So just thought I'd let you know what's going on. My 8 am nap went a 'lil longer than it was supposed to, like 35 minutes instead of 20. I just woke up from my 12 pm nap. What started as a day filled with headaches and fatigue seem to be getting a little better. I'm not sure, but it seems that this might be working. It took me a few minutes to fall asleep, but when I woke up, I remembered fragments of some dreams. That'd be amazing if my body was already falling directly into R.E.M. sleep. I'm about to have lunch with my dad and then chill with some of my boys. I'll keep you posted. I'm worried about my 8 pm nap, hope dinner doesn't get in the way.
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The trials and tribulations of a college student attempting to become a polyphasic sleeper
Introduction
This blog was created to keep a running account of my experiment with the Uberman sleep cycle, a variant of polyphasic sleep.
The essence of the Uberman sleep cycle is 20 minute naps every 4 hours throughout the day. While the the actual science behind it is unclear, one theory is that after a grueling 10-day assimilation period, the body begins to fall into R.E.M. sleep immediately to account for what it lost. Successful participants claim to be more alert and active than when they were sleeping normally.
Why am I putting myself through this? Good question. More than anything else what polyphasic sleep represents to me is productivity. With naps totaling 2 hours every day, that leaves 22 hours of free time to account for! I could use one 4-hour set to do homework, one to lounge around watching tv or hanging out with friends, one to go to the gym, read books, learn a hobby and so on.
Will I succeed? I don't know. Previous success stories usually involve participants who work out of their homes with flexible schedules. I am a junior year college student with a workload that ranges from difficult to unbearable on top of part-time employment and extra curricular activities -- all of which result in minimal to no schedule flexibility. Additionally, I engage in occasional recreational alcohol and substance use which adds an unknown to the experiment but as alcohol is a depressant, I cannot imagine it's beneficial.
That being said I do have one thing going for me: all of the blogs I've read about successful polyphasic sleepers have participants tapering off around the six month point, not because of health reasons but because of the difficulty of conforming polyphasic sleep to a monophasic world. Things like significant others and jobs. If I do succeed, my life will lack the same complications.
Stick around.
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