Still Anasomnatic 6 Months Later

Just checking in with "the cloud."

Here am I, six months later, still anasomnatic (that's my term for polyphasic.) I feel at this point like I will never go back; I can't imagine a life where I have to sleep 8 hours every day. How have I fared? Here are my musings so far...

1) My sleep patterns are static, yet continue to evolve. I am still on the 3-hour core, sleeping midnight to 3 AM most days, with three 20-minute naps at roughly 8am, noon, and 6pm. As time goes on, my body become more and more adaptable and the amount of flexibility I have increases. For example, I can miss a nap entirely now and feel relatively normal after the next sleep. I have only done it 3 times so far, but it works. I can also shift my naps by up to 2 hours in either direction and feel pretty normal.

2) When my overall level of physical exertion increases dramatically in a short span of time, I need more sleep. This is consistent with pretty much any other sleep schedule, so I don't consider it a drawback or any special about my anasomnaticism. For example I, together with a friend, recently moved a houseload of furniture. The schedule was difficult, requiring long days and short nights of sleep over the period of a 3 days. I did very well, because I am used to short nights, but I absolutely required a nap at each of my scheduled times. By the third day, when we were unloading, it was 8pm and I was still hauling heavy furniture out of the truck. My strength waned, I was huffing and puffing for breath, and I became too weak to effectively help. My friend recommended I nap as per my schedule. Reclining on a half-moved couch sans cushions, I slept through all of the banging of the corrugated metal walls for 20 minutes or so, and awoke refreshed and revitalized enough to finish the move with energy to spare.

3) Caffeine has surprising effects on my anasomnatiscism. During this entire experiment, I have consistently observed that long periods of driving in the dark make me very drowsy, and nearly impossible to stay awake through. For example, a few weeks ago I began a 5-hour drive at 3:30 am, and despite having two 20-minute naps in a 3-hour space of time, and my best efforts to stay awake although sleepy behind the wheel, I was nearly asleep while driving on a highway. At that point I realized I had to change something. I got off at the very next exit and bought a couple of power drinks to get some caffeine into my system so I could complete the drive, which I did easily, being caffeinated. I fully expected to have difficulty with my next nap, but slept easily and soundly. I fully expected to not be able to sleep after having consumed caffeine, but began regularly consuming power drinks and having no difficulty sleeping at all provided I didn't consume one within one hour of going to sleep. Over the period of two weeks I started using them to wake up after arising at 3am much like anyone with their morning coffee; and at times when I felt I wanted a boost in mental acuity, which is pretty much all the time. My body rapidly became resistant to the caffeine (and to all other stimulants contained in the drinks, such as yerba matte, guarana and taurine) to the point that as of yesterday they were becoming rather ineffective at providing that lift. However, the interesting side-effect seemed to be that the boost in energy resulted in more physical energy output during my waking hours and I ended up sleeping longer; my naps started to extend by 10 minutes and my core by one or 1 1/2 hours. Given that I am becoming desensitized to the caffeine and still sleeping longer, I'm going to cut out the caffeine or at least cut it back a lot.

4) I still require an extended sleep every few weeks. Every two or three weeks, I end up sleeping 6-8 hours in a 24-hour period, usually sleeping additional hours right after my core. I wake up to my alarm, and my mind is so foggy I simply lay back down and go to sleep. After an hour or two of additional sleep, I wake up naturally and feel refreshed and ready to take on the day and that is the end of it for a couple of weeks.

5) My back seat is now a mobile hotel. I have a Celica - not the biggest of cars, but the back seats fold down. I put some camping foam on them, got a small pillow and blanket, and have it all in the back of the car. When I'm driving and it's time for a nap, I stop at a rest stop or a truck stop, climb in the back seat, lock the doors and take a really nice relaxing nap. I also take my core in there. On a few of trips to South Carolina (a 10-hour drive,) I left work at 5:30, slept in my back seat in the parking lot for my nap, then drove until midnight. At a rest stop I got my 3-hour core. The first time was a little difficult not being used to the small space, but the times after that were not a problem. I arrived around noon raring to go with all of my sleep and without a hotel bill and without the delay of sleeping in a hotel. I can't get over how easy it is now to drive those long trips with all of my sleep and with a little caffeine when I need it.

All in all... still going strong.