Day four

Today was very similar to yesterday. The morning was still difficult, but a little bit easier because I had things to do. I was doing active, physical tasks, like laundry and cleaning my room. This kept we awake without too much effort.

I took the extra nap again. I think I'm going to keep this 7th nap until I get adjusted and then I will possibly get rid of it. But for now it really helps break up these torturous mornings.


Sleep update: In the past 115 hours I have only slept for a total of 15 hours. Damn.  

Day three

This morning (midnight-7am) SUCKED. I spoke too soon about this being easy. I could not stay awake. I decided to add an extra 30 minutes nap in just so that I wouldn't collapse and wake up 12 hours later. I hope there aren't many more mornings like this one, because I wouldn't be able to handle that.

The rest of the day was normal. Energy levels a little below what they were before, but nothing to complain about.

Let's hope tomorrow morning is better...

Day two

So far this has not been as bad as other people made it out to be. So either I am adjusting easier than most people, or the worst is still to come. I'm hoping it's not the second one. I had good energy levels for most of the day. The only really difficult time was from midnight to 5am. I had a lot of trouble staying awake. I had to walk around in circles and do jumping jacks so that I wouldn't fall asleep.

I have been dreaming during my naps, which is a good sign. This means I am getting REM sleep (the important kind).

I've also been eating like it is nobody's business, but I am justifying it with the fact that I am awake for 5 more hours each day than usual, thus I need more nourishment.

I'm starting to feel the late night exhaustion coming on. I'm hoping it isn't worse than this morning because it was hard to make it through. I have bright lights on and music pumping. (p.s. "Bare" is so much more heartbreaking on shuffle at 3am when you are sleep deprived.)

Sleep update: In the past 64 hours I have only slept for a total of 6 hours.

Day one

Today was my first day of the adaptation phase. I just got up from my sixth and final 30 minute nap of the day. I'm feeling a bit tired. Most of the day was fine as long as I was active. When I sat down for a long period of time, I would start to get drowsy. But it was basically like pulling an all-nighter, which I have done before. Tomorrow is when it'll start to get worse, so be prepared for posts that make no sense.

I got through the first day!

Final Night of Monophasic

So tonight is my last night of monophasic sleep before staring a polyphasic sleep routine.

If you haven't heard of polyphasic sleeping before, it is when you sleep several times in a 24 hour period instead of just once. With the Uberman routine, the one I will be following, you sleep 6 times a day, 30 minutes each. This means only 3 hours of sleep a day! But you still get the same amount of REM sleep (the important kind). You train your body to go into REM sleep right away instead of taking long transitional periods, like in monophasic sleep.

So how to you train your body to do this? Sleep deprivation. That is why I am starting this over spring break. It is an intense week of sleep deprivation that forces your body to go into REM sleep immediately after hitting the pillow, so that each of the 6 "naps" are REM sleep.

Based on other people's experiences, it takes about 10 days of this until you return to normal energy levels. These first ten days are called the adaptation period, aka the zombie period. But after that, you feel great, if not better than before, even on only 3 hours of sleep a day! It is theorized that since babies are polyphasic sleepers, it is actual more natural and healthier to sleep this way.

So if you are interested in seeing how this insane experiment goes, follow my blog!