Not Enough Time?

Post Post review.

2007-10-31T02:03:00.000-10:00

Wow... it seems very likely that my Polyphasic experiment has cured my insomnia.
In fact, it is a major effort to stay awake past 11pm.

I miss the days of productivity.

MtM

PolyCycle Pre/Post Recap...

2007-10-04T10:36:00.001-10:00

Day 40 and the recap coming soon... for some reason.. I don't seem to have enough time to get everything done.. like.. blogging. Hmm...

This experiment started 8/20/2007. So the bulk of it covered the month of September.
For those that doubt the ability of this type of sleeping cycle to produce positive results in daily life...

In a month that I averaged 3.77 hours of sleep, while attempting to follow the "Uberman" flavor of Polyphasic Sleep, I booked nearly $300,000 in gross profit and took second place in a sales contest.

Thank you, and good night.
Maarburg

PolyCycle Day Forty (and recap)

2007-09-28T04:27:00.000-10:00

Today is the last scheduled day of PolyPhasic sleep for this pattern in this experiment.

3am nap: 6 minutes (wasn't tired), but lay down anyway.
7am nap: 45 minutes
11am nap: 0
3pm nap: 0
7pm nap: 0
11pm nap: 60 minutes.. just went to bed.

For the last 40 days, I have undergone a sleep experiment. This sleeping pattern is commonly referred to as Uberman Polyphasic Sleep. My intention was to investigate the effects and possibility of sleeping only 20-30 minutes at a time and only 6 times a day.

It's quite apparent to me that I had considerably more time, while this experiment was going on. Day 40 was actually 11 days ago. QED. My daily bogging habit was most difficult to keep up with, and I miss it.

I would have to say that to do the Uberman flavor of Ployphasic, you will need to have large amounts of will power and the right environment. My friends and family, largely were very supportive, but even then, this change is considerably destructive to the normal way of things.
For me, I do no think Uberman is sustainable for any length of time.

In the grand scheme of things (there is always a grand scheme, whether you know about it or not!), some sort of schedule needs to be in place for me. If I try to sleep hours that are considered normal, I feel very sluggish.

Statistics:
Average hours slept per normal 24 hour cycle: 3.07
Fewest hours slept in a 24 hour cycle: 1.32
Most hours slept in a 24 hour cycle: 7.27 (serious oversleeping there!)
Things I managed to do that I normally do not have time for:
Blogging!
Creative writing.
House cleaning (worked on the den)
Staring off into space.
Yoga (I seriously miss that)
Life readjustment and prioritization.

Sweet dreams,
Maarburg.

PolyCycle Day Thirty Six-Thirty Nine

2007-09-24T01:40:00.000-10:00

Things have been a bit hectic.
That is an understatement.

The last few days have been a frantic battle to remain focused and conscious. Stress is at an all time high, and it is the consensus that stress is the cause of my sudden facial inflammation. Hives.
Perhaps the details of the sources of the stress will make themselves known in the days to come, perhaps not.
Either way, the last few days have not been productive, in general, and certainly not been 'on schedule'.
I am hoping that today (actual day 40) will be a turning point. Reason to be left unstated.

Day Synopsis:
36- Good Polyphasic Day with the exception of missing two naps. Total Sleep Time= 1.57 hours
37- Missed 7pm nap and doubled up the 11pm nap, but otherwise, a good PolyPhasic day. Total Sleep Time= 2.82 hours
38- 3am nap turned into 6 hour nap. Skipped remaining naps. Total Sleep Time= 6 hours
39- 3am nap turned into 4 hour nap. Took additional nap at around 4pm and the scheduled nap at 11pm. Total Sleep Time= 4.67 hours

In theory, I should be concluding this experiment in three days.
Unfortunately, my current work load is probably going to force me to continue, at least to the point where I'm caught up.

"When you're a deluded, fearful stress-monkey, you stockpile jungle fruits day and night. When you're a relaxed, happy, self-actualized monkey, a single banana is too much. -Steve Jackson"

I am not a relaxed, happy, self-actualized monkey.
MtM

PolyCycle Day Thirty Five

2007-09-23T11:10:00.000-10:00

Decided, in a sleep addled daze, to try a MonoPhasic reset.
Last night, I chose to sleep like a normal person in the attempt to start from a position of being well rested. (540)

3am nap: Still asleep
7am nap: Still asleep
11am nap: Skipping
3pm nap: Skipping
7pm nap: Attempted, but found no sleep. Though I was in complete state of relaxation when the paper shredder went into use. Who needs physical activity to get your hear rate up?
11pm nap: Napping.. would be easier if there was quiet and stillness.

Begin again, at the beginning, after the end, for there is no end, no beginning, only here. Only now, and even that has passed.

PolyCycle Day Thirty Four

2007-09-23T10:58:00.000-10:00

Again, fighting the body/mind for sleep.
Not sure which direction I can take. Quite unable to wake up at the alarm. I've been playing with the idea of a MonoPhasic reset. We'll see how the day progresses.

3am nap: none
7am nap: none
11am nap: none
3pm nap: none
7pm nap: Attempted to nap. Slept, maybe, to minutes out of the 40 that I tried. I don't understand how I can be so exhausted and yet not be able to nap.
Picked up a new alarm clock. No idea were the previous one is.
11pm nap: none.

PolyCycle Day Thirty Three

2007-09-21T06:11:00.000-10:00

3am nap: Slept until 6am.. with the alarm blaring from 3:30.
7am nap: None
11am nap: None
3pm nap: 30 minutes - Passed out. I don't recall any dreams.
7pm nap: None
11pm nap: None

Some have commented on the lack of detail in the most recent blogs.
This has very much to do we me not getting enough sleep in this last week. Oddly enough, I am technically getting more sleep, but feeling less rested.
Breakdown of average hours slept by week:
Week 1 - 3.33 hrs
Week 2 - 3.26 hrs
Week 3 - 2.9 hrs
Week 4 - 3.75 hrs
Week 5 - 4.37 hrs

PolyCycle Day Thirty Two

2007-09-20T04:08:00.000-10:00

Managed to sleep for close to an hour with the alarm blaring. The mind fights for itself.
(54 minutes)

3am nap: First normal (as defined by previous Polyphasic naps) in many days. (28 min). Though, I'm already looking forward to the next nap.
7am nap: 6:30 to 7:40. slept almost 40 minutes with the alarm blaring. (70 min)
11am nap: Tried, unsuccessfully to nap.. awake the whole time.. though I did have a rather pleasant day dream.
3pm nap: Again, attempts to nap failed.
7pm nap: Skipped.
11pm nap: Restless sleep. 35 min.

Not a whole lot going on.
This is a very busy time for work, so I'm spending most of my intellect to that endeavor.
I feel a bit more confident that I can get back on to the Uberman schedule. But it's been a tough week, to be sure.

PolyCycle Day Thirty One

2007-09-19T01:20:00.000-10:00

Complete exhaustion.

3am nap: I remember waking up at the end of the allotted time, and just not having the ability to move. It was like I was paralyzed. 360 minutes.
7am nap: Not taken
11am nap: Unable to sleep, despite being very tired.
3pm nap: Unable to sleep for more than a few moments at a time.
7pm nap: None
11pm nap: Had a very hard time getting to sleep, and then the alarm went off. Decided to try for another 30 minutes.
(40min)

Combine my totally fsked sleep schedule, neither Monophasic nor Polyphasic at this point, and the avalanche of work for this time of year, one longs for revenge.

