I wasn't sure what it was gonna be, but I knew that that word had to be in the title to be honest. The crash was yesterday. I slept from about 7:00am to 2:30pm or so. I don't want to say it was my fault, but in the end it was. But you know what, I don't really feel guilty about it. Do you know why that is? Because I choose not to. It's not very useful.
My wife and I are at a friends house (that is in MUCH better shape than ours right now :) ) taking care of her two teenagers for the weekend. I was told they had activities in the morning, and I layed down thinking I would be woken up to be in tow with them for the day. Well, no one hitched me up. It was supposed to be another 90 minute ultradian sleep, but it turned out to be 8 hour circadian. I know I woke up sometime around noon, but I don't remember thinking too much about going back to sleep.
Friday was a mess too, but I wouldn't call it a crash. I layed down at about 9:00am. But then all the car dealerships that I had contacted in days before and a few other random calls rang my phone or the house phone, and I fib not, almost 1 every fifteen or twenty minutes seemingly on the minute. This went on until noon! I kept either explaining things or making notes, making a new attempt at a full REM sleep cycle after each. It was rediculous, not to mention very taxing after being interupted so many times. It finally stopped sometime about noon, and I got a full ultradian sleep in after that. I do think that all the short naps combined with a solid block in the end was significant in that I didn't feel sleepy again all night until the crash yesterday morning.
I find myself surfing alot, but not reading much. I'm watching lots of TV and Youtube, and sifting through dozens of car dealership and car listing sites. I've already brought one sales manager to visible annoyance over my knowledge of the current market. But I think I was too tired and inconsiderate with him, or had not developed propper rapport, to get down to a good deal. Actually, although he was a smart saleman, I didn't feel the guy had much of a depth of character. I tend to be a little judgemental that way when I don't need to be. My wife who is even less tollerant than I am wasn't too concerned. The funny thing is that this salesmanager had to go to a supervisor to come down any amount at all.
I hate car salesmen.
Perhaps that is a problem.
Ok, back to abnormal. 16 hours or so and counting. We'll be back home by noon. I'll need to lay down about then. Since this week should be clear of social or other outside activities other than with my wife I should be able to get a solid bite on the polyphasic habit. These past two days, being at someone elses house with strangers definitely demonstrated to me that you have to get a good hold on the schedule and get those naps in at the right times.
Know what else is notable? Sleeping in like that doesn't change the end result. I don't necessarily feel all that much better after. It feels good to sleep, but it doesn't change the waking hours. And if my sleep is messed up I don't feel quite normal in the waking hours. My past experience tells me that its not necessarily the amount of sleep that I get, but if I get it in a pattern that I can depend on. This kind of goes back to the last post, about habits and rituals. I believe sleep patterns are kind of a programmed thing, and as long as you follow some rules of the underlaying patterns too, you can program in any pattern. But the key may be that the pattern needs to be recursive, meaning one that loops, or at least have variations over the same time spans.
Thanks for the encouragement Paul. Your video debut was a good start, especially the nice spray in the face, which I felt too. Thanks :).
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Goals
Hmnnn. I haven't even read Pauls latest post about goals. It just made me think too much, which in my current state of mind is not very much at all.
But anyways.
I'll read what he has to say soon, but I went over and watched some of the uberman vlogger videos. There is so much [guilt] over there. I see these sleep goals being set, and every once in a while a little stumble, and I get the sense that there are these major feelings of guilt and disappointment, particularly with topping345. If it is not guilt, there is some useless feeling there if it is a bad one.
About goals. I think that is what is kind of missing in this. I have, as it appears to me others do, put off some of the goals that I have in order to be out of my mind sleepy and not cause any damage to anything.
I think what I am trying to say in such a fragmented way is that another element that might help with these schedules is to find ways to cause minor triumphs throughout the "day". Instead of just kicking oneself down, and recording so many failed attempts, or deciding to do something that may fail, I would rather take things a piece at a time measuredly, in chunks small enough to accomplish something and yet just substantantial enough to feel like something was really done. Like cleaning up the dorm room. Or studying one chapter in a text. Do something every waking period that you can finish and end on an accomplishment.
Some of the hardest working people I've ever known were farmers. They would work the entire day, dawn to dusk, and yet grumble about it very little. In fact they, as I do, saw it as a very great life. I think what was key to that is that they had their chores that had to completed each and every single day and they did them with such regularity it was as natural as simply walking along for them, yet they accomplished something, they sustained themselves with their own hands and sweat.
I think some of what is happening here when we decide to do the uberman is some of us just hang up everything and put everything on hold. And that means everything. The regular day to day rutines that we operate in between night and night gets broken, literally smashed into big unidentifieable chunks. And so we suffer without our rituals.
I think as a pre-requisite to starting the uberman, and it has been said before, but one *must* figure out just what it is that one is going to do while they are awake. What is it they are going to do with all this time. And even just as important what is it that they are going to do while they are adjusting to the new time reframe.
And then go even farther and describe them as routines. I'll wake up and do this... and that leads to this. Steve Pavlina talks about this in how to fall asleep and wake up early. He describes that he gets up and moves directly in to accomplishing something.
Don't just let the program be "notice it is nap time, lay down, take nap, hear alarm, wake up." We probably need 4x the "daily" activity as we do the night activity in a constant routine. If we just end with wake up...and don't put that next step in there, a next section of rail, our minds will find an "unplanned" next step.
And we need to reward ourselves, making it fit in to the routine that we finish something, accomplish some small thing, even if it is easy enough to be as automatic as walking, or milking the cows is to the farmer.
Don't leave a wild expanse of time for unexpected behaviors to grow in.
Ok, time for some sleep. I'll update on how I'm doing, which is OK, probably next waking, as that seems to be my routine to at least update each waking (I've been awake for 16 hours now, but only had a couple of hours of very broken sleep before that).
