Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 10

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 10*

• Mental alertness: 9.5
• Physical energy level: 9.5
• Quality of sleep: 10

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

Detailed comments

One up on my first attempt at this polyphasic sleep cycle experiment, I've stuck it out till the tenth day. The last ten days, as well as the six days of experimenting on my first attempt, have been a real learning experience for me in terms of sleep patterns. What all of you are probably most interesting in knowing is whether I'm going to continue or not, so I'll get the most important question out of the way first. Based on the insights I've gained into adopting the Uberman sleep cycle into your lifestyle, I don't think it's the one for me. So now that my experimental period has finished, I'm not going to be continuing this 30 minute nap per 4 hours stint any longer.

Having said that, I can't rule out the possibility that I won't be utilising the Uberman sleep cycle ever again. I can only say that the sacrifices made to social interaction and my food choices are not worth the extra time gained through more hours awake. I caused much inconvenience to others during my experimental period, first to my family while I stayed with them for the entirety of my first attempt, and secondly to friends during our time spent away from the dorm on my second attempt. I had to find a place to sleep every four hours, and being out with friends for more than four hours at a time is not uncommon. So that often meant I had to find the waiting room in a department store, or rent out a room at karaoke, and sometimes even going to a restaurant and sleeping in the restaurant for 30 minutes before I ate, during which they would have been restricted in how animated their conversation would be, and by the time I started eating, they had long finished and was waiting for me. On top of that, I had to time when I would eat carefully, because if I ate too close to my next nap time, or too much in one sitting, I would either not be able to fall asleep, or not be able to wake up. Eating carefully often meant choosing a dish with little or no meat when I would have usually ordered a meat dish, and having restricted my meat intake over the past fifteen days or so, I sorely miss eating a good old steak, or hot dogs.

I also wanted to clarify the factors that do not contribute to my decision to stop my polyphasic sleep cycle. What did not deter me was my alertness levels. During the initial transition period of maybe 5 days, I was indeed in a haze. But after I'd gotten used to it, and definitely for the last five days, I've been feeling and operating quite normal. I've been keeping up with everyone else during class time, interacting normally after class and when going out, and physically work out at the gym. My mental state has also stabilised, with a healthy appetite (and healthy meals), regular bowel movements, standard ability to think as mentioned during class time and in social interaction previously, and not to mention quality of sleep being better than ever before, because I'd enter REM sleep so quickly. Not being able to eat meat definitely made me begin to miss it, but I would not dare say cutting meat out of your diet is a bad thing - healthwise, I in fact fully endorse it (assuming you make up for it with other foods).

There are still a lot of things I wanted to find out before I stopped this experiment, but my sudden termination at this point in time is due to a sudden change in circumstances. Aikido wasn't scheduled to begin until next week, but we were notified that the sensei was available to come in on Thursday this week so an impromptu practice session was held, and everyone was strongly recommended to attend. It's impolite to excuse yourself from practice before the sensei, and all the more strange to explain to everyone that my reason is "I need to go sleep now". As I stated was a major disadvantage of this polyphasic sleep cycle was the impact it had on social relationships. I've had enough of that for now so rather than having to explain to everyone at Aikido what my sleeping program is about all over again, I've decided to wrap up my sleep experiment the night before Aikido starts up again. However, as a result, I haven't been able to find out what effect this sleep cycle might have on muscle repair after physical training, as well as how much flexibility I have in delaying my nap times. I also would have liked to have had more time trying to accommodate my sleep cycle into the semester, since I've only had three days so far.

Taking it all into consideration, maybe the college student phase of life isn't the best time to implement such a routine. After all, how many people don't value their social interaction? Generally speaking, one off (and annual) events, Aikido training sessions, and amusement park rides don't work around your schedule, you have to make time for them. Add to that exam period, interviews, part time jobs and such, and aiming to get 30 minutes of sleep every four hours becomes slightly unrealistic. It is arguable that student life is freedom compared to work life, but I've underestimated the number of things that take place during this time which are not flexible, and I suspect many other people do too. Of course, one option is to leave parties early, never attend lunch with people from Aikido, make friends with people who don't mind waiting while you take 30 minute naps during day trips/overnight trips, and restrict yourself to working part time jobs that don't exceed three hours at a time. But that to me, isn't worth the extra time gained. I wanted to gain the extra time to be able to spend it with people, not inconvenience them. On the other hand, I think salesmen and businessmen could pull off such a stint quite well. Actually, anyone who is actually truly free to dictate what fills up their time. If you work from home, like my inspiration for starting this sleep experiment Steve Pavlina does, it's easy to accommodate a 30 minute nap every four hours, and exponentially increase productivity (or to make more time to invest in your social life).  Maybe as a missionary, this polyphasic sleep cycle might also work out really well, since they seem to have almost complete freedom over how their time is used. But my conclusion for the time being, is that college life is not flexible enough to make the Uberman sleep cycle rewarding. In a society where people don't sleep polyphasically, either make everyone make the transition (good luck), or stop sleeping polyphasically yourself.