Very tired, physically and mentally.
Becoming apathetic.
I need to get one of these things under control soon.
MtM
"Everything falls apart even the people who never frown eventually break down,
Everything has to end you'll soon find we're out of time to watch it all unwind"

PolyCycle Day Thirty

2007-09-18T01:56:00.001-10:00

Today, I will attempt to reestablish the PolyPhasic Uberman Sleep patern. Should be easier, but.. sheesh.
For the record..
My average sleep time for the last 29 days = 3.37 hours.
Average sleep for last 7 days = 4.28
Really wish I'd kept a better log of my sleep paterns before this experiment.

3am nap: Definitely could have used more sleep. Mind is protesting. 28 minutes.
7am nap: Very untired. Decided to skip. I will probably take an extra nap at night to fill in.
11am nap: Zonked right out. 25min
3pm nap: Skipped
7pm nap: Skipped. All though, I was told I took a good number of micro naps (some of which included snoring). Unknown time.
11pm nap: Out like a light.. another Zonk Nap.

Overall, I feel like I've got more brain power.. but still, there is a fog to fight thru.
Tonight is going to be a rough night.
I do not have high hopes from productivity, but there are some projects that I must finish. The Work comes first, dontcha know.
I'll be doing those first.

PolyCycle Day Twenty Nine

2007-09-17T15:49:00.000-10:00

Complete oversleep from last nights 11pm nap. Feeling very guilty for sleeping so much. Odd, that thought. Awoke at 5am for ~5 hours of guilty sleep.
I feel, in general, quite horrible and have strong intentions to return to Polyphasic (Uberman) by forgoing sleep today and begin napping again at 3am.

Bare with me on this next part, as I'm not sure that I can communicate it completely and fully. Sort of a Catch-22 in here.
All through out my experiment with Polyphasic, I had the sense of being drowsy. Slightly sleepy. That was countered somewhat, by what I feel was in increase in higher vision thinking. I'm not sure how to describe this, and I'll use the convenient excuse of actually getting Monophasic sleep for the last 3 days as to why that is hard to explain. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to go back and read this and expound upon that a bit with a higher vision thinking. Any-who, for the last two days.. after semi-intentionally returning to Monophasic, I have felt rather miserable, and easily distracted. "Shinny Thing!" Not fun. My ability to concentrate is very low, and even writing this has taken me the better part of an afternoon. I'm sure that this will pass as my body readjusts back to Monophasic. Too bad that I don't intend to do that.

3am nap: Still asleep from yesterday.
7am nap: none
11am nap: none
3pm nap: none
7pm nap: none
11pm nap: none

In general, I feel like I spent the last two days alternating between glasses of Gewurztraminer and shots of Herradura.

PolyCycle Day Twenty Eight

2007-09-16T22:03:00.000-10:00

Sleep experiment gone awry, certainly. Slept from 3am to 7:30am
BTW.. Check in for class was 7:30 starting at 8am.
23 miles in 25 minutes.
Managed to stay awake in class, more some than some of those weak humans that normally spend hours supine and still. Such fragile creatures. There was continued discussion of some substance called "el-trip to fan". Odd that they all seem aware of the 'dangers', yet consume this toxin anyway. I fear that I shall never understand the workings of their scrambled minds.

3am nap: See above
7am nap: none
11am nap: none
3pm nap: none
7pm nap: none
11pm nap: Went to bed with the intention of getting up in 30 minutes.
Actual (60 minutes)

Very very tired. More so than the initial sleep depreivation phase that I underwent some 27 days ago.

PolyCycle Day Twenty Seven

2007-09-15T21:56:00.000-10:00

At some point.. I must have decided that I will have no time for naps today, and if I'm going to get any sleep whatsoever, it's got to be in the morning. Woke up at 5:30.
(5.5 hours) Not sure if I'm furious at myself for letting this happen, or patting myself on the back for having the foresight to realize that I will not have the opportunity to sleep during class, and thus sleep before will be helpful.
Regardless, I feel like I've been drinking all night and slept in my clothes, in the back of a strangers car, only to be woken up by someone throwing a bowling ball through the windshield.

3am nap: 330 minutes.
7am nap: none
11am nap: none
3pm nap: none
7pm nap: none
11pm nap: none

Don't know where I'm going, don't know where I been.

Quick Stats: STR: 5 DEX: 5 CON: 5 INT: ?? WIS: ?? CHA: 5

PolyCycle Day Twenty Six

2007-09-14T05:51:00.000-10:00

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but don't hit the snooze.
3am nap: 30 minute nap followed by 20 minute.. um.. snooze. It appears that my mind/body is still trying to reconcile this schedule. Going into a weekend of two 12 hours classroom trainings, I'll be honest and state right now that I don't see me getting back on schedule this weekend. Frustrated with hitting the snooze. I think I'm stressing out, and at the same time not putting enough effort into getting back on schedule. This should be easier that I'm making it.
7am nap: 30 minutes.
11am nap: Skipped.
3pm nap: Able to sleep for about 16 minutes.... perplexing.
7pm nap: Skipped.
11pm nap: Had trouble getting to sleep.
Worried about what I'm going to do for tomorrows training class. I will have, probably, two breaks and a lunch, and zero control of what time they occur. Ended up playing a little game with the snooze alarm. (45 minutes)

Quick Stats: STR: 12 DEX: 13 CON: 9 INT: 9 WIS: 7 CHA: 5

PolyCycle Day Twenty Five

2007-09-13T04:55:00.000-10:00

I've been feeling exceptionally run down the last few days, so I've decided to toss in an additional nap to see if that helps:
3am nap: Ahh the sweet lure of sleep. 30 minutes.
Bonus Nap: 4am: Felt very strange to wake up from my 3 am, wander around for half an hour and head back to bed. Still feel drained. Perhaps when I wake up a bit more. As well as not feeling all too chipper the last few days, the productivity level of the morning hours is pathetic. Adding to the feeling that I should just try sleeping. The hope that I can reestablish the sleep pattern and get the productivity back like it was last week keeps me going. With the classroom training that is coming this weekend.. I have the feeling that I'm accelerating into a brick wall.
Don't get me wrong.. I still think, even at this low point in the experiment, that my productivity is, overall, still better than it was before.
7am nap: Double nap.. to see if my messed up feeling is more sleep related, than stress related. Didn't seem to help..
11am nap: Unable to really get to sleep.. Could be the double naps. Spent a good amount of the 30 minutes in a placid day dream. Surprisingly filled with energy, though I still have a nagging headache from yesterday. (Let's assume that it's not from any sleep triggers)
3pm nap: Wow.. had an Epiphany Nap Darn.. it's gone. 26 minutes of crystal clear thought. Wow....
7pm nap: Sleep alluded me again. Schedule is definitely whacked.
11pm nap: Nice 30 minute nap.. no known dreaming.

Quick Stats: STR: 15 DEX: 12 CON: 12 INT: 16 WIS: 18 CHA: 6

Polycycle Day Twenty Four

2007-09-12T05:11:00.000-10:00

3am nap: Found/Fixed my Shure headphones.. yea me. 26 minutes of .. zonk.
7am nap: Decided that I need a bit more sleep.. or at least more time not thinking. Took a bit of time just laying down.. some napping.. 70 minutes. No noticeable REM.
11am nap: Wish someone told me that HP training was going to last that long... 0 minutes
3pm nap: Too stressed out to nap.. 5 minutes at the most. But I lay down the whole time. Kind of a Murphy Nap
7pm nap: Zonked... again.. ~60 minutes. Very little dreaming.
11pm nap: Still recovering from messed up sleep patterns. Out like a light and awoke, unrested. 30min.

I realize that in yesterdays post I mentioned the dragster.. but that is an empty pointer. I removed a section of the blog... .. here's part of what I removed.

