Day 18-19: Daylight Savings

Day 17 was great. I felt almost completely alert and refreshed, and if I felt fatigued, it was remedied by my next nap. To counter the effects of drinking on my body, when I woke up at 5 am yesterday morning, I went for a run. A friend of mine used to tell me that the only thing you can do the next day is crack open another beer or go for a run. Alas, the brisk air and pitch black skies didn't make it one of my more pleasant runs, but it got the job done. Day 19 was unfortunately marred by a mistake. I took my 3-hour core sleep at 2 am or what was technically 1 am since daylight savings. Even though I woke up at three, I was exhausted and decided to nap an extra 20 minutes. Either I didn't set my alarm accurately, or it went off and I turned it off, I'm not sure. But the next time I woke up was at 6:30 in the morning. Though I am disappointed that I overslept, I'm surprised that I was able to naturally wake myself at 6:30. Hopefully this won't set me back too far because, besides from blurred vision, the last few days have been heavenly.

Another thing that could set me back is daylight savings. So yeah ... didn't see that one coming. I can't move my naps up an hour because each one is planned around my classes. In the past, I would push my naps an hour back if I was doing something but always with the result of increased fatigue. Honestly, I was and am too tired to clock the specifics sleep events of my night, but there's a distinct possibility that I only had a two hour core sleep last night due to daylight savings. My hope is that my body will shift into its new sleeping patterns as quickly as possible.

So I met the other polyphasic sleeper! While we haven't gotten to talk extensively, it's awesome to know another person doing it. Additionally, our mutual friend took his first nap of polyphasic sleep after daylight savings today. This is exactly what needs to happen. All the other blog about polyphasic sleep have users stopping at around six months -- not because they can't physically take it, but because it's so hard working in a monophasic world -- so what do you to? Change the world, one sleeper at a time.

I should also mention that two friends of mine were explaining that sleep research is starting to find that the non-REM sleep cycles each have their own purpose. Light sleep 1 affects your motor skills and Deep Sleep 4 is the time for muscle and tissue regeneration for instance. Sadly, I have to admit that in the last four days, almost none of my attempted passes or catches (clothing, bottles, gum wrappers, candy, rocket cup, etc.) have successfully reached their target.

Finally, I decided to skip my reboot this week. Gauging how good I've been feeling the last few days, I think it would be unwise to reboot weekly, so I intend on doing it next week or the one after and maintaining an every 2-3 week reboot schedule.

UPDATE
Daylight savings is kicking my ass. I'm tired and the brain fog that I wrote about in the first few days of the experiment has returned.

Days 16-17

The last two days have been pretty good. My energy level is still slightly less than monophasic sleep but only at certain times of the day. Something very interesting is that my dreams are always directly related to what I was thinking about in the hour or so before my nap. My productivity has been great--I often wake up at 4 or 5 am depending on when I take my core sleep in the evenings and exercise and do homework. Unfortunately,  I just read in the recent Sleep edition of The New York Times science section that muscle and tissue growth occur during deep sleep stages 3 and 4, which I can guarantee that I'm not getting.  Hopefully, my body will find alternative times for that growth?  While I'm overwhelmed by my work, for the first time all semester I feel like my head is slightly above water. Though I am not close to testing my naps without an alarm clock, there have been a few naps where I wake up 5 minutes before my alarm. Whether it's because my body is getting used to the nap period or whether I'm worried that I'm oversleeping. Some neuroscience major friends of mine told me that recent research has found that the other sleep cycles affect particular things, for example sleep cycle 1 affects motor skills. At some point this week, I am hoping to speak with a neuroscience professor to learn about some cognitive tests I could take every so often to gauge whether polyphasic sleep has increased or decreased my brain capacity. While I don't intend on blogging daily from here on out, I will make sure to write every few days.

I want to thank all of my friends and schoolmates. My support system up here has been phenomenal. Both friends, acquaintances, and the occasional stranger stop to ask me how it's going. And while I obviously love talking about it, their insight and suggestions have a huge affect on how I conduct this experiment. Beyond that, when I practically quit on Day 13, the encouragement  from, friends and even teachers was awesome. 

Day 15: Fatigue

Today has been interesting. Last evening, we threw a party for a good friend who is leaving school to work on a political campaign.  Although no one had the intention of getting drunk, the combination of the drinking game Civil War and Flip Cup along with twenty-one 40's offset everyone's plans.  I was able to fall asleep for my midnight nap even while slightly inebriated.  Since my friend woke me up, I don't know whether an alarm clock would have worked just as well.  After an assortment of evening activities, I went to bed at 2 am.  Waking up from my core sleep at 5 in the morning, I showered and spent a good half-hour waking my self up using face cleanser, walking in the cold, and listening to loud music on headphones.  Around 6:30/7ish, I went to the gym for an hour, then goofed off on my computer, ate breakfast, and went to my 9:30 class.

While it was great to be productive this morning, I found myself straining to keep my eyes open in all of my classes (even the 1:10 pm one).  I also feel a little sick today, but I am hoping that my extra fatigue and physical condition are a result of the flu shot which the doctor suggested could happen. As for my naps, I am falling to sleep relatively quickly and waking up at the sound of my alarm.  In fact, I've been waking up early, usually halfway through my nap simply because it feels like I've been asleep for so long that I must have missed the alarm.

