugh because I was being witty and I was dancing around I realized the nap truly had rejuvenated me as unlikely as that seemed to my analytical mind.
In fact, we got a bite to eat at a restaurant on the way home and I got home and in bed at 4am. I gave the SO a 20-minute massage and then to sleep for 3 hours.
A shower, some breakfast, and browsing the net news with a glass of warm milk at 9am - ahhh this is the life.
At 9:15 I took a 20-minute nap. Awoke feeling fine, but decided it was such a lazy day to just roll over. Ended up sleeping another hour for 1.5 hrs in total. It was a nice deep sleep and although I had some great dreams I regret it a little. I won't count it as a failure since I had the time and place and was only just relaxing and am starting out on this program, and the goal is to ease into it and have good quality sleep and feel as good on less sleep, so as long as I have that I'm happy. So so far, so good. No harm done, since I have only slept a total of 4 1/2 hours today and feel like I have slept a great 8 hours!
On re-reading my last paragraph I realize the dreams I just had were more vivid and detailed and I remember them far easier than I have since my 20's. Check. Another milestone and another great benefit to this program; I love remembering my dreams and it has been so many years since I have had detailed and vivid dreams - I really missed them and now they are back! I am all the more encouraged.
I should mention that I had blamed caffeine and power drinks for adding a couple of inches around my waist and dulling my hearing; yesterday I noticed that my pants were looser and my hearing sharper.
I got sleepy at 3 and took a 22-minute nap - didn't sleep much due to SO activity but it helped.
Sleepy again at 6pm - started to nap and SO comes in after 3 minutes, after I had started to dream. This time I got up when I woke up 3 minutes after starting my nap, and I feel rested. I think it's due to having started REM. I thought this might be worthwhile - if I have drempt and re-awake before 20 minutes is up, to just get up. I may try that again.
7pm and a 20 minute nap later - ahhhh I slept so deeply. It was quiet and I was alone. That sure helps a lot. It also helps to be very tired. I have tremors a bit.
Had another nap at 9:30 for 20 minutes - nice and deep. Then went to the clubs with the SO. Played a quick game of pool with Kurt. It was quick because I almost ran the table. I am not a good pool player - in fact I usually chase the balls around the table, but this time the game was over real quick. Kurt got 2 balls down by the time I won. Ouchie for Kurt. It may have been a fluke, but I haven't played pool in about 3 years. Hmmmmmmm.
Had a couple of Jim Bean's with ginger ale. With the buzz came a feeling that was a little surreal. Everything seemed to slow down as I sped up a bit. Seconds grew continuous and seamlessly flowed end-to-end as I observed everyone around me. I am normally impatient and bored in a bar. Last night I was in what could best be described as a stream of consciousness that flowed around and within me; I was a part of everything that was going on around me. Maybe that sounds crazy, but I wondered if maybe I had experienced the bar the way other people usually do, and that may be why I wasn't bored this time. This sure is interesting.
By 1am I needed a nap. I put it off but at 1:30 I mentioned it to my SO. He complained that there was only 30 minutes before we all left so why nap, but I figured I could be in trouble if I pushed my luck because home was an hour away so I foresaw at least 1.5 hrs before I could nap again or possibly two. I thought I would stick it out but 5 minutes later I started to fall asleep standing up, so that convinced him maybe I should nap after all. I slept in the truck laying across the seats - not comfortable, maybe that's why it took about 10 minutes to get to sleep, but after my 22-minute nap I returned, and was energized. I was frankly dubious of the efficacy of that nap because I had two drinks prior to it and I was sure I only slept 10 minutes of it, but when Kurt started to laugh because I was being witty and I was dancing around I realized the nap truly had rejuvenated me as unlikely as that seemed to my analytical mind.
In fact, we got a bite to eat at a restaurant on the way home and I got home and in bed at 4am. I gave the SO a 20-minute massage and then to sleep for 3 hours.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Day 2
Awoke naturally (not via the alarm clock) at 8:30am, 4 hours after falling asleep. Slept well; have internal "vibrations" like I didn't get enough sleep. That is to be expected - this is my first really low-sleep night. Was alert enough to study for a while, then became drowsy at 10:30am. Had a 20-minute nap and slept very deeply; I felt like I wasn't "there" or in fact, anywhere. When the alarm went off my brain heard it but couldn't process it; I felt as if it shouldn't go off now or ever. I collected my wits and realized it was only a nap. Arose and after a couple of minutes felt fine. Made some eggs and a cup of tea to keep the caffeine headaches away.