Today, and somewhat the last few days have been like a dragster that is beginning to fishtail as it screams desperately down the track. I've found myself feeling strong emotional and mental state swings. Calm and relaxed one moment and then filled with a desperate need to be doing something (usually something specific) the next. Moments of manic activity followed by blank stares.

Got a lot of attention today. Seems the FM's have GREP's what I'm doing. Fun to explain Polyphasic to people that have no concept. My running average number of minutes slept per 24hours is 189. That's about 3.16 hours of sleep per 24 hour period. Yes, I'm keeping track. There is a rather large margin of error in that number, but I would propose that the true value is actually lower, rather than higher. When I lay down for a nap with my MaarPod, the sleep program is 30 minutes. If I sleep until the alarm goes off, I count that as 30 minutes. That is assuming that I fall asleep instantly upon pressing play. Not the case. All though there have been a few naps where I don't even remember laying down.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to continue this particular experiment. The Everman concept has a number of advantages, and on some level I have done that before, and when I oversleep, I'm doing that now. This weekend I have back to back 12 hour classes. It will be decidedly difficult to adhere to my nap schedule.

I'll put it up for a vote and see who responds.

Quick Stats: STR: 15 DEX: 12 CON: 10 INT: 6 WIS: 5 CHA: 5
" got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing
You can spend you whole life working for something,
Just to have it taken away"

Polycycle Day Twenty Three

2007-09-11T06:23:00.000-10:00

That Dragster I spoke of yesterday slammed itself into the wall at nearly 220MPH, launching itself into the crowd and killing 4. I distinctly remember trying to figure out which fragging alarm clock was going off. Let's call this a mental health nap, rather than an oversleep. 240 minutes.
3am nap: see "dragster into crowd"
7am nap: To take.. or not take? Decided Yes. 35min.
11am nap: Skipped. Had some very important things to work on.
3pm nap: I need to remember to lock out my MaarPod. No juice. I lay in the massage chair instead. That next nap.. seems soo far away.
7pm nap: When nap time came back around... I was not tired. So I pushed on.
11pm nap: Didn't really get to sleep..for long.. fits and starts. Arose.. unrested. Grumpy. Not feeling too confident that I can make it to tomorrows 3am... and if I do.. I doubt that I'll be able to keep it to a REM nap.
Bad day.
Not feeling like I want to continue this.

Quick Stats: STR: 5 DEX: 5 CON: 5INT: 5WIS: 5CHA: 5
" Can't you see that its just raining"

PolyCycle Day Twenty Two

2007-09-10T09:08:00.000-10:00

3am nap: I was expecting this nap to be very difficult, but I think my trouble this weekend had more to do with my body wanting to be on one sleep cycle or the other. Presented with the 20 minute sleep cycle, my mind recognized and complied. Ripley even seemed to realize that it was nap time and took advantage of my inability to chase her off the couch.
7am nap: Out like a light.. and woke up feeling capital. Though it occurred off schedule at 8:15 (20 min)
11am nap: Call this one skipped. Too much work.. and too much frantic brain activity.
3pm nap: Slunk off early. Ended up with a Nap-22. 12 minutes. Rest of the time was spent debating the merits of going back to sleep vs staying awake.
7pm nap: My mind was in full manic mode, so I read for about 20 minutes before napping. This session contained some of the most intense dreaming I've experienced. The first part (like dreams have nice clean chapter selections) was obviously influenced by one of the books I am reading (Nymphonation). The next phase might be an expression of the frustration I feel. It was pure hate and murder. Bloody and violent. When I awoke, it took me several minutes to reestablish where I was. My hands shook and continued to do so for then next 30 minutes. Very frightening.
11pm nap: Really not looking forward to going back to sleep. The memory of the previous session still fresh in my mind. Blood on my hands. Decided that reading might be able to settle my mind. Not that it worked before. Read until past midnight.

I have certainly come to the conclusion that there is simply more things on my plate than there hours in the day, regardless of how many or few of those hours I decide to sleep away. There is a feeling like a dragster fishtailing down a track. Desperate attempts to control something that desperately does not want to be controlled.

Quick Stats: STR: 13 DEX: 10 CON: 8 INT: 7 WIS:4 CHA: 5
"All night hearing voices telling me
That I should get some sleep
Because tomorrow might be good for something"

PolyCycle Day Twenty One

2007-09-09T23:24:00.000-10:00

3am nap: Woke up with the alarm and felt a bit more refreshed and awake that I have in the last 3 days. (30min)
7am nap: Repeated use of the Sleep button. Frustration. Not sure to call it an oversleep or the body demanding that I get some REM. 70 min
11am nap: Took me awhile to get to REM. Got awoken by the alarm and turned it off. Got awoken by my wife, and managed to make some excuse for her to let me sleep. Got back into the "Crisis at the Airport Control Tower" dream. Sleeping time.. hard to tell. ~45 min
3pm nap: Went to the Maui Craft fair instead. Yea me.
7pm nap: Drove around looking for some bakery and then dinner. Skipped nap. Yea me again.
11pm nap: Doubled up on the nap.. 25 + 35 minutes.

This weekend was plagued with missed naps and was a large blur. Certainly this would lead you to believe that this sleep pattern is just not sustainable for a busy life. I would have to agree with you in principle, but I think that there would be a way to change the spacing of the naps and perhaps even swing into the Everyman cycle for the trip and back to the Uberman once back to normal.

Quick Stats: STR: 12 DEX: 13 CON: 16 INT: 9 WIS: 10 CHA: 5
"I want to feel that lightning strike me .
And burn me down  .
Knock me out! 
Knock me out!"

Polycycle Day Twenty

2007-09-08T02:46:00.000-10:00

Minor setback or major catastrophe? Time will tell. Fighting desperately to stay awake, I think I took an involuntary nap on the computer. Computer did not short out from leaked saliva. This is a good thing.

3am nap: No problem getting to sleep. Herculean effort to get out of bed. That split second concept that "I need to get up"... if it's not grasped with white knuckled fists, right then, will be lost. Managed it this time. 30min
7am nap: Can't believe. Hotel alarm did not go off. Obviously a user error.. but.. sheesh. Batteries for portable alarm clock.. deceased, one would suppose from lack of sleep. Lay down at ~7 and woke up slightly after 8. 65 min.
11am nap: Unable to nap. Skipped.
3pm nap: Slept in car. Unknown length of time. Guessing 45 minutes. The lack of structure at this time is causing large volumes of havoc.
7pm nap: Slept past alarm. 45min.
11pm nap: Every cell in my body is either screaming for caffeine or sleep. Some, bipolar at this point are screaming for a sleepytime latte with an extra shot. 45 min

Completely exhausted. Shouldn't be driving. The mention of Enya causes an involuntary closing of my eyes. The last 24 hours have a very dreamlike quality to them. The disturbing, I wish I'd wake up now, sort of dream.

Quick Stats: STR: 12 DEX: 10 CON: 9 INT: 5 WIS: 5 CHA: 5
"I'm not afraid to dream- to sleep, sleep forever"

Polycycle Day Nineteen

2007-09-08T02:30:00.000-10:00

Note to others that may be attempting this. Don't skip naps and check to make sure that you set the alarm and armed it.

