To be honest, it’s really surprising to me that I was not able to make the adjustment. I don’t think I underestimated how hard it would be, although I didn’t enjoy it at all. I thought I was making real progress yesterday, because I was feeling more clear-headed than normal, but it must have been the 3 extra hours that I slept.

It’s a great lesson for me, so honestly, it’s bittersweet at worst.  I have learned that I need more self-discipline. It’s really clear. I think before this, I thought of myself as a pretty disciplined person, but it became apparent that it’s just not the case. I have some discipline, but I need more. In that sense, I look forward to the weeks ahead, and my quest to become more disciplined.

Once I feel I am ready again, and I have some more time to be really flexible with, I will attempt to switch to Polyphasic Sleeping again. I already have a few ideas of what I will be doing different.

Friends that will at first laugh at you after they find out that you want to try a radical new way of sleeping, and then eventually realize that you are serious, and then take 1am naps with you are, hands down, without a doubt, the absolute best.

After posting about not having any troubles waking up immediately after my alarm going off, I slept an hour at 9am after not being able to deal with the grogginess and the feeling of my brains being complete mush. I don’t remember doing it, but I am pretty sure I turned off my alarm and went right back to sleep. Luckily it was only an hour, and I am not feeling guilty about it anymore.

I am also realizing the vital importance of having a quality nap. Since I am having trouble clearing my mind and being distracted after laying down, it’s important that I have somewhere that is relatively quiet (or constant background noise) to nap. I am pretty sure that’s why I slept through my alarm yesterday. Earlier that day, I was at a friend’s house, and the only available place to sleep was on a couch next to a TV, and a few other people were there, and they ended up waking me a few minutes before my wake up time.

I didn’t think I was feeling too fatigued, just the normal jet-lagged feeling that I’ve almost become accustomed to. It definitely affected me later on that night though (Especially in the 1am-9am phase)

I also was feeling much colder than I normally do since the beginning of the experiment. I read about a similar experience Steve Pavlina had, and I have to wonder if I was actually feeling the same thing or if it was partly psychological. Hard to say, because I feel like it’s either warmed up or I am just less cold. I will note that I still do feel more cold than I remember being while sleeping monophasically, but it’s not that much of a difference really. Colorado is just a cold place this time of year.

Disappointingly, I still have had no other dreams other than that first one (yesterday?). I am really looking forward to dreaming when they do start happening.

Even though I feel like I will be able to adjust okay, mentally it’s a big challenge to cope with the fact that I am kissing 8-hour or so nights of sleep goodbye. It’s just a different way of thinking about sleep, and being able to let go the previous notions I had about sleep. I have a mixed opinion of sleep. I think it feels terribly good, especially when your body needs it, but also it’s just as terribly inefficient. You get nothing done when sleeping, and I often wish it was optional, or I could take a pill that would allow me not to sleep at all.

I am digging the way days and nights flow together. Life is definitely moving slower. It boggles my mind that my house mates went to bed some time ago, and here I am fairly wide awake downstairs on my computer blogging about the whole thing. Heh. It’s glorious.

Another observation that I’ve made is that I’ve picked up a weird neck twitch when I am first trying to fall asleep. I don’t know if this is due to the initial sleep deprivation, but it has been happening consistently, and it weirds me out a bit. I will be laying perfectly still, and all of a sudden my head will jerk to the right ever so slightly. If I am almost asleep it draws me out of it, but it’s more of a nuisance than anything.

As far as mental clarity, I am still pretty foggy. I feel like there is some progression, but I think getting consistent, quality naps is the key for me right now to get over the hump and start being able to do more sedentary tasks (like reading) without the worry of falling asleep in the middle of them.

I haven’t noticed too much of a change in my diet. I am drinking water like it’s going out of style though. I think I am averaging 12 or so glasses a day. I think this helps me a lot to stay awake during the early part of the morning. I wasn’t drinking enough water before switching to polyphasic sleeping, so I am happy that I am now.