I am definitely looking forward to a reboot day this weekend although I am not so sure whether rebooting once a week is a great idea.  I would appreciate any suggestions and thoughts.  Tonight is my radio show at midnight -- the only aspect of my schedule that directly conflicts with a nap

Day 14: Polyphasic Sleep the Way it Should Be

To me, this morning represented what polyphasic sleep is all about and the real reason I'm doing it.  I woke up at 7 am after my 3-hour core cycle, ran 3 miles, did two loads of laundry and folded them! (Usually, the clothes are left strewn across my bed for days).  Then I ate breakfast, went to my job at the school library for an hour, ate lunch, got a flu shot, and at 2 in the afternoon started doing homework.  Productivity rocks!

Of course, I am still not close to finishing up homework that is coming up or work that I needed to catch up on. Regardless of how many hours I'm awake, I always feel behind.

It should be noted today marks 2 weeks that I've been a polyphasic sleeper. According to the other blogs, this is the point where I am supposed to be fully assimilated. But because of my decision to sleep 7 hours the night prior, I have a feeling assimilation is still a ways off. I only hope those 7 hours haven't sent me back to square one.

Day 13: Almost Giving Up

After working on my school's paper Sunday evening, I retired to my room for my midnight nap. Exhausted from the previous evening's drinking and the minimal recovery from it, I set my alarm clock and went to bed. Waking up 20 minutes later, I was still exhausted ... and angry. I had been doing this experiment for 13 days, slept 36 hours in last 312 (including mistakes and initial 3-hour core sleep cycles). Yet when I woke up at 12:20, I didn't feel a lick better than I had before I went to bed.

I was sick of the minimal improvements over two weeks with just one day left before assimilation is supposedly complete. It's 11:50 now and just a few more minutes until Day 14 begins, and I can honestly say that my assimilation period is not done. Or ... possibly, it was done ages ago, and general fatigue never really ends. I don't know. Admittedly, I have overslept but only occasionally and not by much. Not until last night that is.

After waking up at 12:20, tired and angry (somewhat like babies who are naturally polyphasic sleepers), I set my alarm clock to 7 am deciding to reevaluate the experiment the next morning. Well, if there's anything really great about polyphasic sleep, it's stopping. Those seven hours were phenomenal.

I started my day deciding to stop the experiment, not because I had overslept, on the contrary, my decision to oversleep was based on an earlier decision to quit. After this weekend, I realized how extremely difficult polyphasic sleep is in a monophasic world. Leaving my friends during the weekend even if only for 20 minutes is irritating. Trying to go see a movie has to be a planned event around me. Group projects, school meetings, extra-curricular activities, none of them fit with a polyphasic sleep. Furthermore, the extra productivity that I have so desired has evaded me. Perhaps this is because I delay doing work under the assumption that I have so much later in the evening, or perhaps it is because when I do work for long periods of time, I tend to lose my eyesight, either way my goals are not being accomplished.

But over the course of the day, witnessing both my own and other's disappointments that I was stopping, I reread some old blogs and found some new ones. As I read through the blogs, I felt the same excitement that I had when initially turned on to polyphasic sleep. Thus, I am happy to announce that, for now, I will be continuing my experiment.

In order to improve the efficiency of the cycle as well as my personal disposition, I will be altering my cycle. I will continue naps at 12 pm, 4 pm, 8 pm, and 12 am, but I will be re-incorporating a permanent core sleep cycle from 2-5 or 3-6 depending on how late I am awake naturally. Furthermore, every week I will turn my alarm clock off Saturday evening and sleep as long as my body requires into Sunday afternoon. These days, referred to as "reboot days" by other bloggers will allow my body to catch up on any of the other sleep stages if it so desires. While dangerous for the beginning of a polyphasic sleep cycle, I believe that reboot days are a legitimate and safe practice for the length of time that I've been polyphasic sleeping.

Thanks you everyone for your support, and I look forward to future posts.

Day 11-12: Saturday Night Partying and Sunday Morning Repercussions

So I got the opportunity I was looking for and by most conceptualizations, I succeeded. I started drinking with friends for Halloween festivities around 10 pm (late for my school's standards but there's a limit to how early I can start and still evaluate my college experience positively). Doing the whole collegiate thing, we drank, watched the baseball game, played beer pong, etc. At midnight, I took my first nap, but since I was across campus at my friends' suite, I slept in one of their rooms without my alarm clock. My friends were kinda enough to wake me up 20 minutes later. Apparently, my friend had to scream my name to wake me up, but once I was awake, I felt completely refreshed ... and a little soberer (which I expected).

After a my tour of the evening's events, my friends were were still awake reconvened around 2:30 in the morning. By the time my 4 am nap rolled around, people were peacing, so I decided to nap at home. Setting the alarm to 7 am, I made the conscious decision to incorporate a 3-hour core sleep to my schedule since it was the weekend. That's when things got more difficult.

Waking up at 7, I was completely exhausted. I showered (falling asleep mid-shower multiple times) and then went for a walk hoping the cold weather would wake me up. I got breakfast at this diner at 8 am hoping that food might wake me up. When I got back to my room, I tried to read but my I kept nodding off. Putting up some polaroids on my wall, I tried to waste time until my next nap.