3am nap: Managed to oversleep. Didn't I just say I thought I was past that? It's the missed nap thing. I set my alarm, but forgot to move the little dial thingy to say ALM ON. Didn't oversleep as bad as I'd thought.. but I know from experience that this is going to be a long day.
7am nap: Feeling like my body has been beaten to a bloody mass, sucked through a hose and reassembled. Took a nap, hoping to salvage some brain cells for the day. (Eh, I'm on holiday, so who cares)
11am nap: -Skipped to try and get back on schedule
3pm nap: Hard time getting to sleep, and even harder waking up. 35 minutes of deadtime
7pm nap: Napped at the hotel. Attempting to get back on track. 25
11pm nap: Vague memories of a dream. Good sign I hope.
Pretty much a lost day. Most of the morning was spent wandering a Mall in Maui. Vague thoughts occasionally bubbling up to the surface, only to burst before I could grasp them.

Quick Stats:
STR: 10 DEX: 7 CON: 7 INT: 10 WIS: 15 CHA: 3
"You know the part about life
Is just a waking dream
Well I know what you mean
But that ain't how it seems right here, right now"

PolyCycle Day Eighteen

2007-09-06T07:17:00.000-10:00

My fear of oversleeping is gone. Now, my biggest concern is making sure that I'm utilizing my time well. My 3-7 cycle was mostly wasted today. Lot of TV and little anything else.

3am nap: Adaptation looks to be complete. I set my alarms (Watch, Battery Powered, Standard Nightstand), lay down and after a few moments, fell right to sleep. About 20 minutes later, I awoke and turned off the unneeded alarms.
7am nap: Due to the need to leave the house at 6:30, I took my 7am nap at 5:30... Then we turned out not to leave the house till much later. A little zombie-like in the thought process.
11am nap: Quick. Less then 15 minutes. Did not feel fully rested. It should be noted that even though I'm saying "not fully rested" I still feel like I have more energy and more cognitive juice to play with.
3pm nap: Some little thief was in the Quiet Room.. so I had to wait over half an hour. Boo Hoo. Full 28 minutes and nice dreaming. A Pan Galactic Gargle Nap.
7pm nap: Unable to get to sleep on the plane.
11pm nap: Catching up with and old friend. Yes Ogre, I just called you old. Buaahhaahhaa.

Little worried that I will oversleep, but I'm going to take a double nap (I'll have to add that to the Pollynap list) and then continue on as normal. Fingers crossed and all that.

Quick Stats:
STR: 14
DEX: 16
CON: 18
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 4

PolyCycle Day Seventeen

2007-09-05T23:39:00.000-10:00

3am nap: Went by in a flash. In fact the 11pm to 3am cycle seemed to flip right past. Awoke at the sound of the alarm. Recollection of working on two laptops during my dream. Mental clarity is high, as is energy.
7am nap: I remember dreaming, but not what about. Feeling very mellow today.
11am nap: Dropped into sleep almost immediately and woke up right before my alarm was to go off. Uncanny, it is. And kinda cool. I've given control of my body up to the aliens.
3pm nap: Again.. dropped right off into a deep sleep. The dream for this cycle was "Carnival". Very large group of friends were in what I am assuming a South American country for the festival. For my birthday, I suppose. Our group was very large and quite boisterous and quickly created a rolling party. Popping into street side bars for a round of X and the off down the street to see what puu puu's the next place had. Now if I only had enough money to fly all my friends to So. America for the weekend.. Woke up 21 minutes into the sleep mp3, with 5 minutes left to play. Uncanny. I'm beginning to believe that either aliens have taken over my brain, or that my brain has begun to seriously consider this new sleep pattern.
7pm nap: Tired, but not all that sleepy. Might have slept for 10 minutes.
11pm nap: Dropped quickly in to sleep and woke before my 30 minute alarm went off.
Gotta tell ya, it's rather weird.
Things are weird.
On on hand, I can tell that my thinking is still a little blurry, but at the same time, there is a clarity here. (Yup, sounds like I'm loosing it.) My mood is very calm. Things that normally would get at me are floating right past. Not as if I don't notice, but more like I'm more in control about how I react to things.
Seems sustainable.

I figured that I would inevitably want to break every clock.

Quick Stats:
STR: 15
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 19
WIS: 13
CHA: 4

Pollynap types.

2007-09-04T05:45:00.000-10:00

From the Wayward Wellingtonians:

Since we started sleeping polyphasically, I've noticed the quality and nature of naps varies quite a bit. Most naps are just "standard" naps, but I get at least one of these naps each week or so:

8. The Paradox (AKA The Traitor, The Pan Galactic Gargle Nap)
Everything seemed to go so well. You lay down on schedule, fell asleep right away, and had a lovely dream involving cake, meadows and fluffy animals. Yet you wake up feeling like someone stuffed your head full of polystyrene and poured bleach in your eyes.

Luckily, the effect tends to fade away after a few minutes.

7. The Time Warp (AKA The Forgotten Oversleep, The WTF Nap)
Three hours have passed, both alarm clocks have been switched off, along with the light and the MP3 player. You may also have had a drink and been to the bathroom at some point. The last thing you remember is lying down.

6. The Newbie Nap (AKA Murphy's Nap, The Coffee Victim)
Your eyes refuse to stay open. Your body is exhausted. Your brain feels like it's been stuffed with cotton wool. You lie down expecting the best nap of your life.

Instead, you spend 20 minutes thinking about how badly you want to get to sleep. The ticking clock, humming refrigerator, faint noises from next door and blinking LED on the VCR also don't help.

5. The Phantom Nap (AKA The Non-Nap, The Wake)
You were awake when you lay down. You were awake when the alarm went off. You don't remember waking up. Did you sleep in between? No-one will ever know. Unless someone heard you snoring.

4. The Nap-22 (AKA The No-Win-Nap, The Nap-And-A-Half-Without-The-Nap)
You wake up feeling pretty good. Eyes open, head clear. But there's a problem. You still have half your time left. Do you get up, or go back to sleep?

If you get up you'll feel tired later. If you go back to sleep you'll feel tired when you wake up. You may as well just give up and sleep through to the next nap (not really).

3. The Micronap (AKA The Surprise, The iNap Nano)
Why did the hand of that clock jump forward two minutes?

2. The Snap (AKA The Epiphany, The Crystal Pillow)
You suddenly snap awake, with one minute left on the clock. You feel like your whole life has been a lead-up to this one moment of startling and unexpected clarity.

Work fast. You have about 5 minutes before you go back to normal.

1. The Chrono-Nap (AKA The Bullet-Time, The Saga)
You fall asleep almost immediately and have an incredibly long and detailed dream. You wake up what feels like hours later, cursing yourself for oversleeping, only to realize you've been asleep five minutes.

You resist the urge to call your monophasic friends and tell them how awesome polynapping is.

I'd like to add a ninth:
9. The Zonk (AKA The Negative Time Share)
You feel pretty tired and fall asleep quickly. When you awake, you feel just like you did when you laid down, pretty tired. No dreams, no rest.. ARgh.. should have stayed up and played Halo2.

PolyCycle Day Sixteen

2007-09-04T02:26:00.001-10:00

11-3am cycle was filled with the energy missing from the rest of the day. Managed to make significant progress on a number of fronts.
3am nap: I've decide that the possibility of falling asleep and oversleeping on the 3am nap is greater than all others and to nap on the couch or floor. This particular nap was on the living room floor. My mental capacity right now is leading me to think that I might just be better off sleeping. First I need to fully integrate into this schedule. Creativity seems to be a bit higher in the wee hours. Might have something to do with lowered fear of looking like an idiot.
7am nap: Nice Sunday morning feeling to this nap. Awoke with just a hint of being drowsy.
11am nap: Powernap in the Quiet room. Took almost 30 minutes for my brain to reach anything related to cognitive skill.
3pm nap: Why did I forget to turn off my phone?!? 11 minutes into sleep.. Spent the rest of the allotted nap time with eyes closed and pretending to sleep. I'll need to make up that REM.
7pm nap: Attempted to sleep in the car outside a restaurant. I'm not sure why, but I have a bit of trouble sleeping in this car. Very light sleep for 1o minutes or so.
11pm nap: Pure exhaustion hit me around 10:30. Dropped into sleep immediately. Woke up because of the alarm (I've been waking prior for awhile now), and decided that I needed a bit more. Reset the alarms and went back to sleep. Awoke still a little on the groggy side, but with a bit more energy.