But just because I've abandoned the Uberman sleep cycle doesn't mean I'll settle for going back to exactly the same seven hour monophasic sleep routine I was on before. Through this experimental period, I've learned to take 30 minute naps, which I've never done in my life previously. I've discovered they work quite effectively, and they fit quite easily into your routine if you plan it out well enough. Every four hours is a little unrealistic, but one nap during lunchtime or even after class to 'top up' energy stores sounds like a great idea, so I'm going to experiment with either biphasic or triphasic for a little while. Though I call it an experiment, I won't be officially documenting it on my blog this time. Biphasic and triphasic sleep cycles aren't anywhere near as ridiculous as polyphasic sleep cycles, and also not anywhere near as rare to find. Its realistic nature is precisely why I'm choosing it, actually. This way, I can theoretically sleep only 4.5 to 5 hours each day where I initially required 7 to feel well rested, and still function normally. The idea is instead of sleeping one 7 hour block in a 24 hour period, to sleep a 4 hour core block, then add one or two 30 minute naps during the day when I feel I need it and when my schedule allows. That, I think, is much more realistic.

So my apologies to all my readers who have been following my progress avidly, and it's been gradually brought to my attention just how many people are actually interested in reading about my silly antics. I didn't really expect it, but thanks to you all for your support. Though our sleep patterns are all different, I hope my brief stint as a guinea pig has given you some insight into what it might be like to sleep polyphasically, without actually having to subject yourself to it. If you ever become a businessman or a missionary however, feel free to extend my experiment, though do so at your own risk.

For now, it's goodbye, but not forever. Looking forward to how my five hour sleep days work out :)

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 9

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 9*

• Mental alertness: 10
• Physical energy level: 9.5
• Quality of sleep: 10

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

Detailed comments

Second day of the winter semester is now over, and one day to go before my designated experiment evaluation date. I felt excellent today, both physically and mentally. Since the university gym opened at the beginning of the new semester yesterday, I've even been doing around half an hour of strength training each night, and I've been able to train without any adverse sensations. I'm feeling slightly sore right now from my training session yesterday night, but that's because I did next to no exercise over the Christmas and new year's break. Let's see how long it takes for my muscle soreness to go away, with only three hours sleep spread over half hour segments every four hours each day. I might add that I'm planning on continuing my 30 minute physical training routine every day. So onto my usual daily breakdown of progress.

Between my 12am nap and my 4am nap today, I was feeling extremely sleepy. The whole time was spent writing a single blog post that you saw posted this morning. During its writing, I nodded off numerous times, sometimes for over 20 minutes (my computer is set to automatically go to sleep after 20 minutes). Other times, I'd wake up to find my screen literally looking like thiseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrenerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrru73333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Needless to say, I wasn't exactly top of the world at that time. I probably should have taken an additional nap during that time, but it appears I was too tired to think of doing such a thing.

Between my 4am and my 8am naps, I took a shower, ate a big bowl of salad (cherry tomatoes, seaweed and cucumber with self-made salt, pepper, sugar, vinegar, chilli sauce based dressing), cleaned my room a bit, and did some kanji homework.

From 8:30am till 11:40am, we had class as usual. I was supposed to, like yesterday, duck back to my room during the hour long lunch break and take a nap then eat some food, but since we had a free period after lunch today, and since normal university students at TUFS don’t begin classes until Friday of this week which meant that Aikido today (and Thursday this week) was moved to 10:30-12pm, I went with a fellow foreign student also doing Aikido with me to drop by their practice session and say hello. Unexpectedly (though on hindsight I should have expected it), we were invited to go have lunch together, particuarly since they were on holidays and we didn't have third period which meant we were free till 2:20pm. I didn't quite know how to refuse without having to give them a long explanation of my back story, which I wasn't convinced they needed to know, so I figured I'd just have a small bit to eat with them and sleep afterward. For lunch, I had a small Chinese style dish with rice (中華丼　chuukadon) and some pineapple from the university cafeteria where we gathered to eat.

I ended up not getting into bed for my nap till 1:55pm (and waking up at 2:25pm and rocking up late to fourth period but that was ok), but mentally (and physically) I felt fine, with no particular need or urge to sleep or anything. And after waking up, my thinking was clear and my attention span was excellent. We had politicoeconomics in fourth period, where I (and everyone else, really) usually fall asleep, I didn't nod off a single time today. Not that I learned particularly any more than if I'd slept through the class, but oh well. Experiment-wise, positive results.

Since I didn't sleep till 2pm, I decided to skip my 4pm nap since I didn't have the slightest inclination that I needed to sleep. Instead, I had natto with half a cup of rice before filling up the rest of my time cleaning my room, hanging out with friends, and going to the gym.

At 8pm after my gym session for the day, I took my scheduled half hour nap, and woke up feeling good as new. I cooked myself a stir fry with carrots, bamboo shoot, something resembling a bok choi, mushrooms, and spring onion, before settling down and writing this blog post while facebooking on the side. It's about time I took my next nap.

One more day to go, before making the final call on the future of my polyphasic sleep cycle.