First things first. I posted yesterday (which I am not really sure actually happened because of my radical change of perception of time–but I’m already getting ahead of myself) about sleeping polyphasically. I meant to post every day about my experience with it, but alas–I wasn’t able to get this blog up in time. Here we are in any case. Here’s what I was rambling about:

I have been wanting to switch to a polyphasic sleep schedule for quite some time now. A quick explanation of what Polyphasic Sleeping is for someone who doesn’t know: The idea is that you are able to take short 15-30 minute naps throughout the entire day (every 4 hours or so), while still feeling alert, and completely refreshed. I am going for what they call the Uberman Sleep schedule, which is a 20-minute nap every 4 hours, leaving you with a grand total of 2-3 hours of sleep every day.

This works because after an initial adjustment phase, (read: serious sleep deprivation) you are able to train your brain into entering REM very quickly after falling asleep, which is the restorative part of sleeping.

I first heard about it from a friend of mine about a year ago, and he was saying how a buddy of his did it, and was the most productive person he knew. Selfishly, this was what initially attracted me to it. After doing much research and reading about it on Steve Pavlina’s Blog, I finally decided to see for myself what it was like and take the plunge.

This happened for several reasons. First, I had finally quit my “real” job, and was working for myself for the most part. I think this was key in making this actually happen. Secondly, I have no wife or kids to take care of, so I felt that if I wanted to do it, now would definitely be the time. Another reason was that instead of just wanting to be more productive, I had somewhat of an epiphany (it’s ongoing, really) that I need to start investing in myself right now in order to do the things that I would like to do later on in life. To go along with that, after reading about other people’s experience with it, I was overcome by intense curiosity about it. As a result of feeling that I needed to start taking responsibility for who I become later in life, I started writing down my life goals. I started reading more, and I started learning about things that I had wanted to know more about for some time. Polyphasic sleeping just seemed like the next step for me.

So that brings us to today. I think. As far as my experience with it so far, it’s been quite hard to make the initial adjustment period smooth. Yesterday, right before I posted nonsense about it, I was almost ready to give the whole thing up. I was seriously sleep deprived, and I was having to constantly think of things to keep my mind active so I wouldn’t fall asleep prematurely. (lots of pushups did the trick for a bit) I decided to use Steve Pavlina’s idea and add in an extra nap in the initial adjustment phase if the urge to sleep was overwhelming. Also, I decided to set an alarm for 25 minutes after I initially lay down. I think this may change to 15-20 minutes after I get used to it, and am able to fall asleep quicker. Also, I have chosen to take naps at 1pm, 5pm, 9pm, 1am, 5am, and 9am.

One of the biggest challenges so far is being able to clear my mind before going to sleep. When I was on a regular sleep schedule, I was able to fall asleep very quickly, due to my ability to almost turn off my brain. (Anyone who has slept in the same room as me will testify that within 1 or 2 minutes of me saying good night to them, I will be completely out.) I was also accustomed to taking naps sometimes during the day with no trouble. Now, it seems like I have so much to think about, and my brain won’t shut off, and I am thinking “Gosh, it’s going to be so cool when I am over this stupid adjustment phase and I’m able to feel really good after waking up.” Then I realize in order for that to happen, I need to make the most of my naps right now, and that I should just shut up and stop thinking about everything, and it’s like a terrible repeating cycle that I have to consciously break. I think I might be partially psyching myself out too, which only compounds the problem. It’s like trying not to think about a purple elephant.

For the first two 24-hour periods, I was able to get to sleep, but not feel like I got any rest. That was until yesterday when I had my first dream, which means that I entered into REM. I was so happy about it, not only because it was a lot sooner than I had expected, but that I woke up feeling like I got a full night’s sleep.

Currently, I am still pretty foggy as far as mental clarity goes, but it’s akin to feeling a little jet lagged. I can definitely deal with it, and I expect it to go away with time. Luckily, I am able to get up immediately after my alarm goes off. Like Steve Pavlina said, he has no mental negotiation with himself early in the morning, and I think this is a huge key to succeed at adapting to polyphasic sleeping.

I guess that’s it for now. I will keep this updated to track my progress along the way.

I’ve recently (2 days ago) switched to a sleep schedule that is called polyphasic sleeping. If you don’t know about it, look it up! Google is your friend. I am too loopy and foogy to articulate it here. Apparently, there is an initial adjustment phase that totally blowz0rs. I’m in that phase right now, and I cannot think straight. I have been up for the past 36 hours with only about 4-5 hours of sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, and hopefully I can put this on a real blog sometime. I’ll make sure and keep you updated, cap’n.