Quick Stats:
STR: 15
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 14
WIS: 13
CHA: 10

PolyCycle Day Fifteen

2007-09-03T10:15:00.001-10:00

The cycle from 11am to 3am was one of pure exhaustion. Barely able to sit upright, let alone put a thought together. Not sure exactly what I did to keep from crashing.

3am nap: Very Very drowsy.. Walking dead type of drowsy. Morning yoga may very well be a long term positive side effect.
7am nap: Still feeling sleepy.. but more of the Sunday Afternoon sleepy. Zoned out in front of the TV watching CSI Miami. Yawn.
11am nap: Nothing special to note with the exception that I'm consistently waking up before the alarm goes off.
3pm nap: Dreams were a high speed visual assault. Think Videodrome.
7pm nap: First repeat dream. Nice. I can get used to this. Almost every nap cycle today has produced dreams. Not entirely sure of the significance of this, but it is rather pleasant.
11pm nap: Slept soundly and dreamt. I was very very close to oversleeping. I lay in bed for about 20 minutes barely conscious.

Overall I have not felt rested today. I am attributing this to the reintroduction phase from Friday morning's oversleep.

Quick Stats:
STR: 15
DEX: 19 (I pwn you at Mario Party 8)
CON: 14
INT: 4
WIS: 4
CHA: 5

PolyCycle Day Fourteen

2007-09-03T05:57:00.000-10:00

Day two in the outdoors.
3am nap: Thanks go out to Claudio and Anton for the fascinating conversation that helped get me to 3am. Very very tired. This nap went rather well. Woke up before the alarm went off.
7am nap: Claudio made it until about 4am (Guessing), but Anton, obviously not yet out of 'root beer' was more than willing to engage me in debate to help me stay up.
Yes, he stayed up with me until 7am. Family never goes out of style.
11am nap: Still very tired from trying to get back on schedule. This nap began almost immediately, and contained a very vivid dream. I awoke after 17 minutes of sleep with my pulse in the 170's and slightly disoriented. Once I realized I was dreaming, I lay back down and was able to control the direction of the dream.. Actor and director. Sweet.
3pm nap: Event pack down seems to take forever. An extended member of our group got caught in a downpour as we were about ready to leave. We, being who we are, stopped to laugh.. er.. help out. There's something about helping someone with absolutely no expectations of payment/reward. We carried his belongings from the his campsite to the permanent structure in the rain. Then carried them to his truck. Good and self rewarding work.
Nap pushed back to 4pm. Pure exhaustion.
7pm nap: I delayed this nap until 8pm to see if I could normalize the nap structure a bit. Awaking from this nap provided no sense of rest of sleep. Needed to hold on to the handrail to go down the stairs. Tired.
11pm nap: Extremely difficult to scrape myself out of bed. Strong feeling of being the walking dead. Constant and determined effort is required to keep eyes open. Needed some activity that required minimal brain work, and some physical activity. Console Video Games to the rescue. Mario Party 8.

Quick Stats:
STR: 18 (lots of lifting today)
DEX: 17 (play sword fighting with the kids)
CON: 16 Surviving (not yet thriving) on 20 minute power naps..
INT: 8 Is this really a good idea?
WIS: 10
CHA: 5 -Need shave and a shower.

Day Thirteen interval post

2007-09-01T09:12:00.000-10:00

Going camping.
Car camping.. but hey, I'll take what I can get, OK.

No post until Sunday night.

I'm eager to see how I will fill the time between 3am and 7am, in the dark.
Alone. Without my normal distractions.. and the benefit of light.

This, I think, is going to be quite tough.

See you in a few cycles.
MtM

PolyCycle Day Thirteen

2007-09-01T09:10:00.000-10:00

Camping at Ho'omaluhia Bontanical Gardens today.

3am nap: Did not sleep very well and awoke very tired. No more than 10 minutes. I am a little stressed out about oversleeping and I do not like to pack for a trip last minute.
7am nap: Restless. No more than 10 minutes of sleep. Not fully packed for the camping trip.
11am nap: This nap was taken in the heat of midday, in a tent. Sleep was obtained, but it was very restless, and unsatisfying.
3pm nap: Tent nap. I managed about 10 minutes of good sleep. I awoke to hear the gang of children trying to sneak up on me. I'm sorry to report that this limited potential for any ninjas in that group. Ninja's don't giggle. Ever.
This group that I'm hanging out with, is familiar with what I'm doing, but the extended group of course, was not. I must enjoy being different. The looks on peoples faces is great.
7pm nap: Slipped away for my nap almost un-noticed. Strange environment and sounds seem to be preventing me from feeling truly relaxed. Add that to a feeling of 'not really tired'.
11pm nap: Now entering dangerous territory. It's dark, we are out in nature. There are many signals that the brain interprets as sleep triggers. We conquer them thru electricity, but I think they are too ingrained in our brains for it to disappear. For this nap, I tried to reinforce in my mind the need to get back up again. It's natural to go to sleep when it's dark, you are tired, and well fed, not to mention a bit of physical activity. (Yes, I did just imply that this experiment in not natural. Silly, you think anyone would assume that it was?)

Now.. to make until 3am.

Quick Stats:
STR: 17 \
DEX: 16 ---- Nothing like a bit of physical activity (setting up camp) to make you feel healthy.
CON: 16 /
INT: 14
WIS: 9 doubting my wisdom in attempting to do polyphasic without the electronic stimulus.
CHA: 13

PolyCycle Day Twelve

2007-08-31T08:21:00.000-10:00

Coulda predicted it.
Overslept.
I had a ton of crap planned for the early hours of today. Some of it work related, which is going to make my morning suck. Also, wanted to get all of the camping gear together for this weekend... I guess I have the early hours of Saturday. Back into reactionary mode. I hate reactionary mode.

"but missing a nap can cause a rapid crash that takes a while to recover from."

3am nap: ...continuation from day 11's 11pm nap. Woke up at 6. After seven hours of uninterrupted sleep.. you'd think that I would feel refreshed and awake. I feel like I have a hangover of epic proportions. Not the headache part, but the confusion and slurred thinking. Very pissed off at the moment. (06:34am) And though I know how to control/deal with this feeling. Right now, I want that anger. It's energy. Energy I can focus to forge into something useful. I feel like I need to be pissed off. (keep in mind that I feel less lucid than normal)
I've been informed that I did get out of bed after my 11pm nap. The Big question of the day is WTF did I do and when did I go back to bed?

7am nap: Seeing that I woke up only an hour previous... I think I'll skip this one.
11am nap: Restless and didn't get to sleep.
3pm nap: Skipping... Just not tired at all. Most of the office went home. But some of us still have lots of work to do. I really should go lay down, at least.
7pm nap: Restless. Did not really get to sleep. Too much on my mind.
11pm nap: Again..restless. Not napping (actual sleep) in the last 3 cycles leads me to believe that I did indeed sleep from 11pm yesterday to 6am this morning.

