Polyphasic Sleep Experiment - Days 7 and 8

I'll keep this one short because I've got a date in five minutes.

I overslept this morning because I had nothing to do. I will not do this again. I WILL finish the experiment. I like polyphasic sleeping. The key is just having something to do from midnight to 8 AM.

I feel really good, but I have slept normally three nights in row, so that explains it.

For all those who are considering trying this sleep cycle, I give you this advice:

Before beginning, have a long list of things you would like to do during the wee hours of the night.

I am not tired when I am busy with some task; only when I have nothing to do does it become unmanageable.

Chris

Polyphasic Sleep Experiment - Day 6

Sorry I didn't quite get this one out yesterday. At first I put off this post because I felt guilty that I would have to report another incident of major oversleeping. Yep, 7 hours yesterday morning. I was very saddened by it when I woke up, but am over it now. I will not give up this experiment! One month!

Here is the good news. I just woke up from the most amazing nap ever! It was amazing because:

• it felt like it lasted a really long time (but didn't)
  
• I now feel very well-rested and awake
• I had an extremely vivid lucid dream!

My nap was so cool that I have to tell you more about it! I fell asleep very quickly, within one minute of laying down. Then at some point I suddenly thought that I was awake, so I tried to raise my arms, but I couldn't! For a little bit I kept trying to get up, but couldn't move my body. It was still kind of dark in my mind and I was confused and didn't have a very clear picture of what was going on. Then I eventually realized that I was asleep, but consciously dreaming, or lucid dreaming! All of a sudden my dream became extremely vivid! I was flying at jet speed through the world! Everything was very bright and colorful and real. I could even swerve and change directions and make sharp turns! It was like the best IMAX movie you could imagine, only better, with the resolution of real life! Of the few lucid dreams I can remember having in life (like 3), this was definitely the coolest. Sadly it did not last long, because I woke up prematurely after about ten minutes of my nap. I was able to fall asleep again within two seconds, but either did not dream after that, or simply don't remember dreaming.

It was so much fun that I could not wait to write about it on this blog. :)

I'd like to comment more on the the first point. The farther I have gotten sleeping polyphasically, the longer my naps have seemed to be. At first I could not sleep and just lay there in a daze for a few minutes. Then I began to sleep, but not very deeply. Recently, each nap has seemed to last so long that when I first awake, my first thought is that I overslept by several hours. It is quite shocking to check the alarm clock and realize that only twenty minutes have passed! This is good, because it means that my body is starting to get adjusted to the sleep schedule and is getting more deep sleep.

Once my alarm clock finally went off at the end of that amazing nap, it was so tempting to stay in bed and sleep a little bit more. I told myself I would not, though, because it would mess up my sleep patterns and make me more tired in the long run. I am very firmly resolved to continue sleeping polyphasically for at least thirty days. At that point I will decide whether or not it is worth continuing. I want to continue after the month-long trial. Although at some points this transition period has been uncomfortable and mentally and physically trying, I like the Uberman sleep schedule.

Joseph asked why I chose to sleep in 20-minute rather than 30-minute increments. The first day I tried 30-40 minute increments, but it was not working very well. It took me a long time to fall asleep at that point, and I was not very happy with how I felt during and after the naps. Then on the second day I read somewhere about how the "recommended" nap length is 20 minutes, so I tried it and liked it better.

Michael asked why I chose to try sleeping polyphasically. I first read about it just over two years ago. I thought, "That's cool. I'd like to try it once I get back from my mission." The main reason is for all that extra time each day. Then there is also how people (like Steve Pavlina) report that they felt mentally sharper and also generally more awake and alert. I decided to do a one-month trial so that I would have enough commitment to stick with it and actually get past the transition period, but not feel committed to continue if I decided that I would rather sleep normally again.

Overall, I am currently very pleased with how the experiment is going.

My metamophosis will soon be complete and I will reemerge, a PolyPerson!

