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 :)
