Polyphasic Sleep Day 2

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Paul

Technically it was yesterday morning, but I’m already seeing how days and nights could easily flow together while you have a hard time remembering which day was which.

The stretch from about 3am – 10am was horrific.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt so tired.  I was quite nauseous and could hardly think.  Sitting in my office chair, I would catch my head bobbing from falling asleep over and over again.  I know that I didn’t “sleep” for more than a few seconds, but at points it felt like I had literally zero control over it.  Walking kept my head from bobbing, but I didn’t feel any better.

I know some folks recommend having tons of stuff planned out to and I don’t disagree, but I don’t feel for that time period anything would have helped.  I felt so bad I didn’t feel like doing anything, and making myself do something was just not going to happen.  I had a few thoughts of quitting, but pushed through as I really want to make this work!  I would say anyone not in control of their schedule, like I have working from home, would have major trouble adjusting.  And it is only the 2nd day, but is also supposed to be the worst for most people.  Hopefully all downhill from here until I fully adjust.

I feel pretty good here at 2:30am (ish).  I don’t have that nagging tired feeling, but I have a bit of a headache and I’m somewhat tired.  However I feel motivated and have several things I’m going to do – this blog post is one of those things.  So nap time is going to be here in a few minutes, so I guess I’ll let this be my update for now.  If I think of anything else worth saying for today I’ll edit this post or make another.

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Polyphasic Sleep Day 1, Nap 5

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Paul

This will probably be my last nap by nap update as there isn’t much to add.  I had several short dreams during my 20 minutes but I don’t remember any of them.  I feel a little nauseous and very tired, but not actually quite as bad as I felt in the middle of the night last night.

My thinking is slow and awkward.  Just typing these few sentences is taking quite a bit of forced concentration.  Before this nap I tried playing Skyrim on my PS3 and it was very difficult to get into it and enjoy it.  I’ll probably go for watching a movie or some kind of TV show on Netflix.

I’m not looking forward to feeling like this tonight.  But I have to remind myself that it isn’t about this part.  Now I’m just “paying” for the good part which is to come.

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Polyphasic Sleep Day 1, Nap 3

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Paul

Whew… feeling pretty tired.  ;)   My 0630 nap flew past in what seemed like seconds.  Felt a little dizzy when I got up to turn the alarm off.  I knew this was going to be hard.  I did have another short dream… I remembered having the dream, but can’t remember what it was about.

I read all of Steve Pavlina’s blog posts about his experience and how different everything felt once he was passed the adaptation stage.  Like how to fill all the time, and how strange it was that everyone else went and “hibernated” for 8 hours at night while he was awake.

Steve has a lot of other odd posts on his blog, and some others that I find quite interesting. He’s definitely an out of the box thinker, and he’s comfortable with it.  I need to find some stuff to do that keeps me busy and moving.  Off I go!

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Polyphasic Sleep Day 1, Nap 4

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Paul

I had several short little dreams, and the time just blinked by.  One dream was a bloodied man tied to a table getting yelled at by someone like a drill instructor.  I can’t remember the rest.  How’s that for crazy?

I’m really tired, but feel better that it is daytime.  Definitely won’t be driving as I’m too tired and groggy feeling to trust that I’d be safe enough.  I feel cold like I can’t get warm – this happens to me when I’m really tired so no surprise there.  I think I might have to go build a fire in the fireplace and watch a movie or something.

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Polyphasic Sleep Day 1, Nap 2

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Paul

So I just completed my 2nd nap.  I had another very short dream (at least that I remembered).  I was handing a glass chalice to someone… I think a homeless person.  I have no idea what that means, but thought I’d share.  ;)

I’m not going to be doing a post after every nap during the adaptation period, but I’m doing it for now because it is something to do and I’m excited about this.  I do feel a little refreshed after this nap, but still overall tired.  Not zombie dead tired, just like what I would normally feel like when just starting to consider going to bed for the night.