It's now 12 and I am feeling fine. Time to study again.
2:30pm and sleepy - studying will do that. Had a 20-minute nap - did not sleep as easily or as deeply, but it still helped.
I may sleep more the first few days, but my idea is to reduce the length of time of my core sleep each day and to learn to take efficient 20-minute naps and get my body used to it. I theorize that napping more often during the day at first than is normally prescribed for the Everyman schedule should keep reducing my need for core, and make the transition easier because I anticipate not be often tired, nor feeling sleep-deprived. The goal is to make the transition smooth, healthy, and relatively painless. I theorize that if one's body is adaptable to this sleep schedule and it is truly healthier, there should be a way for one's body to convert and adapt to it without trauma such as I read about in other polyphasic diaries.
It's 5pm and I am feeling great. I am as alert as I usually am at this time of day but normally by now I've had a couple of energy drinks and at least 1500 mg of guarana and 1000 mg of yerba matte. Today I haven't had any of those, only a cup of tea to ward off the effects of caffeine withdrawal, and that has worked like a charm; no headache, no neck ache.
I napped around 8 for 20 minutes. Not deep, was awake for what seemed like the first 10 minutes of it. This may be due to the presence of my SO napping next to me and snoring and moving a little.
Was alert enough afterward, but not crisp like earlier today.
Left for the gym for weight training at 9:45pm. Tried to nap unsuccescully in the truck (as a passenger) along the way because I felt tired. However, the pause was refreshing, so again it seems even unsuccessful naps are helpful.
My workout was surprising, although I had a little less stamina, I had all of my strength, and performed my usual routine of 50/60 lb prone leg curls to warm up, then 200/220 lb squats and 435/470lb leg presses. I'm all of only 150lbs myself, so I consider it significant to be able to perform a powerlifting routine on only 4 hours of sleep. I should mention that I have tried to do so once before and abandoned the routine mid-way. I hope to be able to keep my weights up as I progress in this, my polyphasic sleep experiment.
The time is now 1:05am. Normally by this time, with only 4 hours of sleep and having spent an hour standing around while my SO spends over an hour shopping for groceries, I would be very grumpy and moody and would probably have instigated an argument by now. Surpised with myself that I am calmly waiting nearby, spending each precious moment easily studying my courseware on my iPhone, I decided to break from studying to blog this entry to document this remarkable fact. Perhaps it is due to the lack of caffiene, perhaps due to my naps, and in part I am certain due to the knowledge that I am not losing sleep, and will have plenty more time at home after my core nap,I am focused, relaxed and VERY much less stressed than usual. In fact I had no idea how stressed I was until this moment. This is a huge unexpected benefit.
I should also mention my focus better - a surprising fact at this point in my attempt at sleeping less, which is opposite to other experiences I have read, perhaps because I am easing into it and napping when I am tired instead of trying to force my body into a completely foriegn pattern overnight.
The shopping excursion pushed past my limit by about an hour - had I been at home I would have napped at about 1am. My brain was fried, I was on auto-pilot, expending minimal energy until I got home. But in retrospect, I should have gone out to the vehicle and had a nap in the middle of the shopping trip. Why didn't I think of that? I guess I must be trained that I must sleep at home in a bed. I will have to re-train my thinking - when I am tired I will look for a place to nap wherever I may be - a bench, my car, an individual bathroom with a lockable door? LOL I also should have had a quick snack or a meal - I had worked out hard, then went shopping for a couple of hours without eating or napping - I think that was an extreme combination.
Having said that, even though I felt I should eat and go to bed, I napped immediately upon my return home at about 2:45am, then ate and browsed the web, then went to bed at 4am-ish. I contemplated eating first, but thought it more in keeping with the program to nap first because I had pushed my limits at the grocery store.
It's now 12 and I am feeling fine. Time to study again.
2:30pm and sleepy - studying will do that. Had a 20-minute nap - did not sleep as easily or as deeply, but it still helped.