Mwa ha ha...

Polyphasic Sleeping Experiment - Day 5

Last night was the hardest night so far.  I did not have anything planned in advance for the middle of the night, so the tiredness was really noticeable.  I had to take an extra nap at 1 AM because I did not get any sleep at midnight (I think).  It is actually really weird, but I am not always sure if I actually fall asleep or not.  Upon waking, I am generally pretty disoriented for a minute or so.  My naps so far today have been really good, though.  I fell asleep quickly, felt like I slept for a long time, and woke up rested.  It is really weird to look at my alarm and realize that it has only been 20 minutes, when it felt like an hour.

In short, I have a lot of different feelings as I go about this experiment.  I will stick with it and cannot wait to get past this awkward and uncomfortable transition stage.  Then the benefits successful polyphasic sleepers have written about will come, like feeling energetic and rested all the time.

My health seems to be only slightly out of whack.

On Thursday evening I ran for about twenty minutes before ending up at the local gym's pool.  At first I swam laps in the lap pool, but it was crowded, so I took a break in the hot tub.  After sitting in the hot tub and talking for fifteen minutes I began to feel unwell, so I got up to walk back to the lap pool, and had a rush of blood away from my head.  I had to sit down on the deck and regain vision and strength and then sat in the shallow water of the steps into the pool to get acclimated.  This incident was a little disturbing to me.  It happened pretty frequently before the sleep experiment, though, usually when I stand up quickly after lying down.  Anyway, the weakness was probably from sleep deprivation (I'll still be in that stage for another week); it could also be related to my diet, which I am now improving.

I have gotten a little bit of a throat cold, which is understandable from the stress my body is under.

I have spent a lot of time today pondering, writing down my goals and the steps I must take to reach them.  Hopefully this will help me to fill all this extra time better...  If I cannot use the extra time effectively, I might as well not have it.

I am actually going to turn the computer off now.  It's about time!

Chris

Polyphasic Sleeping Experiment - Day 4

Hmmm....

I am not feeling great right now, but I am getting along. I have been sleeping correctly (i.e. 20 min. naps in 4 hour increments) since I overslept Tuesday night. It is kind of bitter-sweet.... I get pretty tired by nap time; the naps are getting progressively deeper and more restful, I think. Sometimes it feels good to take a nap, but most of the time I wake up a bit groggy and moody.

I have started to notice a pattern in how I fall asleep:

1. I lie down and get comfortable.
   
2. I realize that I am thinking too much about whatever was on my mind and try to clear my mind. Almost every time I think, "Wow, it is taking a long time to fall asleep."
   
3. Some of my muscles begin to twitch.
4. My breathing becomes slower and more regular, and...
5. The next thing I know, my cell phone alarm is beeping.

It is not very enjoyable yet, still just kind of awkward and uncomfortable. One interesting thing is that I am not getting nearly as tired as I expected I would. It has actually been surprisingly easy to maintain this sleep schedule. I have probably not hit the peak of the transition period yet, though.

During the nights, I have mostly been doing Internet investing research and reading from books every now and then.

I have also been having bursts of energy. For example, this morning while showering I burst not only into song, but into dance, too! I have never danced in the shower before, but it sure was fun!

Around noon I went to check out a summer door-to-door sales job selling satellite TV packages. I am strongly considering taking the job, mostly because if I work hard and effectively, I could make considerable income, which I would save for future investment. The one catch is the schedule. My 4 PM and 8 PM naps would conflict with my work. The 4 PM nap would not be so critical, but 8 PM is prime time for door-to-door sales. If I take the job, my options will be to stop the polyphasic sleeping on May 13, after exactly 30 days of the experiment, or to adjust the sleep cycle so that I take more naps at night and fewer during the day.

I will probably consult some other polyphasic sleepers and get their opinions.

That's it for now! If you have questions or comments, please feel free to use the comment form below.

