Polyphasic Sleep Log: Day 5

I had to work today but the kids didn't have school. That means I didn't have to worry as much about the timing of my morning sleep phase. I ended up going down way before my 8am time that I was shooting for. I was planning on using my extra morning hours to prepare for my class, but my 3hours of core sleep turned into 4 1/2 again, and then I still took a nap in the morning. I didn't end up having time to blog. So I'm writing this a day late (I hope I can remember enough detail to keep this blog accurate). I still was able to get a 20 minute nap that carried me through till my Lunch nap. I felt fine throughout the morning, and class went well.

Instead of trying to sleep in a dark classroom, I decided to sleep in the car. I remembered to turn off the cell phone connection, so I wouldn't get buzzed with an incoming call or e-mail. I went out to the car and leaned the seat back and tried to go to sleep. It took me a little longer to get to sleep. The morning nap was probably part of the reason for that. Longer is a relative term. I think it usually only takes a few minutes. I'm guessing it was more like 7 minutes this time. It's hard for me to tell how long. Sometimes I think it's been a long time and it's only been a few minutes, and other times I think is hasn't been long, but my time is up.

Classes are scheduled to run until 4:30, but I am hoping to let them out a few minutes early so I can get my nap and still get home at the same time as I normally do. It worked out today. I let my class out, and went out to the car for my nap before leaving work.

9pm nap went perfectly. Scharese is sometimes surprised that I am done. A couple days ago, I had to keep resetting my 20 minutes because I wasn't getting to sleep right away. I ended up laying down for 40 minutes to get my 20 minute nap. Now my body just drops off to sleep in a couple minutes and I'm done pretty quickly.

So for my core sleep, I decided to try a 1 1/2 hour phase, instead of 4 1/2. Again, I'm trying to keep it in 90 minute increments because that's the average time for a complete sleep cycle. I figure with the extra nap that I take in the morning, I should be able to cut the core sleep down. Well, once again, that didn't work well. I actually decided to try a 20 minute nap at 1 and then get the core sleep a little later. After my 20 minute nap at 1am, I was not feeling very refreshed. I was pretty tired. I set the alarm for an hour and a half, but slept right through it. I didn't wake up until 5:30. I was disappointed again. I felt like I had blown it, until I realized that it ended up being my normal 4 1/2 hour core. Then I didn't feel so bad. My body has it's schedule pretty well set. I am teaching early morning seminary this week at 6am. Timing worked out well with me waking up at 5:30.