I may sleep more the first few days, but my idea is to reduce the length of time of my core sleep each day and to learn to take efficient 20-minute naps and get my body used to it. I theorize that napping more often during the day at first than is normally prescribed for the Everyman schedule should keep reducing my need for core, and make the transition easier because I anticipate not be often tired, nor feeling sleep-deprived. The goal is to make the transition smooth, healthy, and relatively painless. I theorize that if one's body is adaptable to this sleep schedule and it is truly healthier, there should be a way for one's body to convert and adapt to it without trauma such as I read about in other polyphasic diaries.
It's 5pm and I am feeling great. I am as alert as I usually am at this time of day but normally by now I've had a couple of energy drinks and at least 1500 mg of guarana and 1000 mg of yerba matte. Today I haven't had any of those, only a cup of tea to ward off the effects of caffeine withdrawal, and that has worked like a charm; no headache, no neck ache.
I napped around 8 for 20 minutes. Not deep, was awake for what seemed like the first 10 minutes of it. This may be due to the presence of my SO napping next to me and snoring and moving a little.
Was alert enough afterward, but not crisp like earlier today.
Left for the gym for weight training at 9:45pm. Tried to nap unsuccescully in the truck (as a passenger) along the way because I felt tired. However, the pause was refreshing, so again it seems even unsuccessful naps are helpful.
My workout was surprising, although I had a little less stamina, I had all of my strength, and performed my usual routine of 50/60 lb prone leg curls to warm up, then 200/220 lb squats and 435/470lb leg presses. I'm all of only 150lbs myself, so I consider it significant to be able to perform a powerlifting routine on only 4 hours of sleep. I should mention that I have tried to do so once before and abandoned the routine mid-way. I hope to be able to keep my weights up as I progress in this, my polyphasic sleep experiment.
The time is now 1:05am. Normally by this time, with only 4 hours of sleep and having spent an hour standing around while my SO spends over an hour shopping for groceries, I would be very grumpy and moody and would probably have instigated an argument by now. Surpised with myself that I am calmly waiting nearby, spending each precious moment easily studying my courseware on my iPhone, I decided to break from studying to blog this entry to document this remarkable fact. Perhaps it is due to the lack of caffiene, perhaps due to my naps, and in part I am certain due to the knowledge that I am not losing sleep, and will have plenty more time at home after my core nap,I am focused, relaxed and VERY much less stressed than usual. In fact I had no idea how stressed I was until this moment. This is a huge unexpected benefit.
I should also mention my focus better - a surprising fact at this point in my attempt at sleeping less, which is opposite to other experiences I have read, perhaps because I am easing into it and napping when I am tired instead of trying to force my body into a completely foriegn pattern overnight.
The shopping excursion pushed past my limit by about an hour - had I been at home I would have napped at about 1am. My brain was fried, I was on auto-pilot, expending minimal energy until I got home. But in retrospect, I should have gone out to the vehicle and had a nap in the middle of the shopping trip. Why didn't I think of that? I guess I must be trained that I must sleep at home in a bed. I will have to re-train my thinking - when I am tired I will look for a place to nap wherever I may be - a bench, my car, an individual bathroom with a lockable door? LOL I also should have had a quick snack or a meal - I had worked out hard, then went shopping for a couple of hours without eating or napping - I think that was an extreme combination.
Having said that, even though I felt I should eat and go to bed, I napped immediately upon my return home at about 2:45am, then ate and browsed the web, then went to bed at 4am-ish. I contemplated eating first, but thought it more in keeping with the program to nap first because I had pushed my limits at the grocery store.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Day 1
I will try easing into this over a few days to see if that works. Since I'm doing the Everyman schedule, it is more flexible and forgiving than the Uberman, and in my estimation, less traumatic is better, in general. I will try gradually reducing the amount I sleep each night and the more I nap during the day, while trying to keep nap times fairly consistent in time of occurrence and duration.
Yesterday could count as a warm-up day, I got 6 hours of sleep because I had to get up early to catch a flight, then I napped on the plane.
Then, last night I retired at around 12 midnight, awoke at 3am as I sometimes do in the night, but instead of rolling over to go back to sleep, I elected to remain awake for an hour. I gave my SO a massage and browsed the net on my iPhone, then went back to sleep at 4am until about 7am, then napped for 45 minutes at 7:45. Total time so far is 6 hours 45 minutes, and I am only slightly bleary-eyed.