Around 10:30, I realized that just waiting around wasn't going to wake me up, and I didn't have the energy to run, so I took a half-hour nap that I didn't wake up from until 12:30. When I woke up, I felt very refreshed but the feeling was short-lived and now I'm experiencing the general characteristics of sleep deprivation (delayed reactions, brain fog, etc).

So while someone could fault my 3-hour core sleep or my 2-hour nap this afternoon, the thing I've realized is that while drinking is possible on polyphasic, regardless of how little sleep your body is used to, alcohol recovery still needs the same amount of time. At this point, my body may be very used to the sleeping 2 hours every 24, but that doesn't speed up the one drink per hour absorption rate that it takes to clear last night out of my body.

I am still enjoying this experiment a lot. Yesterday morning, I finally got a chance to spend one of my awake time slots going to the gym and doing something I wanted to do. For now I'm going to continue with polyphasic sleep. Day 14, the official assimilation point, is coming closer, but I wonder if my screw ups and longer naps will delay my eventual adaptation. That being said, I have never overslept more than 2 and half hours (knock on wood), so I consider myself a lot more successful than participants who practically have to start at Day 1 after they oversleep for hours upon hours. At some point, maybe around Day 18 or when I finish a successful month, I am going to start incorporating a "reboot" day. Other blogs have talked about taking one day every two or three weeks where you turn off all alarms, cellphones, lock your door and let your body sleep as long as it wants.

Last I night I learned that there is another polyphasic sleeper on campus! I don't know any details besides her name, but it would be awesome to talk with someone about it. I'll keep you posted.

Day 10-11: Friday Night

It was a foreboding evening.  I left the library to take my 8pm nap, set my alarm, and then woke up at 10:30 pm realizing that I had never switched the actual alarm option to "on."  While normally this would just have been a bad slip, since the night life at my school is non-exist (or at least ... quickly quelled), I actually missed the core social drinking hours during 8 and 10:30.  I met up with some friends who had obviously had a more extensive night than me.  Trying to catch up a bit, I played some beer pong, but I never got close to where I would have been had I drank with my friends earlier.

I pushed my midnight nap until 1:30 just because I had already slept so much, and I wasn't particularly tired.  Leaving my friend's house for my 1:30 nap, it was reasonable to wonder whether I would wake up, but it wasn't surprising or stunning when I actually did.  I had a very hard time falling asleep for my 1:30 nap perhaps because of my 2-hour slip up.  I laid in bed restlessly wondering when I was going to fall asleep, feeling nearly completely conscious but at some point the alarm clock "woke" me up.  It never felt like I was asleep because I was having very conscious light dreams.

After meeting up with any remaining awake friends, we did the whole pizza, tv thing.  Leaving for my 4 am nap a few hours later, I was almost completely confident that I would wake up.

And that's where I write now.  It's 6:13 in the morning, and I am continuing on my normal polyphasic sleep cycle.  While, in a mild sense, I feel good that I could take my nap and still have my alarm clock wake me up this evening, the challenge that I expected and still need never really materialized.  That being said, tomorrow is my school's Halloween celebrations... I'm sure I'll get another chance.  

Day 10: The First Real Challenge

Day 10 has been both good and bad. Last evening I screwed up with my alarm clock for my midnight nap (set it to pm instead of am), but I only overslept by 10 minutes! And this morning I woke up early from my 8 am nap. It seems that my body is really starting to recognize and adapt to a polyphasic cycle. That being said ... I was exhausted all day. I had trouble keeping my eyes open during a meeting with a professor, and I started nodding off in my 11 am class. I've been more alert since my 12 pm and 4 pm nap.

As for my eyesight, it seems to be getting better. I haven't read that much today, or at least not the amount that I was reading previously. I've given up doing homework with my contacts (even if I put Duane Reade 1.25 glasses on top), and I automatically change into my normal lenses (read: trifocals) if I'm doing homework.

But this evening the real challenge begins! Tonight will be my first break from a week of non-stop school, job, and extra-curricular work. I'm going out tonight for the first time since maybe a week or two before midterms?  Regardless though, tonight we see whether college is a feasible atmosphere for polyphasic sleep. As a monophasic sleeper, drinking has always knocked me out (the severity of the extent depending on the amount of alcohol consumed). While I have no intent on going crazy, I definitely will be having a few a drinks. When I leave for my midnight nap, I'm going to tell my friends that if I'm not back in a half-hour, they can come and wake me up ... a scary prospect in itself. That should be easy though. It's the 4 am nap that will be the make-or-break moment. Hopefully my 113 decibel alarm clock with its earthquake-esque vibrate will wake me.

This evening holds the possibility of setting my experiment back to day one. If I pass out and don't wake up until mid-afternoon or evening the next day, I will have to give serious thought to discontinuing my polyphasic sleep experiment. Some have said ... just don't drink, but the purpose of this experiment was to see if polyphasic sleep could coexist with my regular life not alter it.

That being said, have a great evening, and stay tuned. Tomorrow's blog will be this week's most important.

Day 9: Loss of Vision

So continuing from where I left off last night, I was indeed able to take my 4, 6, and 8 am naps this morning. I was working on a paper during most of those awake hours (except for 6:30 where I went to the police station to interview someone) and my eyes were doing just fine. It was only around 11/11:30 am as I was writing my bibliography that intense blurriness set it. By reading with one eye closed, I just barely succeeded in proofreading the paper.

