Polyphasic Sleep Week 2
I know it hasn’t been a week yet but I feel that now is a good time to update how my sleep has progressed. As planned Monday was full of family obligations. I took a 6h sleep period Sunday night and no naps on Monday. Monday night I again slept 6 hours in prep for Tuesday’s 5.5 hour drive back to Rochester. I took one nap on Tuesday prior to leaving. By the time I got to Rochester I was tired but not more than normal. Tuesday night I resumed 4h/25min sleep … sort of. When I woke up from the 1AM nap I realized I was quite tired from driving and needed some extra sleep. I ended up taking two longer naps that night.
Since then I have taken every nap. Unlike other people I’ve had no trouble falling asleep quickly. This came as a surprise since I never napped prior to this experiment. My body seems to be adjusting quite well. No oversleeping at all! I frequently hit REM and remember dreams.
That’s not to say everything is going perfectly. There are a few things I’ve noticed that aren’t right. Whenever I wake up from a nap I am very confused and disoriented. When I wake up I can’t seem to grasp the concept of time. I look at a clock and almost always think it is much later than it actually is, or I just can’t understand time at all. It usually takes 5-10 min before I regain a sense of time. It is a very strange mental state! This seems to be improving on every nap, so hopefully it will be gone soon.
Another thing that comes and goes is some minor pressure in the front of my head. It’s so slight that I won’t even call it a headache, but it comes and goes. Last week it was much worse than it is now. This seems to be fading with time as well.
After nearly every nap I feel awake within a few minutes. However, there have been a few times where I was very tired towards the end of the 4 hours. I haven’t given in and slept early and I think that has helped. The strange thing is how my body is telling me that I’m tired. It’s not the normal drowsy feeling I get. I never yawn anymore. When extremely tired I can’t seem to focus on anything for very long but my thought processes are fine. I haven’t noticed a slowing of mental ability that I used to have when tired. It’s more of a physical condition now than mental. My head starts drooping and my eyelids begin shutting. It’s a very strange state that I can’t exactly describe. The only other way I can think of is that my brain isn’t foggy like it normally is when I am very tired.
Speaking of my physical state, I seem to always be cold. This is strange because my apartment is quite warm, usually around 72-73 F. Prior to polyphasic sleep I was almost always warm wearing a short sleeve shirt and pants. Now I have goosebumps all the time and am never quite comfortable. This is how I would have felt prior to changing my sleep in a 68 F room while wearing short sleeves. My theory is that it is related to being in a state of sleep dep where the body wants to rest. It is prepared to sleep so my core temp may be lower than normal. I don’t have a thermometer to check so I have no idea if this is true. I’m hoping it will go away once I become more adjusted.
The last negative thing is that I don’t feel mentally 100% normal, more like 85-90%. My guess is that testing wouldn’t show a big difference. I feel like I can still function as normal, but there is something in my brain that doesn’t feel quite right. I’m hoping that it’s due to the sleep dep during this adjustment period. I’m not sure if I could live knowing that somewhere my thoughts aren’t at the same level as they were with 8h of sleep. If I continue to feel like this after 30 days I will probably switch back to 6h core with 1 nap.
Overall I’m impressed with how well it is going. The only change I’ve made is shifting my sleep times to fall on the 2, 6, and 10 hours. It just fits into my schedule better that way.
One thing I found that works great at keeping me awake is watching the TV show 24. I got season 3 for Christmas and watching it always keeps me focused. It’s such a great show!
on December 31, 2005 at 10:42 am
Permalink
Hi Dan:
Ineresting website!
I just wanted to pass along a sleep tool that I use that is absolutely amazing. Developed in the UK, I am working on getting distribution rights in the US.
http://www.pzizz.com/(affiliate link deleted, DO NOT SPAM ME!)
The tool is called Pzizz and comes as hardware (for Power napping) and software for your ipod for both sleep and power napping.
Best wishes,
Diana
on January 2, 2006 at 1:12 am
Permalink
Diana, in the future do not post affiliate links like that to blog comments. That is spam and it is unacceptable.