Chris

Polyphasic Sleeping Experiment - Day 3

I've experienced a minor setback. Usually I set an alarm on my cell phone for the time when I want to wake up, but for my midnight nap last night I used the countdown timer function instead. What I thought was minutes:seconds was actually hours:minutes, so I set the timer for 20 hours instead of 20 minutes.

As a result, I slept eight hours instead of twenty minutes.

:(

I feel better rested than I did yesterday, but in the long run, this will prolong the transition period, leaving me more tired for longer. Oh well. The experiment continues. I am beginning to enjoy taking naps every four hours.

Yeah, I really have nothing more to say today because I am not feeling polyphasic. It's more like I had a really good sleep after two days of sleep deprivation....

Polyphasic Sleeping Experiment - Day 2

This sure has been an interesting two days! I succeeded in taking all my naps except for the one at 8 PM last night. I skipped it because my mp3 player froze and I could not play any music to block out the ambient sounds. I was not tired yet anyway, since I had slept eight hours the night before. I had no trouble keeping my naps short in the middle of the night. Between my midnight and 4 AM naps, I drove to the gym and swam laps for a couple of hours. I went running after my 8 AM nap.

Right now I feel rather tired. I spent several of the naps yesterday tossing and turning, only sleeping for a few minutes at the most. Today's have been better. I have decided to go with a nap length of 20 minutes rather than the 30 I tried yesterday, and it seems to be working fine. It is normal to feel sleep-deprived at the beginning of the transition period, because my body has not yet figured out to go to sleep and enter REM quickly. So I am deep-sleep deprived. Within the next four or five days, my body should figure out the cycle and begin to adjust, which will leave me feeling rested after each nap. Fortunately, successful polyphasic sleepers report that they feel very awake and rested after their naps. They say that they feel much more energetic and awake than they did while sleeping monophasically, and that it lasts throughout the day (i.e. continually).

Once I fully adjust to the Uberman schedule, my days will no longer seem as distinct as they were formerly, but rather blend into a continuous day with dark times and light times. That will be an interesting adjustment....

Socially, I have not noticed any difference. My brothers often stay up past midnight anyway. I was astounded to see four (!) people using the pool from 2 to 4 AM at the all-night gym. The only time I felt alone was between 4:30 AM and 7:00 AM, when my brothers woke up. I spent the time reading Brian Tracy's time management ebook, Time Power.

Eating has been interesting. This is one area where I definitely will need to improve. Eating heavy meals, especially animal products, makes it much harder to sleep polyphasically. Throughout the month of March I ate only vegan food. It went well, except that towards the end I began eating too much processed food (i.e. crackers and, yes, I hate to admit it, marshmallows) and not enough fruits, vegetables, and starches. Starting this new sleep experiment has thrown a wrench into what modicum of a meal regimen I had, so:

Next task:

• Give myself set meal times. Start preparing wholesome food.
  

Oh, and while I am giving myself tasks:

• Come up with a new personal hygiene schedule
• Go over my list of projects to spend all that new-found waking time on...
  

Polyphasic Sleeping Experiment - Day 1

Today I began my first one-month polyphasic sleeping experiment.

I decided to try the Uberman sleep cycle, which involves 20-40 minute naps at regular intervals throughout the day. Thirty minutes per map is my target. The naps will be at 4, 8, and 12 AM and PM, for a total of six naps per day. That adds up to a total of three hours of sleep per 24-hour-period, which will give me five more hours of wake time per day.

I slept normally last night and got up at 7:30. I ran 2.5 miles and lifted weights before a nice breakfast of corn flakes, oats, and soy milk. Then I did some more research on polyphasic sleeping, just to iron out a few of the details. At about 12:15, I took my first nap. I fell asleep to a white noise sleep track which lasts 27 minutes. It worked so well that I didn't even realize I had been sleeping, so when it ended, I reset the track and tried again :). I fell right asleep the second time. So my first nap ended up being about forty-five minutes long, with a break somewhere in the middle. I felt just fine when I got up, with a tiny bit of grogginess.

