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...