Even though I inserted an extra nap or two to make up for missing Wednesday's, the effects of missing one are still hitting me. Although the extra naps removed the fog from my head, I still felt this immense fever/migraine-esque pressure. Sometimes it feels as if my eye sockets are being sucked in. I spent all of Friday from after my 8am nap until my 4pm nap writing a paper, during which my head was still still throbbing.
I took my 4pm nap, hoping to feel better, but at this point even the naps are sub-par. In recent days, my naps have been unrestful and my dreams unpleasant. As a matter of fact, looking back on it, not many of my dreams were particularly fun. Whether this is due to the inner state of my mind or the effect of my surroundings--I don't know, but it makes your naps much less restful. Furthermore, it's taken me much much longer to fall asleep. Trying to take the 4pm nap, I didn't fall asleep until 5:30. The problem with this is twofold: first, you're not napping which blows. Second, every time you think you may be close or when you realize how much time you've wasted, you have to reset your alarm clock which has a waking effect in itself.
The scary part about all of this is that it's starting to remind me ever so slightly of my trip to Montreal last year. Over, I think, Fall Break last year, two friends and I drove up to Montreal. I had slept something like 6 hours in the last 4 days working on midterms and papers. My friends drove, but I stupidly didn't sleep in the car. When we got to Montreal ... as college students would, we stayed out until the early hours of the morning. This schedule continued until it was time go back home. Apparently during the ride back, I just lost it. I was laughing at nothing, saying ridiculous things and just not being normal. For awhile, I didn't believe my friends and assumed they were just being more judgmental than normal , but remembering parts of that trip in retrospect, I can see how I was going crazy. Trying to fall sleep the night we got back to school, I remember calling my girlfriend in hysterics because if I would lay on either of my sides, my body would start shaking. Only laying on my back stopped it, and I'd never been able to fall asleep that way.
Although, I am not close to that point yet, I am starting to feel the physical and mental fatigue that I got around the middle of the trip. In the last few days, I've lost my appetite to the point that I couldn't finish both the salad and pizza that I ordered last night. Last evening, I decided to boost my 'reboot' day up a week or two. I went to bed at 9pm and woke up naturally at 5:30am, but stayed in bed trying to sleep more until 7. I expected to wake up completely cured--alert, energetic, and a clear headed. Unfortunately, I am none of these things. My head is still throbbing, albeit less.
The psy/neuro professor that I spoke with a few days ago asked me whether the extra waking hours were worth the occasional bad days. At that point, they were. Even through the worst of this, I believe that I was more productive than ever before. And having just ended what may have been the most difficult work week of my life, I am grateful to polyphasic sleep. But I believe the professor's question is one that I need to ask myself regularly. And at this point, no it's not worth it.
I hate the idea of ending this. When it was good, it was great. But what were small inconveniences on bad days have become almost unbearable. Perhaps if it was just one really bad day, I would stick with it, but when one mistake on a Wednesday evening leads to over 48 hours of hell, it's time to reevaluate things.
Because of these reasons, I will spend today speaking with friends and family, but I think it's safe to say that I will end this experiment. Some of my friends, especially those not here, have wondered whether I'm sticking with this just for the attention. All I have to say, and you'll realize this if you try it, polyphasic sleep is not the sort of thing that can be maintained because of your ego. Obviously, the attention is fun, but it wouldn't have been possible to keep this up without my goal of extra productivity.
Now, I know this has been a horribly discouraging post, but let me make it clear, I am NOT speaking against polyphasic sleep. I am so happy to have tried this, and I intend to begin again whatever semester I start thesis next year. More than anything else, polyphasic sleep is about you. If you can stick to your schedule almost religiously (for the first few months at least), I believe that you will succeed. In all the blogs, I've read, anyone who made it up to the point that I have, continues for another 2 months. It's possible that those who don't make it take down their blogs, but I believe that it was my screw-ups along the way that kept me from total assimilation.