But anyways.
I'll read what he has to say soon, but I went over and watched some of the uberman vlogger videos. There is so much [guilt] over there. I see these sleep goals being set, and every once in a while a little stumble, and I get the sense that there are these major feelings of guilt and disappointment, particularly with topping345. If it is not guilt, there is some useless feeling there if it is a bad one.
About goals. I think that is what is kind of missing in this. I have, as it appears to me others do, put off some of the goals that I have in order to be out of my mind sleepy and not cause any damage to anything.
I think what I am trying to say in such a fragmented way is that another element that might help with these schedules is to find ways to cause minor triumphs throughout the "day". Instead of just kicking oneself down, and recording so many failed attempts, or deciding to do something that may fail, I would rather take things a piece at a time measuredly, in chunks small enough to accomplish something and yet just substantantial enough to feel like something was really done. Like cleaning up the dorm room. Or studying one chapter in a text. Do something every waking period that you can finish and end on an accomplishment.
Some of the hardest working people I've ever known were farmers. They would work the entire day, dawn to dusk, and yet grumble about it very little. In fact they, as I do, saw it as a very great life. I think what was key to that is that they had their chores that had to completed each and every single day and they did them with such regularity it was as natural as simply walking along for them, yet they accomplished something, they sustained themselves with their own hands and sweat.
I think some of what is happening here when we decide to do the uberman is some of us just hang up everything and put everything on hold. And that means everything. The regular day to day rutines that we operate in between night and night gets broken, literally smashed into big unidentifieable chunks. And so we suffer without our rituals.
I think as a pre-requisite to starting the uberman, and it has been said before, but one *must* figure out just what it is that one is going to do while they are awake. What is it they are going to do with all this time. And even just as important what is it that they are going to do while they are adjusting to the new time reframe.
And then go even farther and describe them as routines. I'll wake up and do this... and that leads to this. Steve Pavlina talks about this in how to fall asleep and wake up early. He describes that he gets up and moves directly in to accomplishing something.
Don't just let the program be "notice it is nap time, lay down, take nap, hear alarm, wake up." We probably need 4x the "daily" activity as we do the night activity in a constant routine. If we just end with wake up...and don't put that next step in there, a next section of rail, our minds will find an "unplanned" next step.
And we need to reward ourselves, making it fit in to the routine that we finish something, accomplish some small thing, even if it is easy enough to be as automatic as walking, or milking the cows is to the farmer.
Don't leave a wild expanse of time for unexpected behaviors to grow in.
Ok, time for some sleep. I'll update on how I'm doing, which is OK, probably next waking, as that seems to be my routine to at least update each waking (I've been awake for 16 hours now, but only had a couple of hours of very broken sleep before that).
Friday, April 20, 2007
I Soo Wanna Be Lazy
Went to sleep at 5:00am or a little before. Or layed down anyways. I was feeling pretty tired so I did doze, but not continuously. It was the best so far though. I woke up at 5:35am or whenever my wifes alarm goes off. Then there are the three snooze buttons we dozed through. She took her shower. I took mine earlier, so I dozed. Then I had to get up. I did OK. I drove her in to work today (I would not have done this had I not felt safe). Bought the Doritos. Mission accomplished.
I have much to do today, and I gotta tell ya, I don't feel like being very productive. Since being back home about 1/2 an hour, I find that gravity has increased about 30%, and it's wearing down on me. My mind wanders easily.
Let's see. Must get car cleaned up. Must.. sleep..No!! Must scan car sites for new entries... must sl..!! I don't want to take another aspirin cause I don't want to get hooked. So I'm gonna have to tough it out. I know from my experience that this time right now when I am on my nocturnal schedule as I have been it is the most difficult time for me to stay awake. Soooo, what can I do? Becca wants the landry done. Thats a good place to start. Car wash doesn't open til' 9 anyways.
Part of me wonders if the diaries and claims of "the other side' of the break in period is just a hoax. It is very much too early to tell right now, but it is a nasty joke if it doesn't exist. If all there is is sleep depravation and pain. Ha ... ha. But based on my own experience with lack of sleep over several days I have some faith. No reason to quit now anyways.
Been thinking lots of thoughts, about the nature of REM, about habits and rituals, other things. But I'll save that. I am not even sure I am writing all that well. Sometimes I notice if I write like I talk that it doesn't look all that well, as there is no way to accent the words that I do in writing. Some sentences read both choppy and kind of runon sentencish.
I guess I will stare at the wall for a little bit. I honestly feel like doing that right now. Next sleep may be sooner than later.
I have much to do today, and I gotta tell ya, I don't feel like being very productive. Since being back home about 1/2 an hour, I find that gravity has increased about 30%, and it's wearing down on me. My mind wanders easily.
Let's see. Must get car cleaned up. Must.. sleep..No!! Must scan car sites for new entries... must sl..!! I don't want to take another aspirin cause I don't want to get hooked. So I'm gonna have to tough it out. I know from my experience that this time right now when I am on my nocturnal schedule as I have been it is the most difficult time for me to stay awake. Soooo, what can I do? Becca wants the landry done. Thats a good place to start. Car wash doesn't open til' 9 anyways.
Part of me wonders if the diaries and claims of "the other side' of the break in period is just a hoax. It is very much too early to tell right now, but it is a nasty joke if it doesn't exist. If all there is is sleep depravation and pain. Ha ... ha. But based on my own experience with lack of sleep over several days I have some faith. No reason to quit now anyways.
Been thinking lots of thoughts, about the nature of REM, about habits and rituals, other things. But I'll save that. I am not even sure I am writing all that well. Sometimes I notice if I write like I talk that it doesn't look all that well, as there is no way to accent the words that I do in writing. Some sentences read both choppy and kind of runon sentencish.