As the day wore on, my vision didn't improve. Looking up eye muscle straining, I learned that visine actually has a negative effect on your eyes, so I purchased some of that artificial tears product which has been working successfully. This is great news because I have over 200 pages of reading that I have to get done for tomorrow. I was really tired around 6:30 this evening so I went to my room and took a 20 minute nap. I'm not sure if it was a good idea, and I'm not sure whether to take my 8 pm nap as normal. In hindsight, it would have been better to stay up till 8 even if unproductively.

My mom sent me this amazing alarm clock. It has the same 113 decibel alarm clock (something similar to an airplane taking off I believe) as well as a 12-volt vibrating bed shaker. Placing the shaker under my pillow, I wake up to my bed shaking compulsively. It's really great, and I hope it will allow me more success with my naps ... particularly this weekend.

Just five days until the assimilation period is complete. The brain fog which I spoke about during the initial days has been completely gone recently, and I usually wake up from my naps very refreshed. Today is an interesting exception where I'm not dying for sleep, but my naps aren't particularly rejuvenating. As for energy and alertness, I would say it's the same as monophasic sleep right now except that I'm awake for 22 or so hours a day. I certainly hope to be more alert and awake by the time the assimilation period finishes.

Day 8-9: Worst Fuck Up Yet

So I went to take my midnight nap last night, set two alarm clocks which were both placed next to my ears. And woke up at 5:30 in the morning. Well, I was just writing how worried I am about oversleeping, guess it was justified. To be honest, I may have needed the sleep. I was losing my ability to read text which has hasn't happened since last year. My friend reminded me that my loss of sight has tended to happen during times of sleep deprivation (though there are other general occurrences). And I think I was just getting dumb. Getting ready for my nap, I tried to pull down the shades, but to do I have stand on a tiny windowsill or on my refrigerator that had eight wine glasses/cups resting on it. Well, the window shade came off thus propelling me backwards, knocking every single glass to the ground and shattering them. I mean ... they were from the dollar store, so I it wasn't the worst thing in the world, but clean up was a bitch.

I am definitely continuing regardless of last night's lapse. I think I'm going to start my core sleep cycle again because if I can't read, then there's really no point to the extra hours of awake time.

UPDATE:
I just read a new blog and the guy said that after an amazing few days, Day 7 felt like he was starting over brand new. This is extremely encouraging!

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So that 5 hour sleep seems to have really messed things up. All day, it's been extremely difficult to fall asleep. I understood that the 8 am nap and 12 pm nap would be hard, but shouldn't the 4, 8, and 10 pm ones be easier? My body has to need the sleep. My eye sight is better than it was the previous evening, but I still have to take breaks from work to be able to read text. As for tiredness, I guess I'm fine. I was feeling really tired during my radio show this evening, but when I got my room to take a nap, I couldn't fall asleep. I have no idea what's happening. Hopefully by the time 2 am or 4 am rolls around, I'll actually fall asleep.

We're definitely approaching the make-or-break point. Five more days until complete assimilation according to other blogs, and I intend on sticking it out until then if not till Day 18. That being said, if my sight degenerates any further, I will end this experiment and return to monophasic sleep. While I have been enjoying this, my sole encouragement the entire time has been the goal of extra productivity, if I'm not able to read during my 22 hours awake, then it's not worth it. Let's see what happens.

Day 7: Timelessness

As days start to blend in with each other, it becomes harder and harder to describe what happened that particular day, but I will continue using the midnight to midnight reference point. Today started out immensely difficult. Things were okay after my midnight nap on the floor that I wrote about previously, but I as got closer to my 4 am nap, fatigue started to set in. I started nodding off as I put in edits to the newspaper. Although I was extremely tired, I think I'm starting to fall directly into REM sleep. Writing an e-mail to a photographer on the newspaper staff, I intended to write "preferably when the fireplace is lit" but nodded off slightly and ended up writing "when the soldiers approaches." It is my hope that I slipped into some dream during that second of REM sleep that had to do with soldiers ... or I could be going crazy.

Things got a little better later on after my 4, 6, and 8 nap. I went running again at 9:30 feeling fine. The brain fog has returned slightly but more in the form of general tiredness. I'm starting to have vision problems somewhat like I did last year before I updated my prescription to trifocals. This could be because extended use of contacts. From here on out, I'm going to be wearing my glasses anytime I need to do extended reading. To be perfectly honest, I'm perplexed. I've now been on a polyphasic sleep cycle for a full week--it started out extremely difficult, got immensely easier, and has been degenerating since. While the assimilation stage is only half over, other polyphasic blogs mention Day 7 as time of clear headedness.

Recent naps have been a lot less restful. Every nap starts out with a fear that I won't actually fall asleep, that I'll miss a nap and crash. While I do eventually fall asleep every time, I've occasionally woke up mid-nap. I would have presumed that being so sleep deprived, my body would take what it could get. There's a possibility that these new challenges are due to my surroundings. As I start my naps, I'm often ruminating over the extensive work I have to do. Even my backup of trying to fill my mind with lewd thoughts hasn't distracted me. Additionally, the reason I may be waking up mid-nap is because I'm so scared of oversleeping. I'm starting to see why successful polyphasic sleepers often work out of their home and have a flexible schedule.

