Day 2 Update

So I just woke up from my 4 am nap. I was a about 20 minutes late for the 4 am one because I was outside getting pizza with friends. Waking up from this nap was much much more difficult than others throughout the day. The 4 am and 8 am naps have consistently been the most difficult. A lot of the other blogs stressed the importance of sticking to your schedule directly, whereas I've been flirting with 5 or 10 minutes here and there. While I thought that the others were wrong, after waking up with so much fatigue a little while ago, I can only assume that sticking to the schedule is, in fact, imperative.

I also let my self sleep an extra 10 minutes because some polyphasic studies have suggested 20-30 minute sleep intervals. I think this might be dangerous especially when I'm using it just to get a little more sleep. Another thing I forgot to mention is that I haven't been sleeping in my bed for any of his. Rather I've been sleeping on couches with my alarm clock practically next to my ear. Other blogs have written about sleeping on the floor or in an uncomfortable position. While my couch is much nicer than the floor, I wold definitely suggest staying away from the lure of your bed.

As this experiment goes on, my concept of time is becoming more scattered. When constitutes a day when you're up for 22 hours of it? For recording purposes, I have been considering my day over at midnight. Another effect of the the blurred time is that I have to pay more attention to activities typically associated with a time period like brushing your teeth, showering, or taking meds.

I'd also like to point out that I feel like my posts are getting less articulate. I guess my brain isn't going to be working as well for awhile. I'm finally starting to get an idea of what the reality of this life would be like on a day-to-day basis. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I still think that eventually I'll get a beautiful nights sleep in my bed. Urban myths of famed polyphasic sleepers like Thomas Jefferson suggest that he would go to sleep for a full 24 hours once a month or so. The prospect is enticing. Additionally, some polyphasic sleepers have augmented 20 minute naps with a core sleep cycle from 4 - 7 am. This is definitely something to consider.

Physically, I am finding that I fall asleep relatively quickly (but completely unaware). I start each nap slightly paranoid that I won't fall asleep and my body will crash, but the next thing I know I'm waking up to a buzzing alarm clock. It's felt like I've been dreaming in a bunch of my naps even though I can never remember of what. Hopefully this means that my body is on the way to solely R.E.M. sleep.

This is definitely some of the hardest hours. My eyes are getting heavier and I occasionally nod off. My mom, a natural insomniac, is keeping me company, but I'm not sure what I can do if the computer is making me tired. I haven't noticed much of a change in diet that some polyphasic sleepers talk about. Often the amount of awake hours results in increased food consumption, but my natural eating cycle is every hour rather than 3 large meals throughout the day so I believe I'm already accustomed to it. Haven't noticed any other physical side effects besides fatigue. I'll keep you posted.