Seeing that it is Friday..
Now would be a good time to restart this experiment. Today was a very low mental and physical day. Probably the worst so far. Oddly, it happened on the day after I received the most sleep. Too much monkeying around with the system, for sure. You really have to admire people that do things like this. Not asking for your admiration, mind you, but pointing out an aspect of human society. We like to pounce on things that are not in the norm. If it's different, then it must be wrong. With my oversleeping today, I got the distinct impression from some people that since I was doing something wrong, that I deserved to fail. It was just and right. People are sheep.

Refresher. Naps will be as close to designated times as possible.
Missed nap times will be taken as soon as possible.
No caffeine.
No alcohol.
Naps are at 3, 7, and 11 A.M. and P.M.

Best Quote regarding my missing hours from 11pm to 6am. "Have you ever seen Fight Club?"
Runner up: "Dude, maybe you were out fighting crime!"

Quick Stats:
STR: 16
DEX: 10
CON: 7
INT: 6
WIS: 5
CHA: 12

Polycycle Day Eleven

2007-08-30T06:00:00.000-10:00

3am nap: Nice. Good sleep. No recollection of dreams.
7am nap: Decent rest. Nothing to report really.
11am nap: Very Short. I awoke after only about 14 minutes. Feeling groggy and unmotivated for work. Though all of the other things that I want to be doing, I seem to have more energy for those things. It's only work if someone else wants you to do it?
3pm nap: Drama - no sleep. Work is backing up very quickly and my concentration is near zero.
7pm nap: Unable to take nap until 9pm. Argh. Once the responsibility of driving home is done. Exhaustion consumes me. Literally falling asleep sitting up.
11pm nap: Headed off to my nap at 10:50. The physical activity of walking up the stairs is tremendous. IF I can get some REM, I should be able to make it thru the night. FSM I hope I wake up at the alarm.

Best comment of the day: "Bullshit, you can't be doing that, you'd drop dead in 5 days."

Quick Stats:
STR: 14
DEX: 9
CON: 5
INT: 16
WIS: 16
CHA: 10

PolyCycle Day Ten

2007-08-29T16:20:00.001-10:00

Dangit.

3 am nap.. was and extension of yesterdays 11pm nap. (read: I overslept) See previous post for the ensuing self doubt and missing alarm clock quandary. (4 hours)

7 am nap. Slept a little, but very lightly. The fact that I feel much better than I have since the experiment began leads me to believe that there are issues with either the Uberman Schedule, or my application of same. For sake of the experiment, I will continue the experiment with the assumption that it is my adherence faults that have thrown a monkey into the machine.
10 am update: The energy that I awoke with quickly dissipated. Instead of having energy and feeling slightly disconnected, I just feel like this has been a hellish week. And it's only Wednesday. Feeling burnt. Comparing this to what I've felt like the last few days, and my mental state.. this is a down turn.

11 am nap I decided to skip this nap to ensure that I will be sufficiently tired enough to get back on schedule. Don't ask where that logic came from. I'm not sure. After lunch, I began to feel unwell. The closest I can get to describing the feeling is what you feel like the day before you realize that you're sick. I don't think that I'm getting sick, but rather I'm messing with some already screwed up sleeping schedules.

3 pm nap. Despite feeling like a zombie, I was unable to really get to sleep. My motivation and outlook on this project is rather low. I'm hoping that this is a reaction to the oversleeping. Not being one that is easily discouraged for long, I will push forward with this little game.

7 pm nap Found the damn alarm clock. It was under the bed. (I have no idea). I also tested the length of the alarm and found it to be one minute. :-( This nap was.. ok.. Not feeling that great. I'm quite certain that I did not reach REM, and I feel unrested.

11 pm nap Yawn. Almost.. almost a good nap. Again, not feeling all that well. Feeling spent and over tired. I fear that this is going to be a rather long night. Still quite foggy in the head.

I spent a bit of time looking over the previous 9 days worth of information. It is quite apparent that I, as usual, jumped into something with both feet and only the shadow of a plan. I've sketched out a more stable plan and have recommitted to this project.
Now, to make it through the night.

Oh, intersting side note, I've averaged 20.6 hours of awake time for the last 9 days.

Quick Stats:
STR: 16 - For some reason I feel like I'm gaining muscle mass (no strength training has occured)
DEX: 14
CON: 16 That fact that I can pull this off warrants me a 16, dontcha think?
INT: 15 (questionable)
WIS: 15 (questionable)
CHA: 10 I'm handy, that should tell you something.

PolyCycle Day Nine

2007-08-29T01:36:00.000-10:00

Ok.. Here's something that I've noticed.
When you wake up from REM, or the alarm goes off.
Get the hell up.
If you don't, that next cycle will be a long one as your body tries to go back to sleep. I don't know the remedy if you don't get up right away. I lallygagged after my postponed 11pm nap...lay in bed for an extra 20 minutes. I am thinking of throwing in an extra sleep cycle to cover.

4am - I did a double cycle. I slept for 20 minutes.. got up. then lay back down for an additional 20 minutes. Well, it is an experiment.

7am nap.. was postponed a bit as I was on my way to work. Napped a little in the car.

(No, I was not driving!)

Feeling a bit disconnected today.. not sure what's up. Maybe it was seeing a picture of my homeland yesterday (inside joke). Despite that feeling, I seemed to be quite productive, reducing my e-mail in box to zero. Fireworks should go off every damn time that happens.

11am nap postponed until noon. Didn't seem to fall asleep. Might have too many things on my mind. It didn't feel like I was laying down for 25 minutes though. I still have that slightly disconnected feeling. More precisely, I'm feeling like a slacker. I don't want to be working. I want to read this cool book that I have on loan from an intriguing mind. I have Site's to build. Camping gear to assemble. TV to watch.

3pm nap - Simply dropped right off, again waking unassisted after about 25 minute.
The groggy feeling has continued. Very similar to the mid afternoon slump I was accustomed to as a monophasic sleeper.

7pm nap was pushed back to 9pm. I began to feel increasingly tired and yet was unable to sustain any level of sleep during the nap.

11pm nap. Overslept - which does not surprise me at all. Awoke at 4am. Bad news: Frustration. Good News: I feel great. Go figure. Not only did I sleep through my battery powered-place-it-on-the-pillow alarm that I purchased for this experiment, but I slept through the regular bedside alarm. To me, that signals extreme exhaustion. Of note, not only did I sleep through my portable alarm, I was unable to even find the thing. The clock is missing. .. .. WTF? Did I eat it? Sleepwalk the thing to the trash outside by the garage?

I'm beginning to feel that success of this sleep cycle is highly reliant on one's ability to maintain the rigid schedule fairly closely. Since that has been an issue with me, I am having mixed results. I chose the 6 times 20 or Uberman sleep cycle for it's lager benefits of simple and synchronous schedule and the promise of 21-22 hours of productive time. At this moment, I'm definitely feeling that the schedule is too rigid and unnatural to be sustainable for me.
This leaves me in a bit of a quandary. Do I slog through and continue the experiment, or do I do as many other do and modify the sleep times and frequency to something more asynchronous, and sacrifice some of the productive time for a schedule that is more easily adapted to. Perhaps the Everyman Schedule (core sleep consisting of 3-4 hours of sleep at night and 3x 20-30minute naps morning, midday, and evening) I have unwittingly followed a schedule very similar to the Everyman version for about 3 months. Back into the corner of have too much to do and too little time in which to do it, I was working until my mind began to shut down. I know that the Everyman Schedule is something that I can do, and with a bit more understanding and perhaps awareness of what I'm doing, I might not feel like the walking dead while doing it. .. ..

