Polyphasic Sleep Log: Day 6

I can hardly believe that it's already been nearly a week since I started my new sleep schedule. I feel fine. The days go well for me. I'm still tired when I try to wake up in the night, but all in all I have been getting 5 1/2 to 6 hours of sleep per day and feeling fine. That's 2 more hours of time per day. What have I been doing with the extra time? Most of it is spent with Scharese. In the past, I would sometimes go to sleep at the same time as the kids (about 9pm) or just an hour or two afterwards. Now I get 4 hours of time with the house quiet, and Scharese all to myself. I am really glad that this is working. I have actually been keeping her up too late! That is a new feeling for me. Normally she's the night owl.

So, after seminary was over this morning I got the kids off to school and got to work just in time to get my morning nap before going in a few minutes early for my 8:30 start time. No problems with weariness at all!

My 12pm and 4pm sleep phases were spent in the car with the seat leaned back. It is already getting hot in the car, so I will have to figure out where to sleep if I keep this up long enough for the warmer weather to come and make the car an oven. The kids left a stuffed animal in the car, so I actually had a pillow. That actually solved a minor problem I was having. No, it didn't help me sleep better. I slept fine without any pillow, but I would wake up with a hand print, or wrinkle marks on the side of my face. That's not really something I want to have when I'm standing in front of a classroom full of students! So the pillow is comfortable and doesn't leave behind any sleep marks.

9pm nap went great. I am really glad that my ability to fall asleep is alive and well. It was interesting that during the first few days, I had a hard time getting to sleep sometimes. I'm glad that I have adjusted.

Well the biggest development in my sleep schedule now revolves around my 1am sleep phase. I was actually able to get a 20 minute nap and get up! I have tried for a couple days unsuccessfully and ended up still sleeping for 4 1/2 hours. I am seriously considering trying to change from the Everyman schedule to the Uberman schedule. That means, instead of a 3 hour core sleep with naps spaced out for the rest of the day, I would cut out the 3 hour core and go strictly to naps. I've read a lot about it, and the adjustment time is difficult, but after a couple days, your body gets used to using the 20 minute naps to get the REM it needs. The reason that I didn't try it in the first place is my work schedule doesn't quite fit the Uberman schedule of 20 minute naps every 4 hours (for a total of 6 naps per day). I am not always going to be able to work it out to get my naps. Supposedly the Uberman schedule is much less forgiving if you miss a nap, or even move the nap time a little. I will be forced to be flexible sometimes.

If I do switch to the Uberman, I will be napping at 1am, 5am, 8am(or 7am), 12pm, 4pm, and 9pm. To really do it right I would have to change sleep times to 8pm, 12am, 4am. I really like the 9pm time because it fits nicely with the kids bedtime, so I don't think I want to change that. I always have the hardest time in the early morning hours so it may not be a bad thing to have my shortest awake phase be the three hours between 5 and 8 am. The hour lost there will make for a 5 hour awake phase between 4pm and 9pm which is usually not a sleepy spot for me anyhow.

So. It is now 3am. Tomorrow's class will be the easiest day of the week for me, so this is the best time for me to try Uberman. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

One other thing that I want to mention. I got a comment from my brother hoping that this sleep schedule doesn't cause brain damage. I think he was joking, but it did make me look into it a little more. My dad also called to see how it was going and expressed some concern about the health affects of this. I haven't been able to find anything to make me stop right away. I have read that sleep deprivation can cause some problems after prolonging it for more than a month. But, the sleep deprivation that people experience while adjusting to this is normally limited to a few days, and then your body adjusts and you no longer experience any deprivation. One person commented that on this schedule you feel like you are constantly going to sleep. I really see that perspective now that I've been doing it for a while. My body gets tired and I go to sleep (all day long). It's just in smaller chunks. Now, the scriptures talk about sleep a little bit, and that's something that I have thought about. I don't think I will do this forever. It seems like most people who do it, will switch back to a monophasic sleep schedule after a while.

I am going to look into any health issues a little more. If anyone finds something other than what I have, please feel free to let me know. I must say, I love having the extra time every day, as long as it's not going to damage my health.