I guess I will stare at the wall for a little bit. I honestly feel like doing that right now. Next sleep may be sooner than later.
Day 3 - I Think
My 3:00am went well. I actually took it at about 2:30am.
I have been waiting til I am sure I am on my way to sleep before hitting the 25 minute timer. That way I make sure I get some sleep. I don't think it is necessary to cause total depravation to compress the sleep. I think if I just keep practicing the pattern several times a day it will start to become efficient. Sure, being more tired will help it come on sooner and sooner, but I think I'll give myself a chance to get at least a little sleep each session. This time it took about 20 - 25 minutes to really feel like I would sleep. I didn't finish the 25 minute time. I did sleep, but not deeply, and woke up about 5 minutes before. I figure that with the little slip offs before I ran the timer was probably enough. So total down time was about 40 minutes.
It's 4:00am, and I feel tired. For me tired is a feeling of tightness in my head, like I've dived underwater 20 feet and I feel the pressure on my head and sometimes my chest. I've never gone diving however.
Did I mention I have the munchies? I have a container of a bean dip from Lupe Tortillas that I am almost ready to go out and buy a bag of Doritos for. Sounds good for breakfast doesn't it? Only I am so tired I probably should not get near a vehicle. I may consider doing a ultradian cycle sleep this time because I do have to use a car this morning.
I plan to do another at around 5:00am.
I have been waiting til I am sure I am on my way to sleep before hitting the 25 minute timer. That way I make sure I get some sleep. I don't think it is necessary to cause total depravation to compress the sleep. I think if I just keep practicing the pattern several times a day it will start to become efficient. Sure, being more tired will help it come on sooner and sooner, but I think I'll give myself a chance to get at least a little sleep each session. This time it took about 20 - 25 minutes to really feel like I would sleep. I didn't finish the 25 minute time. I did sleep, but not deeply, and woke up about 5 minutes before. I figure that with the little slip offs before I ran the timer was probably enough. So total down time was about 40 minutes.
It's 4:00am, and I feel tired. For me tired is a feeling of tightness in my head, like I've dived underwater 20 feet and I feel the pressure on my head and sometimes my chest. I've never gone diving however.
Did I mention I have the munchies? I have a container of a bean dip from Lupe Tortillas that I am almost ready to go out and buy a bag of Doritos for. Sounds good for breakfast doesn't it? Only I am so tired I probably should not get near a vehicle. I may consider doing a ultradian cycle sleep this time because I do have to use a car this morning.
I plan to do another at around 5:00am.
Aspirin!!!
I almost forgot! One of my secrets for handling fatigue has been taking simple aspirin. Usually what causes my misery is some kind of feeling which intensifies to become somewhat "painful". I can feel extremely tired and drowsy, and that doesn't hurt much. But it is the effort to keep going that can cause a wide variety of extremely uncomfortable feelings. A second source is just laying down trying to sleep. Sometimes I cannot find the right position, or little things bug me, or I can't relax. Aspirin has helped me in the past.
I do not use drugs unless I absolutely need them. In this experiment every once in a while I will reach an extreme, and that is where I'll take a couple bayer, or walmart, or walgreens, aspirin tablets. Lack of sleep is very bad for the heart, 2 afternoon naps a week can reduce risk by as much as 50%, and aspirin helps the heart (by thinning the blood and reducing clotting) so there must be a connection between what aspirin does and what sleep does.
So I just took 2 about 1/2 an hour ago, and I now feel a surge, more than a little one, in my energy. I will be careful not to get hooked on them, and I'll try to figure out how it actually affects my sleep, which I need to do now according to the time. There may be some research out there on this already.
Later and later.
I do not use drugs unless I absolutely need them. In this experiment every once in a while I will reach an extreme, and that is where I'll take a couple bayer, or walmart, or walgreens, aspirin tablets. Lack of sleep is very bad for the heart, 2 afternoon naps a week can reduce risk by as much as 50%, and aspirin helps the heart (by thinning the blood and reducing clotting) so there must be a connection between what aspirin does and what sleep does.
So I just took 2 about 1/2 an hour ago, and I now feel a surge, more than a little one, in my energy. I will be careful not to get hooked on them, and I'll try to figure out how it actually affects my sleep, which I need to do now according to the time. There may be some research out there on this already.
Later and later.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
So Far So Good
As you can tell from the last post, I was in a little bit of a low spot there. I had just woken up from the only nap since waking up from a short crash at 4:00pm (started at 12:30pm). The "crash", which I have absolutely no guilt for, and some of you trying this should learn from, was good for me. It ended up I was having a very long afternoon/evening, and I wasn't going to have a chance for a nap until about 10:30pm.
I am sure that my crash happened because I couldn't fall asleep again at another attempt at sleep at 8:00am. It was in the car, with an eye pillow and earplugs, but there was just no sleeping for some reason. I was not dangerously tired to where I couldn't drive, so I drove home. Then I was reading things on the web and looking for other cars for sale, and time flew to afternoon. I couldn't find something or other to help me wake up, and I was at that time needing sleep, so I decided to just let myself take a snooze for one or two ultradian cycles. I woke up at 4:00. So thats 3 1/2 hours. And I was feeling very groggy, probably because of that extra 1/2 hour (2 normal common ultradian cycles total 3 hours, or 2 x 90 minutes).
I felt fine for most of the night. But at about 10:45pm, when my wife was in bed too, but I was trying to stay up to finish watching "The Colbert Report", I just decided I couldn't wait until 11:00pm.
The sleep went pretty well. I woke up feeling OK, but I started to dip again just about the time I was beginning to nag myself to post here about where I disappeared to all day. But I made the post :).