My second nap was at 4:15 on the floor of the library at Brigham Young University. This one did not go as well as the first, because I could not fall asleep! It is probably because my body is not used to sleeping so much during the day - I was just not tired at all. I lay on the floor for about 45 minutes in a very relaxed state. It was enough that my muscles twitched and I daydreamed a little; I just never entered normal sleep. Oh well. Surely I will be plenty tired tonight when I usually sleep. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to spend the wee hours of the night/morning at the gym tonight. Late-night lap-swimming, here I come! :)

I haven't had any problems so far, although I can see that I may need to take off my contact lenses every couple of naps. Sleeping in them is fine, but they are a little bit irritating when I wake up.

This is NOT a scientifically rigorous experiment, but I will try to keep track of some variables and report on the important ones here on my blog. This include:

1. body weight
2. diet
3. nap frequency, length, quality
4. how awake I feel /energy level
5. mood
6. effectiveness
   

Here are answers to some of the questions you might have:

• Why are you conducting this sleep experiment?
• To have five more hours of wakeful time each day!
• Why are you beginning now?
• I did not begin the experiment immediately after my mission because I wanted to give myself time to adjust to normal life before making any drastic lifestyle changes. I do not currently have a job (I am working on being profitably self-employed), so I can be extremely tired at the beginning and it will not make me lose my job. At this time I have few time commitments, which will allow me to try different schedules without worrying about missing appointments. If I succeed in becoming a polyphasic sleeper and decide that I want to stick with it after the trial month, it will open up very useful opportunities, especially in college. Studying in the deepest hours of the night/morning will free up my evenings and days for socializing and other extracurricular pursuits (such as talking to people in China or starting up a business).
  
• How long will it take to get adjusted to polyphasic sleeping?
• The transition period from monophasic to polyphasic sleeping supposedly takes from a week to two weeks. If what other polyphasic sleepers have written is correct, then this transition period will be shortened and made easier by eating healthily, not skipping naps and not oversleeping.
• Isn't sleeping eight hours a day and getting up early good enough?
• It usually works well. The exception is when I stay up late. When that happens, I usually get up later than I should and end up sleeping up to ten or eleven hours. I am very good at waking up early in the morning when I get 7-8 hours of sleep during the night.
  
• Won't it be harmful to your health?
• To the best of my knowledge, there have not been any long-term clinical trials on the effects of such a sleep cycle. If I start to get really sick, go crazy, lose large amounts of weight, lose energy or become lethargic, I will strongly reconsider finishing the experiment.
  
• Will you go crazy?
• I will be asking my brothers occasionally whether I am exhibiting any strange or erratic behavior. More likely is that I will be a bit cranky after each nap. I might have to be especially careful not to offend anyone right after waking up.
  
• What will you do with all that extra time?
  
• I have a list of things that I would like to do but have not gotten around to doing. It includes learning several programming languages (Python, PHP, HTML), relearning all the calculus and physics I forgot, reading books, and creating passive income. Perhaps I will also get back into photography, which I have not really done since my mission. Frisbee and joining a ballroom dancing club are also options.
  
• What will you do in the middle of the night?
• Once everyone else has gone to bed, I will head to the gym to swim laps and lift weights. This is also the perfect time to improve my Russian by talking with language exchange partners in Russia and Ukraine on Skype. I may also prepare meals for the day.
• Will it be worth the risks if you don't use your time effectively anyway?
• No. If I waste the extra time, I might as well not have it. So I will be careful not to spend very much time watching TV/movies or surfing the Internet purposelessly. If I fail to manage my time effectively, I will revert back to monophasic sleeping.

That just about sums it up. I will be posting daily to keep you up to date on my experiment. Please feel free to comment and/or email me!

Chris