I encourage this 100% because if you succeed the benefits will be endless. And I look forward to trying it again with a greater understanding and a greater discipline come senior year. Thanks to everyone who have stuck with me and read the blog.
I took my 4pm nap, hoping to feel better, but at this point even the naps are sub-par. In recent days, my naps have been unrestful and my dreams unpleasant. As a matter of fact, looking back on it, not many of my dreams were particularly fun. Whether this is due to the inner state of my mind or the effect of my surroundings--I don't know, but it makes your naps much less restful. Furthermore, it's taken me much much longer to fall asleep. Trying to take the 4pm nap, I didn't fall asleep until 5:30. The problem with this is twofold: first, you're not napping which blows. Second, every time you think you may be close or when you realize how much time you've wasted, you have to reset your alarm clock which has a waking effect in itself.
The scary part about all of this is that it's starting to remind me ever so slightly of my trip to Montreal last year. Over, I think, Fall Break last year, two friends and I drove up to Montreal. I had slept something like 6 hours in the last 4 days working on midterms and papers. My friends drove, but I stupidly didn't sleep in the car. When we got to Montreal ... as college students would, we stayed out until the early hours of the morning. This schedule continued until it was time go back home. Apparently during the ride back, I just lost it. I was laughing at nothing, saying ridiculous things and just not being normal. For awhile, I didn't believe my friends and assumed they were just being more judgmental than normal , but remembering parts of that trip in retrospect, I can see how I was going crazy. Trying to fall sleep the night we got back to school, I remember calling my girlfriend in hysterics because if I would lay on either of my sides, my body would start shaking. Only laying on my back stopped it, and I'd never been able to fall asleep that way.
Although, I am not close to that point yet, I am starting to feel the physical and mental fatigue that I got around the middle of the trip. In the last few days, I've lost my appetite to the point that I couldn't finish both the salad and pizza that I ordered last night. Last evening, I decided to boost my 'reboot' day up a week or two. I went to bed at 9pm and woke up naturally at 5:30am, but stayed in bed trying to sleep more until 7. I expected to wake up completely cured--alert, energetic, and a clear headed. Unfortunately, I am none of these things. My head is still throbbing, albeit less.
The psy/neuro professor that I spoke with a few days ago asked me whether the extra waking hours were worth the occasional bad days. At that point, they were. Even through the worst of this, I believe that I was more productive than ever before. And having just ended what may have been the most difficult work week of my life, I am grateful to polyphasic sleep. But I believe the professor's question is one that I need to ask myself regularly. And at this point, no it's not worth it.
I hate the idea of ending this. When it was good, it was great. But what were small inconveniences on bad days have become almost unbearable. Perhaps if it was just one really bad day, I would stick with it, but when one mistake on a Wednesday evening leads to over 48 hours of hell, it's time to reevaluate things.
Because of these reasons, I will spend today speaking with friends and family, but I think it's safe to say that I will end this experiment. Some of my friends, especially those not here, have wondered whether I'm sticking with this just for the attention. All I have to say, and you'll realize this if you try it, polyphasic sleep is not the sort of thing that can be maintained because of your ego. Obviously, the attention is fun, but it wouldn't have been possible to keep this up without my goal of extra productivity.
Now, I know this has been a horribly discouraging post, but let me make it clear, I am NOT speaking against polyphasic sleep. I am so happy to have tried this, and I intend to begin again whatever semester I start thesis next year. More than anything else, polyphasic sleep is about you. If you can stick to your schedule almost religiously (for the first few months at least), I believe that you will succeed. In all the blogs, I've read, anyone who made it up to the point that I have, continues for another 2 months. It's possible that those who don't make it take down their blogs, but I believe that it was my screw-ups along the way that kept me from total assimilation.
I encourage this 100% because if you succeed the benefits will be endless. And I look forward to trying it again with a greater understanding and a greater discipline come senior year. Thanks to everyone who have stuck with me and read the blog.
