Polyphasic sleep cycle - Day 1

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 1*

• Mental alertness: 9
• Physical energy level: 9
• Quality of sleep: 10

*On this scale, 10 represents my original state prior to beginning this experiment.

Detailed comments

I've reached the end of my first 24 hour period, and I'm proud to say so far so good. I've successfully stuck to my sleep regime, hitting the sack no more than ten minutes out from any of my designated sleep times. I'm feeling surprisingly normal, in comparison to my hypothesis for the first day. I am going to note that during the entire 24 hours, I minimised (but not eliminated) meat intake, and ate a lot of fruit and vegetables, but it's too early to be able to comment how much if at all that influenced sleep quality. Also, I can't say for sure, but from my conscious perception it appears that every nap, I'm asleep within five minutes of laying my head on the pillow. Can't say for certain yet whether it has any link with my low animal product diet.

First nap was better than expected. I went to bed only minutes after finishing my experimental design writeup, which didn't leave me much time to collect my thoughts and calm down a bit, so there were a million (ok maybe around 8 or so) thought processes buzzing around in my head when I hit the sack. Naturally I was a bit concerned about whether I'd be able to fall asleep, but I was actually awoken by my alarm 25 minutes later, which meant I did actually fall asleep eventually. I promptly climbed out of bed after I woke up, with only a hint of fog of brain. I spent my waking hours updating my blog, replying to emails, and doing a bit of reading.

On my second nap, I fell asleep straight away. It seems I don't seem to be having any trouble falling asleep, which is a good thing. But after waking up, fog of brain affected me more noticeably. I spent my waking hours catching up on some unwatched anime, then ate a bit, and fought to stay awake by physically keeping my body moving for the final stretch before my scheduled 8am nap.

After waking up from my third nap, I felt like a million dollars. I had my first dream since starting the polyphasic sleep cycle, which means I hit REM sleep! I didn't expect to reach it so fast. Also, I woke up of my own accord one and a half minutes before my countdown time went off. My dad, mum and I all did some light aerobics exercises (テレビ体操) before I had breakfast, then I went to church with my parents. We visited the Funabashi Bible Baptist Church (船橋聖書バプテスト教会) for the first time, and it was a good experience. Everyone was really friendly, the sermon was firmly centered in the gospel message, and the congregation was a surprisingly large 100 or so people. I didn't have trouble with nodding off during the sermon or anything, though I must say it was a good sermon that again reinforced the necessity of the gospel for Christians and non Christians alike.

The church being so close to my dad's home, I quickly ducked back for my fourth scheduled nap of the day at 12pm, and rejoined them in time to have lunch together. Once again I felt pretty good, quite far from how I'd expect to feel with only two hours of sleep over the past 28 hours. We watched a play based off the book of Esther that the church held, before going home and winding down. Throughout this leg of the day, there was no hint of fog of brain.

My fifth nap was quite uneventful. I woke up feeling fairly decent, the same as my previous nap. Something I thought I should mention, though, is that my dad said I was acting significantly more out of it because of my new sleep pattern. I was surprised to hear it, because by my own sense of alertness and physical energy, I felt close to my normal state.

On my final sleep for the day, I experienced for the first time the sensation that Steve reports on his 22nd day, more specifically, that it felt like I was asleep for much longer than I actually was. I felt a slight sense of disorientation when my timer went off slightly before 8:30pm, because my body told me I had slept for quite some time whilst the time on my phone indicated I had only been asleep for 25 minutes, as planned. I don't think it's a bad thing when your body feels like it's rested for longer than you actually did.

One concern I had was that during the period between my first nap and my fourth one, I found that my urge to relieve my bladder doubled in frequency compared to prior to commencing the polyphasic sleep cycle. But the volume I would relieve each time was close to half of my usual. The symptoms possibly suggest that cell signalling to my detrussor muscle was abnormal during that time. From after my fifth nap and onwards, those symptoms resolved itself, and my toilet trips became regular again. Throughout the 24 hours, my bowel movements matched my usual cycle.

Looking forward to how the second day will progress!