But if anything, I am appreciating polyphasic sleep more and more. I've been too busy with work to read any recreational books or hang out with friends. So while it's hard seeing all these extra hours devoted to work (that I'm still not getting completely done), I find faith in the fact that if I weren't on a polyphasic sleep cycle, I would be pulling all-nighters and feeling horrible the next day. At least now, I work as much as I can but can continue to do so the next day almost unaffected.

Sorry about all the weird font changes on the site, creating a uniform font is surprisingly difficult.

Day 6: Getting Back into the Flow of Things

So Day 6 didn't have the best of starts. I was working on a group project Sunday evening starting at 10 pm. We worked until 12 am at which point I retired to take a 20 minute nap. I set my alarm to 12:30 only to wake up at 2:30 in the mornin. Once again I am extremely grateful that my instances of oversleeping have only been 1.5-2.5 hours rather than the customary failed polyphasic sleep of 6-13 hours. What this represents to me is that my body may really be getting used to the polyphasic sleep cycle.

I decided to skip my core sleep cycle again which has been making me feel a little better. But in order to combat the difficulty of the 4 am - 8 am time period, I added an additional 20 minute nap at 6 in the morning. So my sleep cycle today has been midnight, 4 am, 6 am, 8 am. After my 8 am nap, I went on a half hour 3-mile run with a friend. This has been my first experiment with physical exercise since I began the experiment.

I felt really good throughout the day and stuck to a concrete nap schedule at noon then 4 pm. Things got a little more creative later in the evening. Monday night is always college newspaper night for me so I ended up taking my 8 pm nap on a couch in a lounge. Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky for my 12 am nap. Since all the lounges were locked, I spent my nap on the floor. In order to ensure that I would wake up, I brought my alarm clock to the news room to keep by my side wherever I sleep.

I am definitely feeling quite tired at the moment. Both my mother and a friend of mine recently stressed the importance of the 3-hour core sleep cycle, and while I agree that it is extremely useful, I think I will continue to put it off until I am more assimilated with the polyphasic sleep cycle. I've started to realize just how difficult polyphasic sleep is. Sometimes you just want to go to bed after a long day, but I need to remember that I can't. And as long as I follow this sleep cycle, I will never be able to sleep extensively when I feel like it.

My friends at college have been supportive though more mocking than my friends at home. I think that since my friends from home saw the intense physical effects of those first few days (sunken eyes, glazed-over eyes, deep fatigue, etc.) they have more of an appreciation of what I'm doing whereas my college friends saw a more happy, energy-filled kid. My alertness and energy are roughly the same as when I was a monophasic sleeper except that I get more hours of the day awake. I look forward to the time where I feel more energeic and alert.

Day 5: Back at School: Fucked up Again

So I drove back to school today and the day only got worse from there.  The car ride was okay.  My friend took over during my two naps, but I had to push my first nap forward almost an hour.  Neither naps were particularly refreshing seeing as I've never been good at sleeping in the car.  My overall energy was down for the day, but I was comfortably competent to drive.  My body is definitely getting used to the polyphasic sleep cycle because I start to feel fatigue looming in the future a half-hour to an hour before nap time.

After arriving back on campus, I did the whole commons eating thing, and then I took my 8 pm nap.  This one was obviously much better, and I got to sleep more fully than during my car naps.  Around 10 that evening, I was working on a group project with some kids for a class.  I left at 11:45 to go take my 12 am nap with the intent to meet them a half hour later, but I woke up with much chagrin at 2:20 am rather than 12:20 am.

I don't know what it is, maybe I've been too lenient with my nap times pushing them back an hour here and there.  Or maybe it was because my earlier afternoon naps were un-regenerative, but I have to do something.  Sure, on one hand, I'm so happy that I only overslept 2 hours--I still cower in fear of the possibility that I might oversleep and wake up 6-10 hours later completely ruining my polyphasic sleep cycle, but something needs to change so that this works.

This evening I had one alarm clock that was supposed to wake me up, but I brought the one from home so I can eventually start using two for those rough nights.  Maybe it was a mistake to turn out the lights or sleep in my bed rather than the floor?  The two alarm clocks was more for when I drink because as my ex-girlfriend personally attested in a facebook message this afternoon, it is practically impossible to wake me up when I drink.  But if I'm not waking up from my loud ass alarm (having not substance-abused at all) then I'm not sure what to do.  

If anyone has any suggestions as to how to ensure a wake up, it would be much appreciated.  I had a daydream this afternoon of some sort of invention that shook from the sound waves of the alarm and tipped a bucket of water that hung over bed onto my face ... alas it would spill on my computer and I can't take the risk.

I am skipping my core sleep cycle this evening.  I'm going to nap at 4 am till 4:20 (sleep gods-willing) and then wake up to do some homework.  I just got an email about a quiz in a class on the readings that I haven't done (at least the professor was kind enough to tell us).  Also I'm going running at 7:30 tomorrow morning.  I know the core sleep cycle might be a really good idea, but it seems to be that 4 am - 7 am could be one of my most productive hours awake.

My work responsibilities at school have increased in regards to the newspaper, research assistant position, summer internship search, library employment, and obviously school work.  I'm finding this sleep cycle will be more necessary than ever.  8 minutes till my 4 am nap.  Cross your fingers for me to wake up.  Suggestions welcomed and appreciated.  Peace.   