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 8

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 8*

• 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

It's fast approaching the end of my predetermined ten day experimental period. During this time, I've learned so much about both my sleep patterns and sleep in general. In this time period, I think I've more or less made the transition to sleeping polyphasically. The advantages are that I now have an additional six hours of awake time each day (night), but the disadvantages are that I can't seem to stay functionally awake for longer than 8 hours without taking a nap anymore. Of course, aside from that, there's also the extra burden placed on social interaction because I have to duck off to sleep every now and then, as well as having to watch what I eat and when I eat, so as to not affect my sleep quality. At this point in time, I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll continue this sleep pattern past the experimental period, because of the aforementioned pros and cons. Well, I've yet to experience the three days of semester under this new sleep regime, so I'll save my final say till I've experienced what it's like.

I'm having trouble deciding what's worth mentioning in terms of sleep quality, timing or duration, or of diet, because everything went more or less according to schedule. Maybe that's worth mentioning in itself, since I haven't been able to do even that for so many days so far.

What I would like to know from here is how my sleep regime would fit in practically with, say, having lunch with the Aikido club after practice on Saturday, or napping in the middle of a party that takes place off campus which means I don't have easy access to my bed, or taking up a part time job that clashes with one of my naps. It's precisely because of the inconvenience I would cause in such scenarios that causes me to hesitate in continuing this polyphasic sleep cycle. I guess we'll see how the next two days unfold.

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 7

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 7*

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

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

Detailed comments

Yesterday was an interesting day by all accounts. From 8am-10pm, our family was at Tokyo Disneyland for the final day of the in-park New Year's celebrations, in its 30th anniversary year. With respect to adhering to my predefined parameters for my sleep experiment, it was a spectacular failure in terms of sticking to sleep times and diet, after prioritising going on rides and watching shows over dropping everything and sleeping when my appointed time was up. However, I consider it to be surprisingly successful as an experiment in sleep pattern adaptation, since I still spread my sleep over the course of the day, napping for no more than 30 minutes at a time, and still retaining normal functionality. I'll share in more detail our experiences from our fourth time at Tokyo Disneyland in a separate blog post, but for now, I'll be concentrating on how my sleep experiment went in the context of having spent a day at a theme park, where the last thing you want to go there to do is sleep.

In continuation from my day 6 account yesterday, I stayed awake after my 11pm nap until my scheduled 4am nap. During that time I didn't have much trouble staying awake, but that could have been because I was looking at a computer screen the entire time, researching and planning how to make the most of our time spent at Disneyland. Then again, it could have been because I was keeping my brain active by doing such research. In any case, it was really interesting reading the experience annd advice of other bloggers who had been to Tokyo Disneyland (and often its counterpart in the US).

My nap at 4am was surprisingly refreshing. Although it was only 30 minutes, I felt like I'd been asleep for much longer. It helped me go the final stretch in planning what we would be doing during the day. At about 6am, I had breakfast consisting of muesli, yoghurt and a bit of bread.

Even though this has now been my fourth time at Tokyo Disneyland (the only Disneyland I've been to so far), I still gained new insights from others' perspectives. Such as finding out which day is projected to be how congested, and how to track how long the queues are at each ride without going to look at each one personally. One irony was that I was so absorbed in reading such blogs that my own preparations before departing were delayed, and I failed to utilise the first piece of advice, which was arriving at the gates at least 30 minutes before opening. The park opened at 8:30am this morning, and we arrived at 8:15, by which time there were unbelievably large crowds already waiting in line. It was due to this seemingly minor mistake that we missed out on getting on one of the most high demand rides in the park - by literally two minutes. I'll mention that part of our day in more detail in a later post dedicated to our trip to Disneyland. In the meantime, back to the topic at hand.

Having mentioned that the park opens at 8:30am, it necessarily means that at 8am, my scheduled next nap after 4am, I was still commuting on a train, and there were frequent transfers so I wasn't able to nap then. I'd hoped to enter the park a bit earlier, grab a run on one of the more high demand rides first, and then relax by having my morning nap. But arriving at 8:20 meant that ideal went out the window. Instead, we entered Disneyland at 8:30am, grabbed a FastPass (available for the most in-demand attractions, enabling you to skip the queue by going on the ride at the designated time), then I found a free seat in the reception building lobby, and got 30 minutes of shut eye there at 9:20am. I don't think I actually fell asleep, or at best fell asleep for about 10 minutes, but even so it was a refreshing nap that kept me going till my next sleep.

My next planned nap time today was at 11:30am while waiting for a show that started at 12pm, but the turnout was bigger than expected and we had to stand, both while waiting to enter the show as well as during the show, so hopes of sleeping then went out the window. I didn't actually get a chance to sleep until 2:30pm, when we found seats at a restaurant inside the park. We ordered a pizza and I rested for 30 minutes, after which I had the remaining uneaten pizza. It wasn't a comfortable sleep, but it did the job of keeping me functional until my next nap.

