The Less Interesting TimesI've Been Trying to Reach the Present for Years

2013/03/31 Polyphasing – Day 5 Gone

Sleeping over the weekend took some effort but I think I did ok. Still overall tired and I was hoping to get a much better improvement by now. I’m not back to a hundred percent maybe because I choose a regime that is not so extreme so the body and mind take their time to adjust. And maybe because I’m not that strict on what I eat. And right now I’m mostly at the state of “If I could only have coffee, or pop in for another quick nap, I’ll be fine” but lucky for me I have great self control and I’m good at taking hits.

“It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.”

— Mentat Mantra, Dune: The Movie

This is what I thought yesterday as after 22:00, when most people are winding down and don’t have the strength to do anything other that sit down and be a potato, I had manic energy enough to make food for me and Maayan (two different plates), do another load of dishes, clean the sink and the counter top.

And although I may feel like a normal day in which I didn’t sleep very well, I’m worried that with school coming back on tuesday, I might be not adapted enough. But I will persevere. Need to schedule an appointment with my doctor to keep track of this experiment and my health. And I hope I could get some security against future reserve service. That’s the biggest problem in my current schedule: What happens if I tell my commander I need three 20 minute naps throughout the day and he won’t except that?

2013/03/26 Polyphasing – Day 1 Gone

7:40, the next morning, I’ve been awake for two hours and forty minutes. When I woke up, I felt like all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. It required a lot of willpower to not give in. While Steve Pavlina kept busy by reading and cooking, I’m grateful for my computer games. They keep me awake and entertained. Maybe I’ll do some cooking later in the week.

11:10, passed my first nap, I felt seriously tired leading up to this nap and it felt like I barely slept. I kept fading in and out of sleep and felt like I was fading in and out of lucid dreaming. It was like shifting from first to third person perspective and then some more back and forth. I woke up feeling like I haven’t slept at all and it looks like the next five hours of waking time will take a lot of willpower to accomplish.

20:26, we drove back home and are safe back in our apartment. I felt completely zombified through the 14:00, one hour drive, like that point where you admit you can’t be driving anymore only way past it. I took a nap around 16:00 and felt like I managed to sleep a little. Still felt tired when I woke up, thinking that I know why most people fail at this transition: it’s hard work. I fell tired and achy and always like I’ve been on my feet all day. But now, after some activity and a light dinner, I feel better. Still yawning but better. I really hope the adjustment period is only a few days. I might break, otherwise.

But happy birthday to my lovely wife!

4:49, I’ve just woken up from my core sleep and this feels like full on zombie mode. Like I’ve just been woken up for the worst guard duty ever. I fee my self slipping away for a moment. And i have to do all this without outside chemical hep. I’ve had to stop and start this paragraph several times. What I’m sure of is the fact that I won’t be going to Olamot. My experiment has gone too far, to the point where  I really can’t drive. Hopefully, zombiness will subside. Planning to take a shower soon, maybe that will help. I’ve finished writing this paragraph at 5:04.

13:32, I took my nap around 9 and now I feel better but I think I fucked it up. I was tempted to nap again immediately and I yielded. I’m afraid this might have made the whole thing longer and more complicated. I need to nap again in about an hour and I still have a bit of a headache. Here’s hoping for the best.

2013/03/25 I’ve Gone and Done it

Yesterday I looked at my calendar and realised I have nine days until school restarts and from reading Steve Pavlina‘s sleep blog I gathered that I takes roughly that amount of time to get through the adjustment period. So i decided to go for it now.

This part of the blog will be in English so it will hopefully aid other people looking for info on polyphasic sleep. I’m not going straight for the Uberman but taking on the Everyman sleep schedule. Hopefully, it will be less of a drastic change and more flexible and compatible with the rest of the hibernating world. But this should still give me 4-4.5 hours of sleep in contrast with the 6-8 normally taken.

So, as of time of writing, it is now 6:20 in the morning. I’ve been up for about an hour after sleeping for 3.5 hours. I’ve woken up rather easily. There is still a big of a fog in the brain and my typing speed is slower than usual but I’m not making too terrible of typing mistakes. I’ve spent the last hour on my morning routine and this is the last part of it. So far, I’m feeling good. I took several mid-day naps in the past few days and my last cup of coffee was about three days ago. And currently, I’m eating some junk. Which makes me wonder how well I will adjust since I’m an omnivore and Steve is a Herbivore.

Update: It’s 10:30 and I should be heading to bed. Feeling slightly drowsy but not dead tired. Hopefully I would be able to get some sleep with all the woken up people now. Main point on my mind now, though, is wondering what today’s xkcd comic is about.

Update: 17:45, I am passed my second nap of the day. It feels like 2 am after a long exhausting day. People around me are drinking coffee and I’m trying to hold my temptation down. Today will be funny – there is the Pesach dinner with Maayan’s family and then we’re going to see some friends. Should be funny.

Update: 1:40, waking up from my 22:30 nap, I felt like after waking up in the morning – still a bit fuzzy but ok if I keep my energy high – and now, though I technically have another hour or so before my scheduled nap, and I’m feeling ready for it but not exhausted, I’m going to sleep. One thing I did promise my wife is that I will go to sleep with her. So I will keep my promise.