On the other hand, I feel that after only a week, despite the obvious challenges, I've not given my body/mind sufficient time to adjust to the Uberman (6x20 schedule). Today (8/28) was a particularly challenging day.

Please use the poll (upper right hand of this page - YMMV) and let me know what you think I should do. In the meantime, I plan on returning to the Uberman (6x20min) Plan.

Polyphasic Sleep - A primer

2007-08-28T04:38:00.000-10:00

Ok.. So I realize that this experiment seems half baked and insane to many of you. With that in mind, I'd like to touch on a few point and see if I can demonstrate a little bit of reason behind what I'm doing.

DISCLAIMER
Despite decades of intense research, scientists still have only clues about sleep function. Because sleep is heterogeneous, there are various theories none of which predominates.

In humans, there are two general categories of sleep. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM)

Lets talk about NREM first.
NREM account for roughly 85% of the time spent sleeping and is broken down into 4 stages:

*N1- Drowsey Sleep
*N2- The brain emits short bursts of activity and it is belived that the brain is trying to keep tranquil. ~40% of NREM sleep.
*N3- I like to call this dark territory.. ~3% of NREM sleep occurs here, but this is where bedwetting, night terrors, sleep walking, and sleep talking occur.
*N4- Usually > than 50% of NREM sleep is here. This is the deep sleep.

REM Sleep:

REM Sleep or R is marked by intense dreams and is linked to circadian rhythm.

The general theory behind polyphasic sleep is that REM sleep is largely responsible for the mental regenerative effects of sleep. After an initial period of sleep deprivation, one adapts a schedule of 6 even spaced naps of 20 minutes. This yields ~2 hours of REM as compared to the 1.5 hours for a 'normal' sleep pattern.
So the very short comparison goes like this:
Monophasic Sleep
16 hours awake time
8 hours sleep time
1.5 hours of regenerative sleep

Polyphasic (Uberman Version) Sleep
22 hours awake time
2 hours sleep time
2 hours regenerative sleep

Those are rough numbers, as I don't think that the entire time I'm asleep, I'm in REM.

I've suffered from insomnia for many years and gone months on less than 4 hours average sleep a night... I'm now getting about 2 hours a night and feel better than I have in years!

PolyCycle Day Eight

2007-08-27T06:13:00.001-10:00

I'd hate to jinx it, but I think I'm through the dark woods.

11-3am stretch was not terribly productive. I've too much muck in the synapses.
Despite the alcohol and caffeine intake, my 3am nap was quick and refreshing. Very little time to fall asleep and feel into a dream quickly.

The time from 3am to 7am has been the hardest for me thus far. This cycle, has been the easiest so far. I am tired, but functioning much like the afternoon slump that I used to have around 2pm before.
I skipped my 7pm nap yesterday.. so I imagine that when I don't- my mental clarity will be much improved. This is the first 3to7am cycle that I've been able to be on the computer.

11am nap was fantastic... Multiple times in the dream where I was moving my hands to block a play fight strike or catch something... and my arms actually moved. But I didn't drop out of the dream.. I could slide back in, even though I was aware that I was dreaming.
Very Cool. Who needs drugs?
I have the definite feeling of a caffeine high after my nap. This is that 9th cup feeling. Buzzing.... and on 20 minutes of sleep.. Whoo hoo. Is this what it feels like to get some good deep sleep?

I received a request today for more information about my mental state and any physical changes, and any changes in diet or eating habits. I will try to incorporate that in future blogs.

Today, I feel very calm and centered, for the most part. My typing speed in near peak and I'm cranking work out left and right. I feel like I'm thinking at a higher level, but that is purely subjective. I'm quite certain that this is the quickest my brain has moved in the last week.

Small work crisis caused me to skip my 3pm nap. I still feel like I have energy to spare. I will nap before I drive home. (Seems to be a concern of some folks)

Nice 3pm nap at 6pm, then drove home. No sense of sleepiness.

Side note- Online flash based learning solutions are pretty boring.

Mental Status: A little foggy in the morning
Dexterity: Above average. Typing speed is great today.
Comprehension: How would I know what I'm not comprehending. Good, other than Emotional IQ
Agitation: hmm... High, but no more than normal.
Hunger/eating: Slight problem with habit eating. Hunger has been reduced, but eating out of habit has led to fairly even weight.
Nap Locations: 3am Bed, 7am Bed, 11am Quiet Room, 3pm pushed back to 6pm , 7pm-Skipped , 11pm-pushed back to midnight so I could check out the lunar eclipse! .

PolyCycle Day Seven

2007-08-26T00:59:00.001-10:00

Dagnabbit!
Overslept from my 3am nap.
Skipping a nap is bad bad. (but I'm now following a form of Everyman Polyphasic, right?) I remember the alarm going off, and turning it off. I did the fatal "I'll get up in one minute".

3 hours later....

Dagnabbit!

I'm more than a little pissed off.
This experiment is troublesome.

Still.. I'll say that it's a net gain.

Feeling, generally un-motivated.

11am nap produced a very intense dream.
I was laying on my side in the first class birth of airplane. The nose of the plan pitched wildly down causing someone to scream and wake me up. I could hear the jet engines strain a whine as the plane rapidly nosed down to earth. I was able to pull myself from the dream to find my self in the same position in my bed. With my heart still pounding, I eased myself back in to the dream. Through the few windows that the shades were up, I could see the shadows and images of skyscrapers.
I awoke.
This is the first time that I know about that I was able to pull myself from a dream and then reinsert myself right back in.
Too bad it was a plane crash dream. :-0

For this afternoon, we had scheduled a pool party. I knew that this would pose a few problems. Good food and limited, and possible sabotaged, nap time.

3pm nap was met with limited success. No known dreaming, but wonderful sense of being recharged.

7pm nap was inconvenient in many ways. Made the decision to skip it, fully away that this has had negative consequences in the past week.

Also of note, I consumed caffeine and alcohol today. (might be relevant later)

It was very interesting talking to some people about this little experiment that I'm doing. Some look at how I might just be getting more REM than normal and press on with the idea that the human body adapts to change. Others are just waiting for me to crash and burn. Which is more motivating, those that see the logic you're using to make decisions, or those that have already seen you fail?

11pm nap was restless. "Too much think!" as Mr. Hong would say.

Still trying to figure out when day one ends and day two begins... I no longer have the long sleep cycle to help with the seperation.

Maarburg

Polycycle Day Six

2007-08-25T00:59:00.000-10:00

After over sleeping this morning.
(It's getting hard to delinaite when the day starts)
I knew that I had to get back on schedule as quick as possible.

I lay down for my my 7am nap at 8am and set the alarm for 30 minutes.

11am nap seemed ok.

Missed the 3pm nap. (hmm.. this seems to be a issue.)

Very groggy. I took my 3pm nap at 5:30, and skipped my 7pm nap. (recipe for oversleeping?)

Even with friends over, slipping away for a 1/2 hour possed no problem. Except that I didn't seem to wake up. I was very uncomfortable and restless while very drowsy at the same time. A nice hot shower woke me up and the rest of the cycle was fine.

I'm afraid that I'm going to oversleep
Maarburg

PolyCycle Day Five

2007-08-24T00:58:00.000-10:00

The previous night cycle went smoother.
Awake and tired, but less like a zombie.
It was hard to feel motivated to do anything in the 11-3am and 3-7am phases. My body is still trying to do what it's done for decades and lay down.
Talk about a long standing habit.

I decided that the 3-7am phase needs to be filled with physical activity. At lest for now. At 1am I decided that I would start to compile some recipes and begin cooking the days meals. That would allow me to greater control over my nutrition (which is quite pathetic at the moment), and assist in eating Paleo style. I browsed through some books and pulled out a few recipes. At 2am I went to the store and bought food.