I should also mention that I am fairly addicted to caffeine, and regularly drink 3-4 cans of energy drinks in a day, along with 1-2 1500 mg of guarana and 2-4 500mg capsules of Yerba Matte in a day. I have stopped taking all of these as of today, and will avoid all caffeine and similar stimulants such as Yerba Matte, probably for the duration of this experiment. To avoid the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal which include unpleasant headaches, difficulty concentrating and muscle pains, I have had a couple of sips of black tea and will do so each day for a couple of days, because it contains caffeine, but yet lacks the stimulating effect of coffee and similar products.
It's 2 in the afternoon now. I napped for 20 minutes at 12:30. I now feel great. I actually started dreaming 5 times during that nap, and was awake 2 minutes before the alarm went off. Because I drempt, I think I may have achieved REM sleep even only lightly. I didn't think I would be able to sleep during my nap. Perhaps it was because I laid down, covered my eyes with a shirt to make it dark and put earplugs in so it was quiet. I have slept using earplugs for 20 years now - it is my usual way of sleeping.
I next took a nap at about 5:45 for 20 minutes, as the plane was taking off. Again a surprise that I could sleep since there was a bunch of girls near the back of the plane that were anything but quiet. I think the earplugs were the reason. I had bought a face mask for sleeping to close out the light and wore it as well, I deemed it worthwhile.
I was awake and alert until landing 5 hours later. Got sleepy at 10pm Denver time, (12pm east-coast time) tried to nap in the truck while the SO drove - unsuccessful - too bumpy. I kept my eyes closed and stayed quiet though for 20 minutes anyway - it seemed to help.
Got sleepy at 3-ish, pulled the truck over and had a successful 20-minute nap. Felt refreshed and continuted home.
Was alert until 4; went to bed at 4:30.
Yesterday could count as a warm-up day, I got 6 hours of sleep because I had to get up early to catch a flight, then I napped on the plane.
Then, last night I retired at around 12 midnight, awoke at 3am as I sometimes do in the night, but instead of rolling over to go back to sleep, I elected to remain awake for an hour. I gave my SO a massage and browsed the net on my iPhone, then went back to sleep at 4am until about 7am, then napped for 45 minutes at 7:45. Total time so far is 6 hours 45 minutes, and I am only slightly bleary-eyed.
I should also mention that I am fairly addicted to caffeine, and regularly drink 3-4 cans of energy drinks in a day, along with 1-2 1500 mg of guarana and 2-4 500mg capsules of Yerba Matte in a day. I have stopped taking all of these as of today, and will avoid all caffeine and similar stimulants such as Yerba Matte, probably for the duration of this experiment. To avoid the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal which include unpleasant headaches, difficulty concentrating and muscle pains, I have had a couple of sips of black tea and will do so each day for a couple of days, because it contains caffeine, but yet lacks the stimulating effect of coffee and similar products.
It's 2 in the afternoon now. I napped for 20 minutes at 12:30. I now feel great. I actually started dreaming 5 times during that nap, and was awake 2 minutes before the alarm went off. Because I drempt, I think I may have achieved REM sleep even only lightly. I didn't think I would be able to sleep during my nap. Perhaps it was because I laid down, covered my eyes with a shirt to make it dark and put earplugs in so it was quiet. I have slept using earplugs for 20 years now - it is my usual way of sleeping.
I next took a nap at about 5:45 for 20 minutes, as the plane was taking off. Again a surprise that I could sleep since there was a bunch of girls near the back of the plane that were anything but quiet. I think the earplugs were the reason. I had bought a face mask for sleeping to close out the light and wore it as well, I deemed it worthwhile.
I was awake and alert until landing 5 hours later. Got sleepy at 10pm Denver time, (12pm east-coast time) tried to nap in the truck while the SO drove - unsuccessful - too bumpy. I kept my eyes closed and stayed quiet though for 20 minutes anyway - it seemed to help.
Got sleepy at 3-ish, pulled the truck over and had a successful 20-minute nap. Felt refreshed and continuted home.
Was alert until 4; went to bed at 4:30.
The First Post
Today I start on my polyphasic excursion. I only just came across mention of polyphasia yesterday at stevepavlina.com, polyphasic.blogspot.com, and everything2.com and did quite a bit of reading right away. Noticing that quite a number of people have written about it and tried it with success, and that some have tried it and failed, and being perfectly in tune with wanting more hours in a day since I was a child, I will try it.