My next nap was scheduled for 4:30pm, but since we used our time so efficiently in keeping busy watching shows and going on rides, I ended up having to wait until 8:30pm for my next nap. Even then, my nap was involuntarily restricted to 20 minutes instead of the full 30 because it was during a show (which I realised I've seen in a previous Disneyland visit). The earplugs were a real lifesaver, helping me to properly rest. I think I may have even fallen asleep, despite the singing and dancing bears on stage.

My next sleep wasn't until we reached home. It appears I was so tired I fell asleep right at the table right after having had some soup. That was around 11:50pm, and I only realised when I woke up at around 1:20am, by which the rest of my family had gone to bed.

Diet for the day was mediocre, eating more to avoid hunger than to be particularly tasty or nutritious. Having said that, park bought food was pretty tasty (though I'm not sure about healthy). Food eaten includes rice balls, chocolate, biscuits, meat buns, churros, popcorn, pizza, crepe, mandarins, etc. We ate in small portions each time, so my diet didn't majorly affect any single nap during the day.

As of today, it's been about half a month since my first attempt at sleeping polyphasically, and seven days since the commencement of my second attempt. Over this time, I've developed an ability to sense when I've slept for 30 minutes, the ability to enter REM sleep soon after falling asleep, and not in the least gained several hours each day while maintaining almost normal functionality. It was in this setting that I went on a family trip to Disneyland, which was uncompromising to an uncompromising sleeping regime. One concern I had was where I would be able to sleep in a theme park. Having spent a day during my experimental period in Disneyland, I can recommend sleeping in the lobby of the reception building, and during one of the more longer shows (>20 mins). I also considered going to the first aid tent and asking if I could lie down for half an hour, but I never found it so I didn't have the opportunity to try it out. It may depend upon personality and default ease with which you fall asleep regularly, but for me, I am now able to say that I was able to enjoy a full day at Tokyo Disneyland while sleeping polyphasically, though designating my nap times more out of necessity than based on a rigid sleep regime. One piece of advice I have for anyone who attempts the Uberman sleep cycle and finds themselves in a situation unconducive to taking 30 minute naps at fixed intervals, research potential sleeping destinations in advance. Assuming you've allowed your body enough days to get used to sleeping polyphasically, it won't be too difficult to fall asleep when you decide to. Just don't try and force your body to sleep - the harder you try to sleep, the more sleep will elude you, so just relax. Hope this special edition of my sleep experiment account was at least somewhat interesting to read.

Tomorrow will be the beginning of the new school term. From tomorrow until the end of the experimental period, I will see what it's like sleeping polyphasically while keeping up with the demands of class work and homework.

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 6

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 6*

• Mental alertness: 8
• Physical energy level: 9
• Quality of sleep: 7

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

Detailed comments

I can attribute today to providing me more insight into how I sleep. I can't say my sleeps went 'according to plan' today, but in their variations, they taught me many things.

I overslept my 12am nap today yet again. Why is it always the midnight scheduled nap where this happens?? Anyway, once again, my 3:50 alarm woke me up. Once again I skipped the 4am nap and my next scheduled nap is at 8am. During my waking hours, I typed up my sleep experimental progress for the previous day.

Today we went to the cinemas, and to wander the city for a bit before it begins. With that intention we caught the first bus for the day bound for Chofu. The earliest bus came at 8:30. While waiting for the bus to come, my scheduled naptime came around so I slept on the bus for half an hour. One thing I thought I'd make a special mention of, is sleep quality. Up until now, I haven't been able to fall asleep anywhere except in a proper bed, but on this particular bus trip, I think I managed to fall asleep. What was different about my sleeping style this time, was that I slept looking up, not hunched over. I think I'm not used to sleeping whilst sitting up, but giving my body the impression I'm lying down by facing upward when you sleep helps in falling asleep.

We spent the morning wandering about Chofu and doing a bit of shopping, with more free time than we expected because both the city municipal office and the bank were closed. When it drew near the time for my 12pm nap, we went to a restaurant. Before I ate, I slept at the restaurant, leaning against the wall. I experienced again the phenomenon of falling asleep easier if I slept facing up. I may have even fallen asleep for a short while resting against the wall today. That's a big achievement in the way of sleeping outdoors. And it'll come in handy just in time for tomorrow, when our family goes to Disneyland for a whole day.

After napping and lunch, we finally get to the highlight even of the day - watching the anime movie Hunter X Hunter: the last mission. It was an ok movie, but according to my Hunter X Hunter fanatic friend, it didn't do justice to the characters and to the battles in the anime. I still enjoyed it.

We managed to return to the dormitories in time for my 4pm nap. It was an ok sleep, after which I felt ok. After waking up, I did a bit of packing and then set off for my dad's place again. As mentioned previously, we will be going to Disneyland tomorrow to view the new years' illumination, and making use of our visit there to go on the rides. Since my dad's place is very convenient for commuting to Disneyland, I came over tonight.

I was supposed to take my next nap at 8, but that was when we started eating. We had seafood centering on fish and crab, and it was so tasty that before I knew it, we were all feasting on the food, including me. I ended up skipping my 8pm nap altogether.