There is a lot of good parking at 2am. The cashier was real talkative.
Got home and chilled in front of the TV for a few moments, then took my 3am nap.

I cooked up two new recipes. One good, one bland as hell. Packed them and tossed them in the fridge.

I managed to get into work for my 7am nap and that went good. I had a coffee on the way to work. (this might play out as important later in the day
My 11am nap was great. Fell asleep quickly and awoke before the end of the MP3 that I'm using.

I was unable to get to my 3pm nap. Work piled up too quickly. It was 5pm before I got to it.
I grabbed a Diet Coke (again.. caffeine), and went back to my desk.
When 7pm rolled around I didn't feel tired. I know that I should have napped anyway, if anything to reinforce the schedule. Around 9pm my body seemed to be shutting down. I managed to stay vertical until 11pm. Since we were out and about, I tried to sneak my nap in the car. Not good. Too many noises that peeked into my mind. Ended up not sleeping much at all.
when the 3am nap time rolled around I could barely keep my eyes open, and I could feel that I needed to get back on schedule. As I lay down, my mind seemed to snap to attention. Argh. I tried to nap and nothing came of it. I got back up and worked on a few other things, intending to try again shortly.
I lay down again at 4am.
And promptly fell asleep.
Not waking until 6:40.
Argh.

I think the contributing factors are the caffeine and the delayed and missed nap.

Maarburg

PolyCycle Day Four

2007-08-23T00:57:00.000-10:00

While PolyNapping, I'm now catching the sense of when I should be waking up.
I also have totally lost track of time. I've quite grateful for the little day notification display on my watch..

Some of you might know about my fixation with the number 12. This morning, around 4:30, I realized that my day consists of 12 cycles. 6 waking and 6 napping.
That makes me happy.

Total exhaustion. Eyelids feel like lead and it's very easy to nod off while sitting.
Even through this, I've noticed a huge jump in the amount of work I've been able to accomplish. Mind you, that I've left the heavier thinking for this morning. Though, at this moment, I'm not sure why. I'm more tired now that when I made the decision to post pone the thinking work.

Driving into work today is going to be an exercise.

I'd kill for a Venti SF Vanilla Latte.

CycleJump

Drive in wasn't too bad.

I might just be past the bad stuff. I feel like I just really tired, as opposed to really tired and slightly drunk. Manual dexterity is reduced. As is memory. Typing speed is very limited... probably 70% of normal.
I had a hell of a time spelling "Country" earlier today..

Time for my sleep phase.
(I really should name each of the phases)

Maarburg

PolyCycle Day Three

2007-08-22T00:56:00.000-10:00

Best laid plans......

11pm sleep from Day Two lasted a bit longer then planned.
Four hours longer to be a bit more precise. Spousal Unit thought that I had abandoned my crazy sleep dep fetish. When I woke up I was a tired as I've been in a very long time. To tired to be angry that I was back at square one. Perhaps this is going to be harder than I expected.

ZenLC did bring up a rather interesting point, yesterday. Something about planning to start this experiment on the weekend. Obviously, he's getting more sleep and has a higher cognitive output than I do. (Sleep Dep might not have anything to do with that at all, actually)
The real kick in the balls about sleeping thru my two morning productivity cycles is that I had work, very time sensitive work, planned for that time.
Arriving at work this morning, completely spent and in desperate need for caffeine, I was plagued by thoughts of postponing this experiment until the weekend.

After a bit of mental debate (What? You don't argue with the voices in your head?), I decided to slog on. By 10am I had developed a massive headache, quickly attributed to caffeine withdrawals. My 11am sleep was ok, but again.. unsatisfying.

After a nice lunch and a bit more work, and a green tea (containing my chemical dependency of choice), the headache dissipated to a reasonable level, and my 3pm sleep was much better.

7pm nap taken in the car, outside a restaurant. Didn't get a whole lot of real sleep.

11pm nap got bumped to midnight. This nap was nice. I dropped into a deep sleep and popped out about 17 minutes later.

I am still feeling very drugged and a little twitchy. The simple fact that I've had the mental facilities to write a (hopefully) coherent blog and the time to do so is worth this grogginess.

I hope it goes away, none the less.

Maarburg

PolyCycle Day Two

2007-08-21T00:55:00.000-10:00

Be forewarned that I will quickly stop deliniating the blog by Days..

After missing two cycles and being in a tremendous amount of pain, I was looking forward to my 11am sleep.
It was a little rough, hard to sleep fully. I'm sure that I did not quite reach REM sleep.
The 3pm sleep was rather nice, and even refreshing.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly feel like I've spent the last few night drinking too much and too long. That fuzzy thinking feeling is very thick right now.
I took the 7pm nap in the car and was again insufficient in some way to produce a refreshed feeling.
I definitely feel like the walking dead.

Maarburg

PolyCycle Day?? One

2007-08-20T00:54:00.000-10:00

Yesterday (20070820), I decided to investigate first hand the concept of Polyphaisc Sleep patterns.

Last night, I consumed caffeine for the last time, for.. um.. awhile. I pushed thru the sleepiness and continued to work. This 'pushing thru' is normal and I have been doing this for many months now. It seemed more difficult, as I could not look forward to a good 3-4 hours of dead time. All that was in store for me was a 20-30 minute catnap. Followed by the reading of Steve Pavlina's Polyphasic Blog, most of which I had read before.

After a brief look at my daily routine, and thinking I really need to get a life, I decided on 3, 7, and 11 as my sleep times.

Day one.. got off to a rather lousy start. I poured myself a large glass of cranberry juice, cut 50% with water. Unfortunately, what I thought was 100% cranberry juice turned out to be mostly apple juice. I don't do well with apple juice.

That nights 11pm nap went ok, but from about 1am my stomach became a battlezone. No chance for the 3am or 7am sleeps.

Observations so far... hmm.. seems a lot like when I was working myself to death a few months ago. I survived that (mostly), so this shouldn't be all that different.

Maarburg

Are there enough hours in the day?

2007-08-19T00:49:00.000-10:00

Caution: Hidden Horror film references made in this blog
It's been a rough year.. Good and Bad.

For the last few months.. there has been an overwhelming feeling of having more responsibilities than I have time. Long story, short version. There are many many things that I'd like to be doing, and mostly I am just working. Very little of the Good Stuff going on. (clue background image of Wendy Torrance finding the Jack Torrance's new novel.. comprised of the many ways one can type: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.") I did a little mental list of all the things that I'd like to be spending 15 minutes a day* on.. and shook my head. Who was I fooling. I don't even have time to do the things I have to do, let alone the things I want to do.

*On my first trip to Kauai, I picked up a hitchhiker. He talked about his friend that wanted to learn Italian. This friend spent 15 minutes every day on it, and had outstanding success.

So, before I start running around the office channeling Tony out of my index finger.... ..
-
I am again toying mercilessly with the concept of Polyphasic Sleep. I've not been one for sleeping much anyway, and getting 5 out of the hoped for 6 REM* cycles promised by Uberman Polyphasic sleep patterns will increase my REM sleep by probably 3 fold.

*Uberman Sleep pattern is (roughly) taking 6 naps for 30-40 minutes spaced evenly through the day. Mine will be at 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, and 23.

I'm going mad as it is.. might as well go mad trying to accomplish something ridiculous, right.

BTW.. I blame ZenLC for providing me the courage to attempt this.

I may or may not blog my experience.
(I might get caught up on life stuff first!)

8 hours of sleep.. Bah.. for the weak I say.

-Maarburg