Day 12

8:00am: Turned alarm off at 6am. Laid head back down and was woken up by the SO. My eyelids felt like they were weighted down with concrete; I literally couldn't keep them open for the first 5 minutes after I got up. I wonder if it was the chamomile tea - I can understand it acting like a drug in this situation; this inability to open my eyes was beyond anything I had experienced in my life. I worked out last night too, so perhaps a combination of both. Ok, so no more chamomile tea for me for now. Although, I have to say it was nice to sleep in on a Sunday morning, I never thought I would consider sleeping 5 hours "sleeping in." But the kicker is that I feel like I've had a week's worth of sleep. Every day that I am on this schedule my sleep gets deeper and more restorative.

Note: Because I am most drowsy right after my core and for hours afterward, and most awake and alert just before it, I feel like it might be advantageous to start taking my core in the early evening, say 6pm. That way when I start back to work again a) if I oversleep I won't be late for work. This is a real possibility with the way I am unable to re-awaken easily, and b) I will be most alert for my work - teaching requires a lot of alertness.

So, potentially my schedule could be:

core: 6pm - 9pm
naps: 2am, 7am, 12noon

That way my sleepiest time would be 9 to 2, and if I won't be able to sleep at noon I can sleep 7 to 8am and then not need a nap at noon.

On travel days this schedule could present a problem but if i take a "red-eye" I will probably do really well because then I can fly overnight and be there fresh in the morning... interesting.

Napped for 20 minutes at 12, 5 and 10pm on schedule. The SO napped with me at 5 but came in half-way thru the nap, and so I basically was awake for the second half. Was much more tired in the 1-2am period - perhaps they are connected.

Have learned that a 5-minute ad-hoc nap with my head down on my desk clears my head a lot. Still haven't tried the 10-minute variation.

Retired to bed at 3am.