Day 4 Conclusion: First Attempt at Drinking

So today is overall a failure. I had been doing well all day, I was a hour late for my 4 pm nap , but I got it taken care of immediately afterwards. I even successfully took my 8 pm nap as my sister's family came for dinner. Tonight was one of the first nights that my nap schedule was actually inconvenient. After dinner which included a few glasses of wine, I went out to a bar with some friends. At the bar I had about 3 drinks, my overall condition that evening was typsy but not close to drunk. I missed my 12 am nap (as with my old cigarette habit, women are consistently my foil to completing goals), but I arrived home around 1ish and set my alarm clock immediately.

I am writing this having just woken up 15 minutes ago at 2:30. I am sleeping on my bed, but I moved the alarm clock right next to my ear. While I consider myself lucky for naturally waking up an hour and 20 minutes past my intended time rather than sleeping a straight 6-10 hours, this does not bode well for substance abuse at all! I assure you that my level of alcohol left me mildly inebriated but completely competent. I would like to blame my fatigue and failure on the fact that both my 4 pm and 12 am naps were delayed an hour, but I highly doubt that's the reason. I'm going to have to set up multiple alarms for when I drink at school. My mom has suggested that I shouldn't "binge drink" while I am doing this, but the intrigue about my experiment is its perspective from a substance abusing college student standpoint rather than work-at-home men. Even though I am only on Day 5, I do believe that this is the way of the future, but if kids aren't able to drink and do it, then polyphasic sleep will never take off.

Acknowledging all the above problems, I can't help but note that I'm decently awake right now. Sure I wouldn't mind going to sleep, but after I finish this post, I am going to start packing for my return to school tomorrow. My neurologist brother suggested that I get myself plugged into an electroencephaloram (EEG) so a professional can determine what sleep patterns I am actually engaged in (for general sleep research). I am completely in support of this idea (especially if I can get paid) but I don't think there are any universities in Maine (where I go to school) that have the technology. If anyone has an idea, please let me know.

Day 4 Update: Experimenting with Nap Times

So everything is going pretty well so far.  I woke up at 7 am this morning after my 4 - 7 core sleep.  I was completely exhausted.  I showered (though I definitely almost fell asleep in the shower) and then took a nap at 8 am.  For the future, if I include the core sleep, I'm cutting out the 8 am nap.  My mom and I went for a walk shortly after 9 am which increased my energy significantly.

I went to a movie today and put off my 4 pm nap for an hour.  I was a little tired during the end of the film but nothing too noticeable.  I got home, slept, and woke up feeling much better.  For nearly all the naps I've taken, I am still tired immediately after waking up but within 5 minutes it feels like I've had a whole night of sleep.  After I get farther along into the polyphasic sleep cycle, I want to try skipping a nap just to get an impression of what the crash feels like.  I've also started sleeping in my bed rather than my couch, as well as setting only one alarm that sits across the room rather than next to my head.

My energy and alertness continue to go up, but they haven't surpassed the alertness I get from monophasic sleep.  That being said, it is only Day 4, and I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel at the end of the assimilation process.  Sometimes it feels like I'm doing something wrong because regardless of its difficulty, polyphasic sleep has been much more feasible than I would have imagined.  I have also started taking Centrum vitamins once a day to strengthen my immune system in case my lack of sleep affects it.  Obviously, I'll keep you updated, but so far I can say nothing but good things about this.  Admittedly, I haven't tried to write any papers or read any dense writing, but I feel completely ready for when the time comes. 

Day 4: Vitamins and Immune System

So Day 3 ended pretty nicely.  I felt a little sick at dinner around 9:30, but after my 12 am nap, I was good to go.  I went to this kid's party with some friends feeling wide awake!  The thing is, I'm not energized immediately following a nap but rather a few minutes after it.

So I went to sleep at 4 am, setting 3 alarms ranging from 7 to 7:15.  While I felt great yesterday, which I partly attributed to the core 3 hour sleep, this morning I've been nearly unable to keep my eyes open.  Maybe I should fool around with switching core sleep with an additional 20 minute nap would be better sometime between 4 am and 8 am.  I have to go out and grab mad vitamins because my sister and my friend's father (both doctors) are curious what the lack of sleep will do to my immune system.

Day 3 Update: Free Therapy

Today has been great.  On a scale of 10, I'd say my energy is a 7.  Brain capacity seems almost perfect (though I haven't actually done anything that would test it...).  I've been setting my alarm clock countdown to 30 minutes instead of 20 to allow myself 10 minutes to actually fall asleep.  I think I might alter my sleep schedule to include the 4 am - 7 am core sleep permanently.  I don't know if it's because of those 3 hours, but today I was able to lay on my friend's bed with almost no desire to sleep.  I tend to get drowsy in the hour before nap time but that seems fitting.

There's a weirdly psychological aspect to polyphasic sleep that I didn't expect.  I am naturally an extroverted person--to an unhealthy extent even.  I hate being alone whether it is due to boredom or discomfort with my own thoughts, I don't know, but the second one social interaction ends, I start scanning my cell phone looking for the next.  That was one of my biggest fears going into this experiment.  Not only would I be awake for many more hours but much of them would be spent alone.  