Instead, we went to a local hot springs to loosen up before bed. I bathed before taking a sleep, and at 11pm, I had a 30 minute nap. When I was woken up, I was really sleepy, but still able to somewhat think straight.

Here ends my recount of my sixth day on my second attempt at the polyphasic sleep cycle. Soon, winter holidays will end and school semester will begin. I'm interested to see how that will work with my sleeping pattern.

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 5

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 5*

• Mental alertness: 10
• Physical energy level: 10
• Quality of sleep: 8

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

Detailed comments

Five days into my so-called second attempt and eleven days since the day I first started sleeping polyphasically, it keeps on getting stranger. Over the past 48 hours, the amount of time I've spent in an actual asleep state and my perceived energy level just don't add up. And I mean it in a good imbalance sort of way - I feel a lot more active than my commonsense tells me I should be, in my current sleep deprived state.

My day was not off to a good start, from an experimental point of view. Overslept my 12am nap, all the way until my 3.50 alarm went off which was supposed to tell me to prepare for my 4am nap. That either means I fell asleep before I had time to set my countdown timer at 12am, or that I slept through my countdown timer and up until my 3.50 alarm went off. I am almost certain about having set the alarm before lying down, so I don't know if that meant I was actually tired enough for even an alarm to wake me up.

Whatever the actual cause may have been, consequently I ended up skipping the 4am nap, and waiting till 8am for my next one. The good news is that I didn't feel anywhere near as drowsy as the same time on the previous night, so although 4 hours of sleep is by no means much, it seems like it was enough to bring my brain alertness level back despite three consecutive naps over a span of 12 hours where I didn't reach REM sleep (or fall asleep at all, it appears). During my waking period between 4-8am, I typed up my sleep experiment progress report for yesterday, cleaned my room a bit, and did some reading.

After waking up from my 8am nap, I had breakfast (the usual rice, natto, yoghurt), then set out for day two of clothes shopping shortly after. I found lots of bargains today, at stores such as H&M, Appbank and my personal favourite, GU. All these stores put up reasonable prices, but because it was post-new year's sale, there were so many rock bottom cheap stuff. I didn't know it was possible for me to shop for so long, but the clothes I bought were worth every penny.

I took two naps while out shopping today. I didn't feel sleepy in neither the 12pm nor the 4pm nap, but because it was time to sleep, I lay down for 30 minutes. The former nap was taken in the resting area at BicQlo (Joint Bic Camera and UniQlo store), and the latter was in a karaoke room. After taking the former nap, we went to a restaurant for lunch and I ordered a raw seafood with rice dish (海鮮丼 かいせんどん). For the latter nap, my friend and I booked out a karaoke room for an hour and we both rested for half an hour before singing a bit.

When we returned to the dormitory, a bunch of us gathered to make pizzas for dinner. It was really delicious, but we started eating sometime around 7:00 so I couldn't eat more than two slices, in fear of messing up my 8pm nap. It turns out though, that I didn't feel a tiny bit sleepy by 8pm and even though I took a nap in my own bed, I didn't end up falling asleep. It seems so strange to me that two days in a row now, I didn't actually fall asleep in three nap sessions in a row (12pm, 4pm, 8pm) and yet throughout that period, my brain was perfectly clear and I felt like I had a lot of energy. When I tried studying after our pizza dinner today, for example, I had no problems concentrating on the task at hand. I voiced my concerns at the end of yesterday's experimental log that my sleep quality while outdoors will make or break the successfulness of this sleep pattern transition. But looking at how surprisingly energetic I am despite not having fallen completely asleep for so many successive naps, it seems the issue is a lot more subtle and multi-faceted than I'd anticipated. Clearly the brain gets a chance to rest if you just close your eyes for a couple of minutes during the day, whether you fall asleep or not. Well, I'll have plenty more chances over the next couple of days to continue experimenting with sleeping outdoors and gauging my alertness levels throughout the day.

One thing I neglected to mention yesterday was that as of my (delayed) 12pm nap (yesterday), I have reduced each countdown timer session from 35 minutes to 30 minutes. Looking at the changes that have taken place in my sleep patterns over the past few days, it looks like I can get more out of less sleep time now. I saw it as an appropriate time and occasion to make the five minute reduction yesterday at noon, that's all.

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 4

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 4*

• Mental alertness: 8
• Physical energy level: 7
• Quality of sleep: 3

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

Detailed comments

So today was the first day spent all outdoors with friends since beginning experiment 2.0. It has meant that I've had to do my 12pm, 4pm and 8pm naps outside, away from my comfortable bed, and oftentimes while sitting up. It appears I have great difficulty sleeping anywhere except in my bed. As a result, my sleep quality suffered greatly today. In terms of as a sleep experience, today was horrible, but it has taught me more about my limits of sleeping while outdoors.

Both at 12am and 4am today, I fell asleep quickly but I felt really sleepy when I woke up from them both. I tried to do some blogging after waking up both times, but I nodded off so many times, and my brain was working so slowly, that it wasn't very productive at all. My typing also had significantly more mistakes than usual. It appears that the possible reason I struggled to wake up is because of sleep deficiency.