So it's 1:08am here now. I don't care to add up where I am for sleep to wake ratio, or total the hours. I am very tired. But I've been here before and it is very familiar. Thats kinda sad, but good too. I don't plan to do much tonight other than try to find something interesting on TV. I don't have anything heavy tomorrow, although I do need to clean the car really well. I was supposed to do that yesterday when I was crashing.
Like Paul (www.paul-bradley.com) I am using Sleep Tracker (I'll make a link later, but it is at placebos site). It's just fine. I just don't want to input the last 18 hours just this minute.
I am also noticing fovial vision. My peripheral vision darkens. At the same time I find it easier to focus my eyes, but that is about all that I see. I think the brain does shut out extra data it doesn't need when pushed "beyond fatigue". I am looking forward to seeing what it is like to transition from this to a more awake state once established in a polyphasic sleep pattern. I have had terrible sleeping habits so it may be quite a difference if I "wake up" as much as others report. It's also very nice to know I'm not going to an empty room, so to speak.
One thing I noticed on the first attempt earlier this week, after having a few naps, is that the naps seem much longer than they actually are. In fact, when I did crash the first 6 or 8 hours or however long it was It seemed as if I had been in bed sleeping on and off the entire day, like 16 hours. A deeply distorted sense of time is definitely a product of this experiment.
Paul writes of peripheral vision being much more acute, and he and others have written of chatter in ones head, what I would call peripheral internalizations, quieting down too. I suspect the data from the peripheral vision has a clearer neural pathway to get in to conciousness if all the chatter is cleared.
Tonight I had a small piece of steak, 3 beef ribs, and some chili. mmmMMMEATT!! As a former atkins experimenter, having lost 17lbs in 3 1/2 weeks, I do have a tendency to blame processed carbohydrates for most of our bodies maladjustments. I am not on Atkins now, as about an hour ago I had 1/2 a cantelope. This being awake all the time makes me hungrier. I wonder if some of the same changes in the paragraphs above can be experienced by smoking pot?
What is on the TV behind me right now is boring me. Time to give it some more attention, particularly the tuner.
I am sure that my crash happened because I couldn't fall asleep again at another attempt at sleep at 8:00am. It was in the car, with an eye pillow and earplugs, but there was just no sleeping for some reason. I was not dangerously tired to where I couldn't drive, so I drove home. Then I was reading things on the web and looking for other cars for sale, and time flew to afternoon. I couldn't find something or other to help me wake up, and I was at that time needing sleep, so I decided to just let myself take a snooze for one or two ultradian cycles. I woke up at 4:00. So thats 3 1/2 hours. And I was feeling very groggy, probably because of that extra 1/2 hour (2 normal common ultradian cycles total 3 hours, or 2 x 90 minutes).
I felt fine for most of the night. But at about 10:45pm, when my wife was in bed too, but I was trying to stay up to finish watching "The Colbert Report", I just decided I couldn't wait until 11:00pm.
The sleep went pretty well. I woke up feeling OK, but I started to dip again just about the time I was beginning to nag myself to post here about where I disappeared to all day. But I made the post :).
So it's 1:08am here now. I don't care to add up where I am for sleep to wake ratio, or total the hours. I am very tired. But I've been here before and it is very familiar. Thats kinda sad, but good too. I don't plan to do much tonight other than try to find something interesting on TV. I don't have anything heavy tomorrow, although I do need to clean the car really well. I was supposed to do that yesterday when I was crashing.
Like Paul (www.paul-bradley.com) I am using Sleep Tracker (I'll make a link later, but it is at placebos site). It's just fine. I just don't want to input the last 18 hours just this minute.
I am also noticing fovial vision. My peripheral vision darkens. At the same time I find it easier to focus my eyes, but that is about all that I see. I think the brain does shut out extra data it doesn't need when pushed "beyond fatigue". I am looking forward to seeing what it is like to transition from this to a more awake state once established in a polyphasic sleep pattern. I have had terrible sleeping habits so it may be quite a difference if I "wake up" as much as others report. It's also very nice to know I'm not going to an empty room, so to speak.
One thing I noticed on the first attempt earlier this week, after having a few naps, is that the naps seem much longer than they actually are. In fact, when I did crash the first 6 or 8 hours or however long it was It seemed as if I had been in bed sleeping on and off the entire day, like 16 hours. A deeply distorted sense of time is definitely a product of this experiment.
Paul writes of peripheral vision being much more acute, and he and others have written of chatter in ones head, what I would call peripheral internalizations, quieting down too. I suspect the data from the peripheral vision has a clearer neural pathway to get in to conciousness if all the chatter is cleared.
Tonight I had a small piece of steak, 3 beef ribs, and some chili. mmmMMMEATT!! As a former atkins experimenter, having lost 17lbs in 3 1/2 weeks, I do have a tendency to blame processed carbohydrates for most of our bodies maladjustments. I am not on Atkins now, as about an hour ago I had 1/2 a cantelope. This being awake all the time makes me hungrier. I wonder if some of the same changes in the paragraphs above can be experienced by smoking pot?
What is on the TV behind me right now is boring me. Time to give it some more attention, particularly the tuner.
Sigh
Well. I didn't really sleep. I never got past just sort of laying there. And I am tired. Not ubertired, but I feel like I could sleep. My dog, a 2y.o. black cocker spaniel, decided to interrupt early on and lay on my stomach while I was on my back. The rest of the time was giving Tuxedo (he has a white breast and white "cuffs") attention time.
I feel OK now. Today is going to be a somewhat busy day. I have to clean the car some time. Probably the dogs too (the other dog Maggie is a soft coated wheaten terrier). My wife is needing a car and I found one on autotrader.com that is an *excellent* deal for her. This is a major purchase so I want it to go right. We are not trading in our old car. I need it. But I don't want us to look like slobs when we go to look at someone elses car, as it is a private seller. It's a very nice car.