I'm surprised to say that regardless of whether it's 2 am or 6 am, those issues seem to have disappeared.  Maybe I'm so concentrated on not falling asleep that I am less occupied with my inner monologue?  I have no idea.  Maybe it will revert back when I have completely adapted to the polyphasic sleep cycle.  We'll see, but for now I get to enjoy therapy without the bill.

Day 3: Core Sleep

So Day 3 has begun decently well.  There's definitely less of the brain fog thing going on.  Energy isn't particularly high, but I can walk around without fear of falling asleep mid-step.  Last night instead of my 4 am nap, I added a core sleep cycle to the experiment by sleeping from 4 am - 7 am.  (Owen and Max, I owe you money. In hindsight, I realize that agreeing to a bet under the terms of oversleeping 2 hours or more was silly when part of the process involves experimenting with 3-hour core sleep cycles. Oh well.)

After the core sleep, I continued my regular nap pattern at 8 am.  I don't know whether today's energy and clear-headness is due to progressive adaptation or last evening's 3 hour  sleep.  I'm also realizing that I was holding myself to nearly impossible standards.  Until 12 am last night, I had only been a polyphasic sleeper for 2 days, but the increase of hours awake made me feel as if it were much longer.  Assuming that I had been doing it for ages, I was upset with my lack of progress, but in reality, Day 3 is considered to be the beginning of getting over the hump and I've only just started.  Definitely feeling good about all of this.  My family has even become supportive.  While they might not approve of the idea in itself, they view my determination as evidence that I just might make it somewhere in life.

My doctor sister told my mom that the 3 hour core sleep periods were  a really good idea.  It's probably smart, but I'm hesitant to do anything that might make the adaptation period any longer than necessary.  That decision will have to be more spur of the moment than anything else.         

Day 2 Conclusion: Vivid Dreams

So as Day 2 of my polyphasic sleep experiment comes to a close, I'm finding that I'm rarely hungry.  I can eat, but I really have no motivation to do so.  Earlier this evening (particularly after my hour and half nap screw up), I felt pretty energetic (6.5 out of 10).  Ever since I started, I've had what Pavlina refers to as "brain fog."  When that subsides, I'll feel like I'm really making progress. 

When I lay down for my 8 pm nap this evening, I wasn't able to fall asleep.  I kept my eyes closed and definitely had some extremely vivid (note: not lucid) dreams.  It may have been a mixture of substance use and sleep deprivation but every image my mind conjured, I could physically feel.  Mentally, I imagined a cigarette dangling off my bottom lip and then I could feel my lower lip sagging.  I imagined myself with an eyebrow piercing and instantly felt it above my right eye.  It was weird.  I'm drinking a few beers tonight so we'll see what happens with my 12 am nap.  

Depending on how I feel tonight, I might add another nap between 12 am and 8 am.  Pavlina and another polyphasic sleeper's blog suggested it as a temporary nap that can eventually be weened off.  Pavlina also said that he set his alarm clock for 30 minutes instead of 20 to account for the 10 odd minutes that it takes to fall asleep.  It's definitely possible that I've only been sleeping for 10 or 15 minutes depending on how long it's taken me to fall asleep.  A lot of interesting things to consider.

First Fuck Up

So I had my first fuck up this afternoon.  I went to sleep at 4:20 and woke up at at 6:00.  (So in response to your text Owen, I'm still in the game cause it wasn't two hours).  I don't really know how it happened seeing as the alarm clock was right next to my ear.  That being said I guess I really needed the extra sleep.  To add insult to injury, I've been getting immunizations for my semester abroad in Uganda.  Today I got my meningitis, typhoid, and influenza shots, and I wonder if that had an effect on my sleepiness.

I've been re-reading Steve Pavlina's experience with polyphasic sleep.  He found his 1 am - 5 am cycle (the equivalent of my 12 am - 4 am) the hardest to stay awake in.  So what he did was add another nap in between at 3 am.  I might consider doing the same.  While I may have slipped here, I am going to continue to go strong.  Every blog I've read has the person missing one if not more alarms, and while I was hoping to get through without a mistake, this does not deter me from my ultimate goal.

In fact, Pavlina began experiencing more alertness and energy by day 3 and 4, so maybe tonight will be a new threshold for me.  Plus the additional hour and half of sleep I got will definitely make tonight a little easier even if I don't add that additional nap.  Another thing that Pavlina talks about is a core sleep time.  Some polyphasic sleepers add a 3-hour core sleep period often in the 4 am - 8 am range.  As intriguing and inviting as this sounds, I am going to stay away from it because it will make the adaptation period all the longer.  

Shit Show

This just turned into a shit show real fast.  After waking up from my 4 am nap, I struggled to keep my eyes open.  I was able to occupy myself by taking on odd jobs like cleaning out closets and getting things ready for going abroad.  I had to stay standing to ensure that I didn't pass out.  When the sun rose, I got enough of an energy boost to last me until my 8 am nap.  Ridiculously tired, there may have been at most 2 seconds between when my head hit the pillow and when I fell asleep.  Unfortunately though, I didn't feel remotely refreshed 20 minutes later.