The rest of my sleep times today were in actuality different from my scheduled times. The main reason for the time disparity is because of circumstances.

So it begins with my 8am scheduled nap, which I took at 7:40am since a group of friends and I have decided to visit the emperor at the Imperial palace and our departure time was 8:20. Since I didn't have time to eat after I woke up, I ate my yoghurt, rice and natto breakfast before my 8am nap, at about 7:00am.

We expected there to be a line to see the emperor, but the number of people on the day far exceeded our expectations. We arrived at the entrance to the imperial palace at about 9:50am, and was ushered into a line by the coordinators. Our line spent a good 40 minutes waiting just standing there, waiting for lines of people before us to enter. Once inside, some members of our group needed to go to the toilet, and the queue for that was also really long. We waited close to another 40 minutes just for the bathroom. After having refreshed ourselves, it was a matter of following the crowd to where the emperor was. Although we set off this morning with the intention of coming to make the 10:10 session, we ended up watching it at 11:50am. A much longer delay than I'd anticipated. Also, there were so many people that it was a hard enough challenge catching a glimpse of the emperor himself. See if you can spot him in the photo.

Because the emperor's speech didn't finish till 12pm, I had no choice but to delay my sleep time, while looking for a good place to get some shut eye. It meant placing extra burden on my friends, who were kind enough to understand and to even rest with me for half an hour at the nearby park. But it was 1:40 before we found it, so I had my noon nap at 1:40pm. I brought an eyemask and earplugs out, which helped a lot. The quality wasn't too bad, but I don't think I actually fell asleep. My brain was more in a relaxed mode, while still awake. It at least served as rest for my brain and preparation for the next four hours of use. After the nap, at about 2:20, we had lunch, and I bought some yakisoba.

After that, we made our way to Shinjuku for some post-new year's shopping. I've heard many rumours of heavy discounts during this period, so we went to check it out for ourselves. Unfortunately that left me with no choice for my sleep than to find somewhere reasonably quiet probably in a building where we are doing the shopping. In the end we went to a café, and I tried to grab some shut eye while my friends patiently sat with me and passed the time having tea and cake. Because it took some time to get to the first shop we wanted to check out, and to get to the café there, we ended up sitting down and getting comfortable closer to 4:30om, which needless to say delayed my sleep once again. I'm pretty sure I didn't actually get to sleep once again. My brain felt rested, but I was far from getting much needed REM sleep. After my nap, we walked around heaps and did some serious clothes shopping. Didn't buy much though, expect for a 'fukubukuro

' (福袋 happy bag). These bags are the iconic sale item for this period of shopping, and it's the shop's way of getting rid of old stock quickly to make room for the new. They prepackage clothing sets, and by purchasing one of these prepackaged sets, you make heavy savings. The only catch is, the colour matchhup of the clothes varies from bag to bag, and you're not allowed to see inside before you purchase. I bought a five item clothes set containing a coat, two shirts, a jumper and a scarf, apparently costing over 40,000 yen originally, for 10,000 yen. The existence of bargains like this during this time is why this sale period is so lively.

After visiting numerous other stores, we decided to eat out for dinner before finishing up. My 12pm nap was spent at a park under a statue, my 4pm nap was spent hunched over a café table, and for my 8pm nap, we went inside the restaurant, I took a seat near the wall, and slept sitting up leaning against the wall with earplugs and eyemask for half an hour before eating my dinner. I'm afraid to say that for the third sleep in a row, I'm pretty sure I didn't actually fall asleep, and I had to settle for just resting my eyes and letting my brain simply relax for half an hour. What I found interesting though, was that during both my 4pm and 8pm naps, I was not looking at the time nor intentionally waiting for the half an hour to be up or anything, yet somehow knew when that half hour was up. I got up of my own accord after figuring I probably wasn't going to fall asleep and deciding I had enough of a break, and it turned out to be four minutes before my alarm went off. Similarly at 8pm, I decided to terminate my attempt to fall asleep 30 seconds before my 30 minute timer went off.

I ended up arriving home at about 11:30pm. I merely changed my clothes, got into bed, set my timer, and that wraps up my account of day 4 of experiment 2.0.

The greatest benefit I gained for my sleep experiment from today's outing is insight into how much of a social issue this sleep cycle presents itself to be. Once semester begins, and our timings for the day get fixed for us, I'd anticipate to have more regularity and better ability to stick to my sleep routine. But it's during holiday time, when there are no preset times to do any certain task, that makes it socially difficult to just quickly run off every four hours to take a nap, and especially so when you're out. I've always been the kind of person who finds it difficult to fall asleep anywhere except in a bed, and I have no better sleep quality than in my own bed back home. It looks like I'll either need to keep working on conditioning myself to sleep anywhere, or else this polyphasic sleep cycle regime will fall through each time we go out. Well, I'll be going out clothes shopping once again tomorrow, and to the movies the day after, and to Disneyland with family the day after that, so this will give me plenty of opportunity to conclusively establish whether I am able to adapt in such a way, or whether I really am incompatible with sleep conditions outside my own bed.