So today I am going to try a 3 hour schedule. As I've said before, I am not a believer in rigid systems to replace natural ones. I think that is how everyone got stuck on the monophasic [MP] schedule to begin with. Some uppity ruler set some rule that says everyone should go to sleep exactly at this time and wake up exactly at that time. Now, I have relatives that are dairy farmers and I am aware that some things must be done during the day, many things that will fill all the daylight hours in fact. So some of this MP stuff probably came around with domestication of aminals or farming. So I don't really blame anyone to begin with. But society sure leads us to believe alot of things are good for us that aren't nowadays, doesn't it?
I am just realizing this is actually my first blog. After being one of the first perhaps 10000 people to have a web site on the internet (maybe 2000) I am probably one of the last to publish a blog. Heh, right now I don't even have a web site functioning. Another thing to do with my time.
I feel OK now. Today is going to be a somewhat busy day. I have to clean the car some time. Probably the dogs too (the other dog Maggie is a soft coated wheaten terrier). My wife is needing a car and I found one on autotrader.com that is an *excellent* deal for her. This is a major purchase so I want it to go right. We are not trading in our old car. I need it. But I don't want us to look like slobs when we go to look at someone elses car, as it is a private seller. It's a very nice car.
So today I am going to try a 3 hour schedule. As I've said before, I am not a believer in rigid systems to replace natural ones. I think that is how everyone got stuck on the monophasic [MP] schedule to begin with. Some uppity ruler set some rule that says everyone should go to sleep exactly at this time and wake up exactly at that time. Now, I have relatives that are dairy farmers and I am aware that some things must be done during the day, many things that will fill all the daylight hours in fact. So some of this MP stuff probably came around with domestication of aminals or farming. So I don't really blame anyone to begin with. But society sure leads us to believe alot of things are good for us that aren't nowadays, doesn't it?
I am just realizing this is actually my first blog. After being one of the first perhaps 10000 people to have a web site on the internet (maybe 2000) I am probably one of the last to publish a blog. Heh, right now I don't even have a web site functioning. Another thing to do with my time.
Did I mention I hate sleep?
I skipped the 3:00am sleep. That means I missed the "night" sleep, as I start my days after the 3:00am sleep. All the sudden I feel tired. I resent sleep for some reason. This is probably how I often got into the catnap mode I mentioned before. I just would rather do without it. I loathe it (who said that before?)
I LOVE our bed. It is uber-comfortable. It's only a queen and it's time for a new one, but with that bed pillow and the 450 count sheets and down duvey (sp?) and comforter and over a dozen pillows... zzzzZZZZZzz..
OK, I need to get some shut eye before my wife's alarm goes off. This will be reset to be s1. Heh.
I LOVE our bed. It is uber-comfortable. It's only a queen and it's time for a new one, but with that bed pillow and the 450 count sheets and down duvey (sp?) and comforter and over a dozen pillows... zzzzZZZZZzz..
OK, I need to get some shut eye before my wife's alarm goes off. This will be reset to be s1. Heh.
Groundhog Day, Day 1 - Opus Returns.
OK. That didn't go so well. It was Monday morning. My wife went off to work and I was feeling absolutely miserable. I didn't want to be awake anymore and it wasn't because of being tired. The cold grew into something horrible. I slept from 7:00am to after 4:00pm. I felt even worse when I got up. One of the worst colds I've had in many years. I was even afraid of catching pneumonia, which I've had a few times before. My wife has said she hasn't seen me that sick, that I am not normally that affected when I'm sick. She hasn't seen me with pneumonia.
So thats it. Polyphasic sleep is NOT healthy for you. I tried it for one night and it almost killed me! Kids, just accept the night and the sleep that comes with it and be on with it.
Hehe.
OK. So I had 3 nights (days actually) of complete monophasic sleep cycles. Today I slept til 3:00pm or so. That is better than what I had the first time I started actually, cause the few days before we're short on sleep.
It's now 3:40am. I am ready for a nap. I'm going to get my nap stuff together, the timer set, the eye pillow, the ear plugs, the ear speaker (am I so tired I can't remember what that is called?) so I don't wake up anyone else in the house. I may crawl back in bed for the time the way I was before. I am a believer that work should not be taken into the bedroom, and one should always be awake and alert at one's work place. This chair is pretty comfy though if I recline it... and put my feet up on this little foot ladder... hmmnnn.
So here I go again. I see that I am not the only lunatic going about this now. You can find them at http://paul-bradley.com/blog/ and http://www.placebo.serv.co.za/. I found them at http://www.placebo.serv.co.za/. Thanks for checking in Paul. I'll keep in touch. Hmmnn, I see he's just made an update. Let see...
So thats it. Polyphasic sleep is NOT healthy for you. I tried it for one night and it almost killed me! Kids, just accept the night and the sleep that comes with it and be on with it.
Hehe.
OK. So I had 3 nights (days actually) of complete monophasic sleep cycles. Today I slept til 3:00pm or so. That is better than what I had the first time I started actually, cause the few days before we're short on sleep.
It's now 3:40am. I am ready for a nap. I'm going to get my nap stuff together, the timer set, the eye pillow, the ear plugs, the ear speaker (am I so tired I can't remember what that is called?) so I don't wake up anyone else in the house. I may crawl back in bed for the time the way I was before. I am a believer that work should not be taken into the bedroom, and one should always be awake and alert at one's work place. This chair is pretty comfy though if I recline it... and put my feet up on this little foot ladder... hmmnnn.