I did some more reading (or re-reading) of Steve Pavilina’s blog posts on polyphasic sleep prior to this nap.  It looks like it took him about 6 days before he felt good for an entire day.  That doesn’t sound too bad.  It also looks like for him, it was day 2 that was the worst, and it was easier after that.  Sounds promising to me.

Just in the half a day or so since I decided to do this, I found I was sometimes a little worried about what it was going to be like.  I have no idea why.  When you really think about it, what’s the big deal?  I can always choose to not do it, do it at some other time, or make some other kind of adjustment.  I feel committed to getting through the adaptation period so I can really experience this for myself.

Well that’s all for now, off to try to do something interesting or hopefully productive, as that’s my main interest.  I’m not going to try not to be too hard on myself until I get used to this as far as being productive.  I’m sure I have some very groggy and tired days ahead.

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Polyphasic Sleep Experiment – Oh, and My First Post!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Paul

So my name is Paul, an this is my brand new blog and I’m starting a new experiment in my life.  A couple of years ago I learned about polyphasic sleep from this site.  Since that time I’ve always been interested in trying it out.  You have to be kind of a weirdo and “out of the box” thinker to even try something like this.  Well that sounds exactly like me.  My wife finally felt like she could support me in this and I think she is even a little excited to see how it turns out.

Polyphasic sleep is where you sleep every 4 hours for 20 minutes, instead of 7-8 hours all at once (called monophasic sleep).  Bascially your mind needs REM sleep to get the rest it really needs.  By getting used to sleeping only 20 minutes every 4 hours, your mind finally learns (after about a week of sleep deprivation hell, so I’ve heard) to fall asleep into REM sleep nearly instantaneously.  This isn’t narcolepsy, you choose to fall asleep.  By getting your REM sleep immediately and for the entire 20 minutes, you end up with 2 hours of REM sleep every 24 hours… but that’s ALL the sleep you need and get!

Monophasic sleepers get about 1.5 hours of REM sleep every night… so us weirdo polyphasic sleepers actually get more REM sleep every day.  From what I’ve read (more than just the one page I posted) polyphasic sleepers report feeling more energetic and happier than they did sleeping the normal way.

Why am I doing this?  One word.  Time.  I’ll gain about 40 hours extra every week to put into things I really want and need to focus on right now.  Main thing is my internet marketing business.  I have big plans and there just isn’t enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.  Other polyphasic folks have talked about all the awesome stuff they’ve gotten done… writing, reading, studying, learning, exercising, weight loss, more time for spirituality… you name it.  All of those things sound very interesting and motivating to me.  I’m a night owl by nature, so having time in the middle of the night to work, think, study, etc, sounds great to me.

The biggest potential down side is that the sleep schedule is not very flexible.  If you miss or push out your 20 minute naps too often, you’ll feel like crap and it can throw you off for quite a while.  The rest of the world does not work on this schedule.  ;)   As it is, I work for myself from home, so my schedule allows for a lot of flexibility.  Also remember, that it only takes 20 minutes every 4 hours, so it is a very minor interruption pretty much no matter what is going on.  Even if I was at the park with the family for the whole day, I’d probably only hit one nap during that time, maybe two… so that’s only 20-40 minutes I’d go rack out in the car or lay back on a blanket in the grass.  No big deal.

Sound crazy?  Good!  That’s one of the reasons I like it so much, and why I’m starting today.  This post serves as my first log after my first nap.  I’m going to do naps at 2:30am, 6:30am, 10:30am, 2:30pm, 6:30pm, and 10:30pm.  I just did the 10:30pm nap and actually had two really short dreams (probably only a few seconds) but felt tired-ish and awake the rest of the time.  Funny thing is… I rarely remember my dreams or even remember having dreams at all.  As in I remember my dreams only like once very 6 months.

All polyphasic sleeper’s I’ve read about report having extremely vivid dreams for each nap they take, every day.  And they remember them.  I’m pretty excited about this.  As I’ve also been interested in luicd dreaming.

Well I guess that’ll do for now.  Off to get some work done and maybe play some Star Wars, The Old Republic MMO a little too.  Feel free to call me crazy or add any other comments below!

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