The last two nights I have slept just over 3 hours each night. I go to bed about 4am, get up about 7. I go out to the car at noon for a 30-minute nap, then have another 30-minute nap at about 5:30 or 6pm, and another around 10 or 11pm. This was working great for the last two days. I even woke up just before the alarm this morning, and was not drowsy. Tonight, however, I was invited to dinner with the boss so I decided to delay my 5pm nap until after dinner. That was a mistake. I was very tired throughout dinner, not really enjoying the company and unable to come up with much to say. Afterward, I ended up napping around 7pm. I fell so deeply asleep my alarm didn't wake me and had to be shaken awake an hour later. I am still a little groggy, at 11:30pm. So I seem to be falling in line with what I have read about the Everyman schedule - I can push or pull the nap times about an hour on either side of when they should occur, but more than that causes me problems.
But I have to say my energy levels earlier today were terrific and I was very clear-headed.
On that topic however, I find that although I have great focus and concentration now, I am very absent-minded. I will put something down and not know where I placed it. It's a strange combination - a seeming paradox, but it's the way I was when I was growing up, so it seems to fit in with the entire re-calibrating of my mental processes back to my teens.
So ends my first week of a normal work schedule on Everyman. It was a success; without it I would not have been able to study every night until 4am and then get up at 7am and go to work, attend meetings and teach. I should also mention that every student evaluation today mentioned how patient I was with them. This was an unexpected result - I noticed myself being very centered and deliberate in my thoughts and actions while teaching, and I felt very calm; quite different I suppose from when I was a caffeine junkie. It is true that I was impatient with with students before I began polyphasic sleeping. It's interesting that I hadn't read about added patience being a benefit of this way of sleeping in anyone else's blog.
Onward, forward, upward.
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I agree with the patience. I usually say the best thing about polyphasic life is that you feel so "unhurried." You have all the "me time" you want, so you aren't always itching to get away. I have little kids, and it makes me much more patient with them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I try never to eat _before_ a nap. I try to plan it so I nap first, or have at least an hour after a small meal, or two hours after a bigger or heavier meal before I go down.