So here I go again. I see that I am not the only lunatic going about this now. You can find them at http://paul-bradley.com/blog/ and http://www.placebo.serv.co.za/. I found them at http://www.placebo.serv.co.za/. Thanks for checking in Paul. I'll keep in touch. Hmmnn, I see he's just made an update. Let see...
Monday, April 16, 2007
Day 1 - The Real Day 1 - Long Sleep Sessions are Bad
I got into the overnight, 3:00am, sleep session a little late at about 3:20am. It took me a while to get comfortable, and I didn't start my timer until about 15 minutes later. And then in the middle I woke up a little bit, so I stopped the timer, and started it again when I felt I was going back to sleep. I don't think I should have done that. I feel now like I went a little bit into that delta sleep that everyone says to avoid. I forget what they call it. I just spent 20 minutes trying to figure that out, and now it is time for another nap (if I so choose, which I do).
The cold is probably distorting my feelings from normal. I was already off of a normal sleeping schedule, and had a little zombie in me when I started. I may not feel normal for a while.
I am going to wait 'til around 5:15 am for my next sleep.
The cold is probably distorting my feelings from normal. I was already off of a normal sleeping schedule, and had a little zombie in me when I started. I may not feel normal for a while.
I am going to wait 'til around 5:15 am for my next sleep.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Snot Pong
Have I mentioned I have a cold? About a week ago my wife was sniffling and complaining of a tickle in the back of her throat. Since she is the one that works out of the house and I hadn't felt the same yet, as usual I could depend on those same symptoms showing up in me almost a week later.
So this last sleep, the 2nd sleep, or s2, didn't go so well. I was tired already again, and as my wife had layed down for the night I decided to stay with her. So it's again early, at about 1:00am, for this sleep. But over just the last 2 hours my cold has intensified, or at least just the amount of mucus in my nose. So I lay on my right side, as I am usually a side sleeper ("achoo!"), and the mucus flows to my right nostril clogging it up, but leaving the left clear.
On the first sleep I was energetic enough to turn over to the left, effectively over a few minutes draining the mucus to the left nostril. The trick is to suck most of it back before it gets to the left nostril. You may think that is disgusting, but it kept both nostrils clear for the duration of the sleep, and allowed me to "focus" effectively on getting to dreamy thoughts.
But this time I really wanted to sleep, so I stayed on my right side. Then the pressure increased in the right, but this uberman stuff is about being tough right? So I stay, even though I'm bouncing around a little bit I think because my uncomfortable threshold had been topped. I didn't focus very well, and so I didn't get much sleep this time. I had even restarted the 25 minute timer again after I did feel drowsy when it was at 5 minutes. But there seems to be a window of opportunity to this thing, like being in the bottom of the 90 minute cycle, and I started to feel more active again. I got up before the second timer setting, probably only totalling about 35 minutes at least altogether.
So while I'm not drop over tired after wasting the last sleep, I will be glad to get around to 3:00pm sleep.
I am going to find a better timer program. I would like to find one that starts the timer on a button press. I think it is a good idea, at least at this beginner stage, not to start the 25 minutes until it is clear I am on my way to sleep. But then again there appears to be a window. I'll be experimenting.
I am also going to start using an eye pillow to anchor the sleep times down to it. My wife looked up eye pillows for me because my current one is getting kinda stretchy and found one that can be plugged into an i-pod. That would be great to plug into my PPC phone so I don't wake her up. It was a Brookstone.
So this last sleep, the 2nd sleep, or s2, didn't go so well. I was tired already again, and as my wife had layed down for the night I decided to stay with her. So it's again early, at about 1:00am, for this sleep. But over just the last 2 hours my cold has intensified, or at least just the amount of mucus in my nose. So I lay on my right side, as I am usually a side sleeper ("achoo!"), and the mucus flows to my right nostril clogging it up, but leaving the left clear.
On the first sleep I was energetic enough to turn over to the left, effectively over a few minutes draining the mucus to the left nostril. The trick is to suck most of it back before it gets to the left nostril. You may think that is disgusting, but it kept both nostrils clear for the duration of the sleep, and allowed me to "focus" effectively on getting to dreamy thoughts.
But this time I really wanted to sleep, so I stayed on my right side. Then the pressure increased in the right, but this uberman stuff is about being tough right? So I stay, even though I'm bouncing around a little bit I think because my uncomfortable threshold had been topped. I didn't focus very well, and so I didn't get much sleep this time. I had even restarted the 25 minute timer again after I did feel drowsy when it was at 5 minutes. But there seems to be a window of opportunity to this thing, like being in the bottom of the 90 minute cycle, and I started to feel more active again. I got up before the second timer setting, probably only totalling about 35 minutes at least altogether.
So while I'm not drop over tired after wasting the last sleep, I will be glad to get around to 3:00pm sleep.
I am going to find a better timer program. I would like to find one that starts the timer on a button press. I think it is a good idea, at least at this beginner stage, not to start the 25 minutes until it is clear I am on my way to sleep. But then again there appears to be a window. I'll be experimenting.
I am also going to start using an eye pillow to anchor the sleep times down to it. My wife looked up eye pillows for me because my current one is getting kinda stretchy and found one that can be plugged into an i-pod. That would be great to plug into my PPC phone so I don't wake her up. It was a Brookstone.
So When is a Day?
I've decided that 3:00am is day send and start for me. That will be the first set sleep time that I have as a must do. All of the others at this time I am going to wing it, as I've said, for every 90 minutes depending on how I feel.
At about 11:30pm I decided that I needed to sleep. It wasn't as if I'd had a long day already; I'd only been awake since 2:30pm or so. I just felt tired. And that is the plan. It wasn't even midnight yet. At 10:30pm my wife and I were at Denny's sharing a shake and talking, so I couldn't get one in then. Notice I've already ignored my 90 minute rule and didn't wait until 12:00am. That's because those are only suggested times. If I feel tired, I sleep. That is what I've done in the past without ever knowing about polyphasic sleep, and I figure if I am not brutal with the rules I won't experience all the horrible sleep depravation I've seen others have written about. I don't like pain.