As I rode the subway to a doctors appointment, I was literally falling asleep standing up.  I had to take a step back from the platform  cause I was worried I'd fall in.  I picked up a Red Bull cause it was necessary for survival.  I'm doing okay right now, but I'm starting to empathize with heroin addicts who quit cold turkey.

The next nap is at 12.  It's crazy to believe that it's only been two and half days or something.  I was definitely getting a little cocky at the beginning with the first day and night being such a breeze.  Needless to say, I've been humbled.  The benefits from this sleep cycle will be unparalleled, I only hope that it gets a little easier here on out.

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.

Day 2

So Day 2 has begun.  I chilled with some highschool friends tonight drinking wine and what not.  We got to my friend's place around 11 pm, so it was only an hour before I had to nap.  Even though they were blasting music in the same room that I was sleeping in, I was able to fall asleep, maybe my body's desperate need for sleep?  My friends have been really supportive.  Even though some have their checkbooks weighed against me, they're still curious to see if this will actually work.  My buddy Max pointed out that in the future we'll look back on this as that weird thing that I tried out, but as of right now it's so current, it's kinda crazy.

Sometimes I completely forget that I'm doing this.  I expect to go home, get into my comfy bed, and pass out.  And even though it's just Day 2, sometimes I wonder why.  What on earth am I going to do from 4 am to 8 am?  That being said, I'm doing pretty good.  It's 3 am and I'm wide awake.  I've been getting small headaches in between naps but nothing that can't be ignored.  Also something I completely forgot about was contacts.  Now that I'm awake most of the day, I've been wearing my contacts much more than I should.  Definitely gotta make a note of that.

So far everything is working just fine.  I'll keep you posted.

Telling the Rents

So even though I intended to keep my polyphasic experiment a secret from my parents, the whole being awake at 7 in the morning when my typical vacation sleep cycle is stay up until 4-5 am and then sleep till 1 pm aroused suspicion.  At lunch with the rents this afternoon, I slowly broke them into the idea of what I was doing.  While they are obviously cautious, they do find the whole thing interesting.  I directed them to this blog and the links so for now I have their support.  My mom even moved dinner to 8:20 tonight  so it wouldn't interfere with my nap.

My friends have been supportive though there are two wagers against me.  I was hanging out with my friend Owen this afternoon who had to wait for my 4 pm nap before we could go out.  So far I'm feeling okay.  I'm a little surprised how efficiently this is working.  I'm falling asleep pretty quickly for every nap, and I am able to wake up after 20 minutes.  The really difficult thing right now is trying to occupy my time.  I have lots of plans for books I want to read and what not, but in this initial assimilation stage, reading makes me too tired, same with watching tv.  My mom is planning on waking up sometime between my 4 am and 8 am nap to make me help her clean the closet ... I guess it's something to do.

I'm going out tonight to drink wine and party a bit.  Let's see how it affects my sleep.  

Day 1 Update

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.

Day 1

So I just want to begin by outlining some of the obstacles of starting this process right now. I just got home for a 6-day vacation which leaves me at day 5 of the assimilation process when I have to make the drive back to school. My parents, aware of the allnighters I've had at school, want this vacation to be about rest and relaxing for me. Little do they know that I will be resting less than I ever have before. The thing is that I can't tell them what I'm doing cause they'd freak, but I also have to manage to avoid family activities during the nap times. Furthermore, if I do turn into a zombie, they'll worry.

So I've decided to make my 20 minute nap schedule 4 am, 8 am, 12 pm, 4 pm, 8 pm, 12 am (easy ain't it). So I arrived back home today, ate a delicious home-cooked meal, and then went up to hang out with some highschool friends who go school in the city. We drank a bit and whatnot, and then I took my first nap at 12 am. Since I wasn't tired, I basically just lay in bed with my eyes shut for 20 minutes to let my body know what was gonna happen.

I got back home around 3 am, unpacked some of my clothes, talked with my friend Sarah who was staying the night and getting on a train to Pennsylvania the next day as she snuggled comfortably into her sheets. Reading that the key to this whole thing was staying busy, I started working on this blog.

As hard as I tried and as uncomfortably as I sat, I felt my eyes sagging. I read articles about massacres in third-world countries, I read NYT op-eds, and even my favorite celebrity gossip sites, but I felt like shit. It had barely been a few hours, and I was plummeting to failure. 4 am rolled around and I set my alarm for 20 minutes and passed out. While I may not have gone directly into R.E.M. sleep, the second my head hit the pillow I was out. When the alarm clock sounded minutes later, I had woken Sarah up and we briefly spoke about how I was going to pull this off.

I'll be honest, I was considering throwing in the towel. Not even more than two naps, I was just so tired and ready for a warm comfy bed. Sarah told me to think about it, but she thought that this vacation might not be my time (perhaps Thanksgiving where I'd have a full 10 days to get used to it). I stayed awake, working on the blog, listening to loud music (THIS IS KEY, really helped: I suggest Mars Volta, really gets the job done). But then something amazing happened ... I started feeling better.

While I definitely could have fallen asleep at any point, I wasn't nodding off and my eyes were wide. As I write this now it's 7:46 am, the last 45 minutes took a turn for the worse, but from what I've read, fatigue closer to nap time can be expected. I eagerly await my forthcoming nap, but I gotta say if I wake up as energized as I did after the previous nap, I might just pull this off.

Check in soon. Peace.