Having always been a night-owl, and never having a sleep pattern that fits with others, I feel drawn to try it. I foresee a problem in that I have always felt that I need 8 hours of sleep per day, but on the other hand I can stay up until 5am without a problem when I am mentally engaged, so it has seemed to me for quite some time that a 28 or 29 hour day is what my system is tuned for.
The best results seem to be had by others with the Uberman so I would desperately like to try it. Uberman requires absolute strict adherence to sleep times for a couple of weeks until one's body has adapted, and my disposition is suited for it - I can stick to anything once I put my mind to it. However, from the writings of the failings of others, Uberman is intolerably inflexible, especially at the beginning - it seems the timing must be to the minute or one's body will revolt with a coma-like sleep that will last 4 to 5 hours or perhaps even longer. Naps that are late or missed wreak havoc with the mind and body of the adherent, so it is not conducive to a most ordinary job schedules. As I have a job as programmer my first reaction to the idea was that it would not fit into my work schedule and so was impossible for me. However there is a second polyphasic schedule known as the Everyman which consists of a core sleep period each night of 3 hours combined with 3 naps throughout the day, or a 1.5 hour nap with 4 to 5 naps throughout the day. The benefit to the Everyman schedule arises in that the nap times are more flexible and can vary up to an hour in either direction from their scheduled times, the downside being that there is more time slept each day. Since the adjustment for the Everyman is much less difficult and the failure rate lower, I will start with that one. It is less extreme and so appeals to me less, but I will think of it as a training-ground for the Uberman, which I will plan to graduate to in the future.
One problem I can foresee is that I have never been prone to napping; when I get up I want to keep going until I must sleep. I will need to adjust my thinking.
I am an instructor and programmer. As a programmer, I do not anticipate that taking a nap on the job will be an issue; whenever I work on-site I will simply tell them I am narcoleptic (or some such hooey) and require a nap at my desk at lunchtime and on breaks. People in IT are used to programmers being weird folk anyway; I have not been shaken by anyone's impression of me as being weird before; in all likelihood, this will fuel my inner oddball.
In fact, I can feel it energizing me already.
Having always been a night-owl, and never having a sleep pattern that fits with others, I feel drawn to try it. I foresee a problem in that I have always felt that I need 8 hours of sleep per day, but on the other hand I can stay up until 5am without a problem when I am mentally engaged, so it has seemed to me for quite some time that a 28 or 29 hour day is what my system is tuned for.
The best results seem to be had by others with the Uberman so I would desperately like to try it. Uberman requires absolute strict adherence to sleep times for a couple of weeks until one's body has adapted, and my disposition is suited for it - I can stick to anything once I put my mind to it. However, from the writings of the failings of others, Uberman is intolerably inflexible, especially at the beginning - it seems the timing must be to the minute or one's body will revolt with a coma-like sleep that will last 4 to 5 hours or perhaps even longer. Naps that are late or missed wreak havoc with the mind and body of the adherent, so it is not conducive to a most ordinary job schedules. As I have a job as programmer my first reaction to the idea was that it would not fit into my work schedule and so was impossible for me. However there is a second polyphasic schedule known as the Everyman which consists of a core sleep period each night of 3 hours combined with 3 naps throughout the day, or a 1.5 hour nap with 4 to 5 naps throughout the day. The benefit to the Everyman schedule arises in that the nap times are more flexible and can vary up to an hour in either direction from their scheduled times, the downside being that there is more time slept each day. Since the adjustment for the Everyman is much less difficult and the failure rate lower, I will start with that one. It is less extreme and so appeals to me less, but I will think of it as a training-ground for the Uberman, which I will plan to graduate to in the future.
One problem I can foresee is that I have never been prone to napping; when I get up I want to keep going until I must sleep. I will need to adjust my thinking.
I am an instructor and programmer. As a programmer, I do not anticipate that taking a nap on the job will be an issue; whenever I work on-site I will simply tell them I am narcoleptic (or some such hooey) and require a nap at my desk at lunchtime and on breaks. People in IT are used to programmers being weird folk anyway; I have not been shaken by anyone's impression of me as being weird before; in all likelihood, this will fuel my inner oddball.
In fact, I can feel it energizing me already.
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