This last sleep, the first one on this journey, I set a countdown timer program on my PPC phone to go off at 25 minutes. This is what many others have written seems to give enough time for a REM session to complete without going into overtime.
I dreamed a little bit. Does that count as REM? I found myself dozing off after about 3 or so minutes while I was trying to focus on that strange other world that shows up when I sleep. My focus was in it, and then it sort of took off on it's own, and I started dreaming, I think. That was nice and easy. But I only slept for about 3 minutes. I lazily and carelessly refocussed and managed to let go again to the dream controller or whatever. I managed to do this about 4 times, and then felt somewhat refreshed, but not completely. Then the alarm rang.
(Note to self: set a different alarm tone that isn't just a ding of a bell. If I'm really tired that may not work at all.)
Right now I feel OK, but I know that I will need sleep again. I don't know why I feel the need for sleep already. Maybe because it's night time, but my sleep schedule has been nocturnal all week. Maybe it is my slow time, as if it was 3:00pm or so, time for a nap. For whatever reason one sleep didn't feel enough, so I'll be down again soon, maybe at 1:30pm, but for sure by 3:00, which is mandatory lights out, then end of the day for me.
At about 11:30pm I decided that I needed to sleep. It wasn't as if I'd had a long day already; I'd only been awake since 2:30pm or so. I just felt tired. And that is the plan. It wasn't even midnight yet. At 10:30pm my wife and I were at Denny's sharing a shake and talking, so I couldn't get one in then. Notice I've already ignored my 90 minute rule and didn't wait until 12:00am. That's because those are only suggested times. If I feel tired, I sleep. That is what I've done in the past without ever knowing about polyphasic sleep, and I figure if I am not brutal with the rules I won't experience all the horrible sleep depravation I've seen others have written about. I don't like pain.
This last sleep, the first one on this journey, I set a countdown timer program on my PPC phone to go off at 25 minutes. This is what many others have written seems to give enough time for a REM session to complete without going into overtime.
I dreamed a little bit. Does that count as REM? I found myself dozing off after about 3 or so minutes while I was trying to focus on that strange other world that shows up when I sleep. My focus was in it, and then it sort of took off on it's own, and I started dreaming, I think. That was nice and easy. But I only slept for about 3 minutes. I lazily and carelessly refocussed and managed to let go again to the dream controller or whatever. I managed to do this about 4 times, and then felt somewhat refreshed, but not completely. Then the alarm rang.
(Note to self: set a different alarm tone that isn't just a ding of a bell. If I'm really tired that may not work at all.)
Right now I feel OK, but I know that I will need sleep again. I don't know why I feel the need for sleep already. Maybe because it's night time, but my sleep schedule has been nocturnal all week. Maybe it is my slow time, as if it was 3:00pm or so, time for a nap. For whatever reason one sleep didn't feel enough, so I'll be down again soon, maybe at 1:30pm, but for sure by 3:00, which is mandatory lights out, then end of the day for me.
Day 1
Or should I call it day 0?
This blog is about a polyphasic sleep experiment. I was recently reading "Destructive Emotions" which is about science and buddhist monks discussing ways to help people cleans themselves of destructive emotions. This caused me to read some googleable information about buddhism and meditation. In one source, I don't remember where now, I think some mediation book, it breifly mentions that some buddhists claim that meditation can replace sleep. So I googled that, and stumbled on to something called polyphasic sleep.
I have so much to do. I am a programmer and computer and Internet consultant. After 14 years of contracting my skills out other companies and individuals, who then in turn sell a product to the public, I've decided to take all those indirect learnings about B2C that I got from my B2B activities and give it a go with my own products. I decided to do this in December. But here it is middle of April and I do not have what I would call a viable product to launch. I have 1/3 of the project to go, but I am already past my earlier set deadline for the end of March.
Then there is the house. We bought this old place as a fixer upper about 1 1/2 years ago. Since I went to school for architecture, and I worked in a wood furniture and cabinet factory in the summers, I decided to revive those skills and, typical of me, go it alone on the labor through the whole list of improvements. And what a list! Build a new fence, replace the siding with hardy plank, install wood floors, remodel both bathrooms and the kitchen, renovate the yard and plant gardens, reinforce the attic with hurricane straps, replace the air conditioner, put in new doors and windows... endless.
I've gotten little of the house done. We have new floors, and the attic is insulated 4x as much as it was, and a new attic deck to store things away (which I will finish off with drywall ... some day). There is still much to do. With work there just aren't enough hours in the day. I don't even have kids yet.
So I have about two months, as this summer it will be just impossible to do anything as the schedule looks. The two goals are impossible under a normal schedule. But this polyphasic sleep thing looks like something I daydream about lately. In fact I believe I have accidentally stumbled on it a few times. There have been a few times in the past when I've gotten very little sleep over 4 or 5 days. I catnapped, and often felt very refreshed after them, so instead of sleeping, I just catnapped every now and then. So when I read about polyphasic sleep or uberman sleep it seemed very familiar and believable to me.
The best source for the experience I have found so far is StevePavlina.com . He has a diary about his 5 1/2 month experience. He started out intending to have a go with it for about a month, to get past the getting used to period, but liked it so much that he just stuck with it.
Being a .NET programmer, I don't see blogspot as being where this diary will stay. I will be moving it at some point to my own domain and blog. I am throwing this up here now because I don't have any other place at this time. I can access this from my ppc phone at any time, so that makes it ubiquitous. And I plan to update once every waking period.
