Let The Napping Begin!
I decided that I need to ease myself into polyphasic sleep. Not counting some short car eye resting, I haven’t taken a single nap since I was in Kindergarden. I had no idea how my body would react to napping. I decided on Saturday that I would start with a few days of 6h sleep at night and 1 30min day nap, then move to 4.5h of sleep with 3 naps. After that move to a full blown 4h/30min schedule. Due to family obligations I will be forced to take a few days of monophasic sleep over Christmas weekend. I think this can help me get a feel for how my body handles napping while still providing a cushion of normal sleep during the adjustment.
My normal sleep schedule has been ~12AM to ~8AM for years now. I never use alarms unless I need to wake up for something vital (maybe twice a year). I wake up automatically. My body is very well adjusted to this schedule and again, I wasn’t sure how it would adapt. I started Saturday (12/17/05) night by going to bed at 2AM with the intention of waking up at 8AM. I woke up at 8:30AM. Not a bad start! I then took an afternoon nap without an alarm. The intention was to wake up after 25-30 min. I took an hour. Not a bad slip up for my first nap in many years.
For the past two nights I went to bed at 1AM with the intention of waking up at 7AM. Both nights worked out perfectly, waking up dead on 7:00. I’m quite impressed with my body’s ability to tell time. Both afternoon naps were taken with an alarm.
Tonight I will be trying 4.5h of core sleep without an alarm, followed by 3 daytime naps with alarms. I’ve decided that daily entries about sleep are really not necessary. I will post a weekly update or whenever I find something interesting.
on December 21, 2005 at 2:29 am
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Good luck on your schedule. I’ve been thinking recently that probably the best approach to get adapted is not cold turkey, but a more gradual approach, like you’re doing (see my post on it).
I also must say how very envious I am of your ability to awaken without alarm clocks.
–
Sean
…on Polyphasic Sleep.
…on Personal Development.
on December 21, 2005 at 10:00 am
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I’m sure that almost anyone can wake up without using alarms. It’s something you have to adjust to. Since I’ve been doing it for 3 years now my body has taken to it quite well. The other nice thing about waking up without an alarm is sleep inertia isn’t much of an issue.