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 3

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 3*

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

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

Detailed comments

Today was comprised of big progress, and big mistakes, at the same time. Having said that, however, all of my sleeps today pointed toward one clear direction - as can be seen from my progress at-a-glance figures today, my attempts at adjusting to a polyphasic sleep cycle appear to be working! And as always, I learned valuable lessons from the mistakes I made - I just wonder whether this was a lesson where I needed to make a mistake in order to learn it.

I already recounted my 12am sleep in yesterday's sleep log, and published it before taking my scheduled 4am nap. As for the 4pm nap itself, I once again experienced REM sleep, and woke up feeling rested. The remainder of the night went well. I occupied my time by scanning all my paper documents into digital form and putting them in cloud storage. Boy was there a lot of paper processed today, as you can see in the photo below. In between naps, eating and other small things, I was digital filing until 3pm today. So in between I had my 8am and 12pm naps, which were both very pleasant and refreshing. As much as filing away half a kilo of paper feels.

One particular success worth mentioning today was my 12pm nap. I set my countdown timer for 35 minutes and lay down as usual, but this time, I woke up with 15 minutes on the clock still remaining. That meant I had only been asleep 20 minutes, but I felt rested and as good as I could be. This to me is huge progress. This is the third day since I began attempt two of my polyphasic sleep cycle experiment, which is the period I predicted I would suffer greatest from sleep deprivation, and yet I seem to be faring the best I've ever been in the ten or so days since the start of my first attempt. This makes some sense, because even though officially I've made a distinction between my first and second attempts due to failures in the execution of my experimental setup, in reality, I've been giving my body time to transition to the same polyphasic sleep cycle ever since the very first day, ten days ago. So in an unofficial sense, this sleep log entry becomes my day 10 reevaluation post. Although my official decision on whether to continue or not shall wait till the tenth day of my second attempt, here is a glimpse of how I view progress so far.

First, to finish off the day's sleep log. 8am was a good nap, 12pm was a better nap, but sadly, the rest of the day was downhill from there. I overslept my 4pm nap, because of another mistake I made. This time, my mistake was the product of laxness in the eating schedule.

I mentioned above already how I was digitalising my paper documents and filing them into cloud storage for a good part of the waking part of today, all the way till 3pm. It wasn't as if I didn't feel hungry during the filing process, but I waited for a bit, intending to eat right after I'd finished my digital filing. The issue was, as I mentioned earlier, I completed my digitalising just before 3pm, a mere one hour till my next nap. By that stage I was feeling hungry enough to start questioning whether I could last till after the nap without eating. I was already aware, through a prior experience, the dangers of oversleeping if I eat too much before sleeping, but eating too much vegetables, I was hoping that it wouldn't affect my sleep. I was really hungry o before my nap, I made stir fry, and I ate it along with the leftover Mapo tofu I made for last night's party. But ultimately, it did affect my ability to wake up. When I lay down, my stomach felt considerably heavier than normal. I think I slept straight through my 4:35 alarm, and kept sleeping with the alarm ringing in the background until I came to around 5pm. Sleeping soundly with the alarm continually ringing around me was a power I didn't know I possessed, but that's just how much influence my pre-nap meal seems to have had. Learning from this experience, I will never eat such a substantial meal so close to a naptime ever again.

But one point I find of particular interest concerning this experience, was how relatively surprisingly short I was asleep for. Eating too much and oversleeping is a problem I've suffered already, but the previous time, I slept for a continuous five hours straight . That indicates just how much sleep my body needed back at that time after eating. Of course, the constituents of the dishes is considerably different so the influence on my sleep should also vary, but oversleeping by a mere half an hour is not so bad. A more crucial factor is how my body perceived the necessity of sleep. It appears that the sleep duration that my body deems necessary is rapidly coming down, as it learns how the next nap is not too far away.

Maybe it was a flow-on consequence of having slept a full hour, but in my 8pm nap, I wasn't able to fall asleep within the 35 minute duration. I still felt fine after it though, until about 11pm when I felt the onset of tiredness. I stuck it out till 12am, though.

In terms of as an overall evaluation of progress, at this stage in time, the increase in frequency of REM sleep and reduction in time required to fall asleep as well as time spent asleep is promising. Something that has been surprising is how un-sleep deprived I've been going about daily things, since I expected a more difficult intermediate phase. I've learned a lot, and am still learning, about the impact of diet on sleep quality. There are many promising breakthroughs in progress, but I'm still experiencing inconsistency in sleep quality, sometimes sleeping 20 minutes and waking up refreshed, other times lying in bed for 35 minutes and still not being able to fall asleep. I think that calming down your thoughts before you go to bed is important for falling asleep quickly. Though at this stage in time, how I can guarantee that, especially if I need to sleep while not at home, I haven't quite figured out yet.