Based on what I learned at stevepavlina.com from his experience, i will be doing the full uberman, but with a few changes. I can't understand the idea of completely moving away from the circadian rhythm, breaking up waking states into 4 hour periods. I don't think playing around with what I see as molecular and metabolistic timing that much on the front end will glide anyone into the sleep pattern any easier. I often notice the 90 minute cycles during the day when I am working on something intensely. And Steve's idea of taking another sleep at 2 hours if he needed it just seemed like common sense. So I am going to be on a 90 minute evaluation schedule, with some times being dependable sleeps, while others being only if I need them, depending on I feel at the time. But I will only sleep at 90 minute increments, for Steve's suggested 25 minutes on a timer.
So today is the first day. I've already been messing with my sleep schedule in the past week. So today I was asleep at 6:00am and slept til 2:30 or so. I tend to be a night owl, so that might help with night time sleepiness. It's about 7:00pm now. In half an hour will be another evaluation time, at which if I feel tired I will lay down and set a timer for 25 minutes, and get up even if I don't sleep. I did this a few times for the past few days, and a few of the times I managed to fall asleep and dream. As I mentioned I've done catnaps before and I think I may have some skill at falling into REM quickly.
So here I go. Let's see how long I can keep this up. I'll put up more information and links on this kind of sleep as I can find it, but for this first entry I'm just doing what I can now. I don't think I'll want to do anything too exciting for the first several days of this.
As for 7:30pm, I don't really feel tired. I was naughty about an hour ago and had a Mountain Dew, so that may explain it. That will be the last one though. So I will be up 'til 9:00pm at least.
Wish me luck!
This blog is about a polyphasic sleep experiment. I was recently reading "Destructive Emotions" which is about science and buddhist monks discussing ways to help people cleans themselves of destructive emotions. This caused me to read some googleable information about buddhism and meditation. In one source, I don't remember where now, I think some mediation book, it breifly mentions that some buddhists claim that meditation can replace sleep. So I googled that, and stumbled on to something called polyphasic sleep.
I have so much to do. I am a programmer and computer and Internet consultant. After 14 years of contracting my skills out other companies and individuals, who then in turn sell a product to the public, I've decided to take all those indirect learnings about B2C that I got from my B2B activities and give it a go with my own products. I decided to do this in December. But here it is middle of April and I do not have what I would call a viable product to launch. I have 1/3 of the project to go, but I am already past my earlier set deadline for the end of March.
Then there is the house. We bought this old place as a fixer upper about 1 1/2 years ago. Since I went to school for architecture, and I worked in a wood furniture and cabinet factory in the summers, I decided to revive those skills and, typical of me, go it alone on the labor through the whole list of improvements. And what a list! Build a new fence, replace the siding with hardy plank, install wood floors, remodel both bathrooms and the kitchen, renovate the yard and plant gardens, reinforce the attic with hurricane straps, replace the air conditioner, put in new doors and windows... endless.
I've gotten little of the house done. We have new floors, and the attic is insulated 4x as much as it was, and a new attic deck to store things away (which I will finish off with drywall ... some day). There is still much to do. With work there just aren't enough hours in the day. I don't even have kids yet.
So I have about two months, as this summer it will be just impossible to do anything as the schedule looks. The two goals are impossible under a normal schedule. But this polyphasic sleep thing looks like something I daydream about lately. In fact I believe I have accidentally stumbled on it a few times. There have been a few times in the past when I've gotten very little sleep over 4 or 5 days. I catnapped, and often felt very refreshed after them, so instead of sleeping, I just catnapped every now and then. So when I read about polyphasic sleep or uberman sleep it seemed very familiar and believable to me.
The best source for the experience I have found so far is StevePavlina.com . He has a diary about his 5 1/2 month experience. He started out intending to have a go with it for about a month, to get past the getting used to period, but liked it so much that he just stuck with it.
Being a .NET programmer, I don't see blogspot as being where this diary will stay. I will be moving it at some point to my own domain and blog. I am throwing this up here now because I don't have any other place at this time. I can access this from my ppc phone at any time, so that makes it ubiquitous. And I plan to update once every waking period.
Based on what I learned at stevepavlina.com from his experience, i will be doing the full uberman, but with a few changes. I can't understand the idea of completely moving away from the circadian rhythm, breaking up waking states into 4 hour periods. I don't think playing around with what I see as molecular and metabolistic timing that much on the front end will glide anyone into the sleep pattern any easier. I often notice the 90 minute cycles during the day when I am working on something intensely. And Steve's idea of taking another sleep at 2 hours if he needed it just seemed like common sense. So I am going to be on a 90 minute evaluation schedule, with some times being dependable sleeps, while others being only if I need them, depending on I feel at the time. But I will only sleep at 90 minute increments, for Steve's suggested 25 minutes on a timer.
So today is the first day. I've already been messing with my sleep schedule in the past week. So today I was asleep at 6:00am and slept til 2:30 or so. I tend to be a night owl, so that might help with night time sleepiness. It's about 7:00pm now. In half an hour will be another evaluation time, at which if I feel tired I will lay down and set a timer for 25 minutes, and get up even if I don't sleep. I did this a few times for the past few days, and a few of the times I managed to fall asleep and dream. As I mentioned I've done catnaps before and I think I may have some skill at falling into REM quickly.
So here I go. Let's see how long I can keep this up. I'll put up more information and links on this kind of sleep as I can find it, but for this first entry I'm just doing what I can now. I don't think I'll want to do anything too exciting for the first several days of this.
As for 7:30pm, I don't really feel tired. I was naughty about an hour ago and had a Mountain Dew, so that may explain it. That will be the last one though. So I will be up 'til 9:00pm at least.
Wish me luck!
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