The biggest obstacle to the continuation of this sleep cycle in the long term, as far as I can see, will not be an intrinsic challenge, i.e. the sleep cycle itself is not only possible, but even comes with many advantages. The most difficult thing is living a four hourly sleep routine lifestyle in a monophasically sleeping society. If I continue this polyphasic sleep cycle for long enough, think there will come a day when I can no longer continue simply because of societal limitations in sleeping every 4 hours. For the foreseeable future though, the timetable for the semester appears to accommodate it well enough.

Polyphasic sleep cycle 2.0 - Day 2

Progress at-a-glance

End of day 2*

• 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

Happy New Year! The year has passed so quickly! No doubt a lot of things have happened during that time for all of us. For me, not in the least of my changes is coming to Japan and gaining the ability to communicate in another language. This time next year, who knows, maybe I can say I've gained a new sleeping pattern. At this rate, it looks promising.

Today was a good day in terms of my sleep experiment (and also overall, but I'll stick to the topic in this blog post). I experienced REM sleep in multiple naps, and during my waking hours, was able to go about regular everyday tasks. I undeniably suffered a degree of fog of brain which affected mental processes somewhat, but only slightly. The following is a more detailed breakdown of the day.

For my 12am nap, I set my countdown timer for 35 minutes as planned, and fell asleep within five minutes. I experienced REM sleep, and was woken up by my alarm during a dream. Being woken up halfway through a dream might not necessarily be the best thing, but it means I reached REM sleep even though it was only a 30 minute nap, which is a promising sign at this stage of the experiment. I trust that as long as I'm able to stick to my sleeping schedule, my body will gradually get faster and faster at entering REM sleep, meaning a more efficient sleep. I had half a cup of rice with some seaweed-based condiment to eat. I spent my waking hours trying to do some kanji study. It was considerably difficult staying conscious, frequently nodding off. In my opinion, that had less to do with the nature of the activity than it had to do with how tired I actually was.

My 4am nap also went well, falling asleep within five minutes and experiencing REM sleep. I spent my waking time watching anime. I am really behind on One Piece… I wonder if I'll ever fully catch up, even with all this extra time.

My 8am nap was my best sleep of the day by far. I woke up 4.5 minutes before my 35 minute countdown alarm went off! Though I don't remember any dreaming, I suspect that I already completed a phase of REM sleep before waking up (thus not remembering my dream). Whether I did or not, I felt really refreshed when I woke up, and stayed that way till my next nap.

At around 11am, I felt an onset of tiredness. I'd been yawning occasionally all day, but all of a sudden, this strange nagging feeling welled up inside me telling me it's time to sleep. In the end I waited till my scheduled 12pm before actually going to bed, but I found it interesting how my body is showing signs of altering its sleep signalling system. I attribute the sensation to that and not solely to sleep deprivation, because it wasn't an ongoing feeling, and it wasn't something I'd felt much before. Maybe it's related to what Steve Pavlina, a successful transitioner to the Uberman sleep cycle, felt when he delayed his naps. The difference is, he waited till day 120+ to confirm such a phenomenon happening. I'm on day 2. For me, it's mere speculation yet.

After my 12pm nap, I had a bowl of rice with stir fry, very similar to yesterday's lunch. That's because I hadn't gone shopping for new material yet. But it's healthy and tasty, so I didn't mind.

From about 2pm till my 4pm nap time, I went shopping for the new year's party this evening. This was the first time I'd travelled so far away from my sleeping quarters, and it told me two things. One, I was able to function normally even on the second day of the experimental period to perform everyday tasks like shopping despite my predictions. Two, (with some timekeeping reminders from a friend I went shopping with,) I was able to complete a moderate sized task and still return to my room for my nap in time.

After waking up from my 4pm nap, preparations for the new year's party went under way. Most of the time between 4:30pm and 10pm was spent on preparation, assisting a friend with making the new year's cake, cooking rice and a mapo tofu dish, and decorating the designated room for our celebrations. I was able to sneak in my 8pm nap on time as scheduled, and return to making the cake without losing my rhythm. The preparations for the party didn't require very high intensity physically nor mentally, and I was able to deliver what was expected of the for the tasks at hand without a problem in my state.

After 10pm though, the party began. There was so much food! It was such a challenge resisting myself from gorging on the delicious food made by all the other foreign students. But I had to, since my 12am nap was so close. In the end, I ate primarily vegetarian friendly dishes, and of moderate quantities. Everything was so tasty!

We celebrated the transition into the new year at midnight with a toast, after which I quickly ducked out for my nap. The nap itself was of reasonable quality, not the best I've had, but I fell asleep within ten minutes. When I woke up, I experienced slight fog of brain, but again it didn't affect my interaction with others too much. However, as the party went on, I did notice that my energy levels couldn't match the energy level of the party the entire time. At about 1:30am, I was feeling pretty out of it, but I stuck it through till a bit past 2am, by which time the majority had left, and we cleaned up and disbanded. It was good being able to celebrate New Year's with the other foreign students. We will be at our respective separate universities from next year, so it was a valuable opportunity being able to celebrate new year's together.

I've crossed over into my third day on my second attempt at a polyphasic sleep cycle, and it's getting near my 4am nap. Happy new year's, everyone! For the moment, it's over and out.