Index
Subject
: Re: LUG: polyphasic sleep
From
: Edward Anderson <nilbus@nilbus.[redacted]>
Date
: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:08:32 -0500
Parent
To answer your question, nobody who tried to start it up succeeded,
largely due to the fact that 1) it's really hard, and 2) it doesn't
fit well with society.
ajray got sick a few days in, so he stopped.
spiffytech had too many things coming up during nap time and kept missing naps.
They can share more if they want, but that's the brief of it all.
I tried it for about 3 weeks. Since things kept interrupting my naps
(like a car accident, road trips), and I found it VERY difficult not
to doze off, sometimes without even realizing it, I never got
adjusted. After 3 weeks of sleep deprivation, I took PureDoxy's advice
and just stopped for a while to let my body reset. After the fact, it
was pretty clear to me that a good Everyman schedule was not going to
fit in my schedule this semester.
Starting winter break, I am going to go on the Uberman schedule (six
20min naps, no core), which is the original schedule that PureDoxy
wrote about in her book Ubersleep (http://drop.io/ubersleep). It's
significantly more challenging, but takes half the time to adjust.
I learned from last time though, and I'm not going to repeat the same mistakes.
1. Staying awake was difficult while I was alone by myself in the wee
hours. I'm going to use the buddy system. I'm going to plan out what
I'm going to do and who I'm going to be with for the entire first week
of my adjustment, before I even start it. I've been talking to a few
friends who are going to help me, and I still need more people to hang
out with, if you're interested.
2. Starting this up during school put a lot of stress on me. While
trying to adjust, I was always tired. It was difficult to take care of
all the things I needed to. Keeping this thing going is tough in the
beginning, and you need a lot of motivation. Having things like school
work pressuring you to get sleep is not good, nor is the tiredness
good for your schoolwork.
3. My class schedule for next semester and my sleeping schedule have
been carefully planned around each other. My naps fit nicely between
the classes that I chose. Normal meal times fall after naps, not
before, since eating before a nap makes it very hard to wake up.
Essentially, this is going to be tough, but I'm planning for success
and am going to make it. Wish me luck :-)
Edward
On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 5:28 PM, Richard Carter <rwcarter@ncsu.[redacted]> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Sorry to necromance but I kinda wanted to check back on those of you
> that were trying this. Are you still doing polyphasic sleep? How is it
> going? If not, why did you stop? I found it really interesting,
> through I doubt there'll ever be a time when I can actually try it,
> and I'd really like to know how the last 3 months went if anyone is
> still doing it.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Richard Carter
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 7:47 AM, Jonathan Vogel
> <jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted]> wrote:
>> Good to hear your feedback. The thing with polyphasic sleep is you take a
>> systematic approach to sleeping and and after adapting, you don't ever
>> suffer from sleep deprivation; even missing one nap won't cause sleep dep.
>>
>> I want to really tell the skeptics out there that this does truly work and I
>> don't feel tired at all. I just moved back in the dorms and had trouble
>> with my two day time naps (I didn't think I fell asleep for one) because my
>> mind was probably just getting a feel for a new sleeping environment (i.e.
>> noises) and I feel pretty good.
>>
>> @Ed and Alex: Good luck, keep me posted
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>> Richard Carter wrote:
>>>
>>> I would personally feel pretty nervous about this. I went through my
>>> last year of high school with pretty bad sleep deprivation; going to
>>> sleep at 1-2am, waking up at 5-5:30 every day. I was locked into that
>>> wakeup time since back in middle school so my body had no problem
>>> jumping awake at the alarm, no matter how little sleep I had - so I
>>> took advantage of that to not bother getting much sleep, since waking
>>> up in time for school wasn't a problem. But I did notice that I would
>>> crash during the day and usually find any excuse to sleep during
>>> class. And my memory suffered. I already have a bad enough memory, but
>>> I cannot recall much from that year.
>>>
>>> Obviously this is supposed to be different from sleep deprivation
>>> because of the naps. It still seems too good to be true. After that
>>> high school year (and a rough summer afterwards), I learned my lesson.
>>> Last year (my freshman year) I took sleep seriously, as did my
>>> roommate, and we got 8 hours of sleep almost every night. I felt
>>> great, and realized that it was having a positive effect, even if I
>>> was still reluctant to go to bed at or before midnight. This summer
>>> I've slipped a lot, and I have really noticed the results now; and as
>>> I'm traveling back up to State today, I plan to get back to 8 hours a
>>> night again.
>>>
>>> I know, I was doing it wrong; the big part of polyphasic sleep is,
>>> well, polyphasic, and I was just plain sleep deprived. I didn't
>>> [intentionally] nap. But I don't think I'll try this unless there's
>>> some real need to have more hours in the day. Maybe later on down the
>>> road when I'm swamped with schoolwork and just can't get it all done.
>>> For now, I like how I feel after 8 contiguous hours of sleep.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 7:58 AM, Debbie
>>> Carraway<debbie_carraway@ncsu.[redacted]> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> This article "debunks" polyphasic sleep. I personally make no argument,
>>>> just
>>>> thought it was interesting to see another side of the discussion.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm
>>>>
>>>> Debbie
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:12:17 -0400, Jonathan Vogel
>>>> <jonathan@friedpancakes.[redacted]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> After adaptation you are pretty much 100% most of the time unless you
>>>>> stretch your naps out too far or mess your schedule up. You may feel
>>>>> slightly tired approaching your nap, but nothing substantial. As soon
>>>>> as
>>>>> you hit the bed you will be out cold and wake up feeling very refreshed.
>>>>>
>>>>> Looks like a lot of people are interested in giving it a shot. I'll
>>>>> announce my current schedule here that I've been on for 3 months now to
>>>>> see
>>>>> if it helps anyone:
>>>>> 3 - 6 AM Core Sleep, 20 minute naps at 11 AM, 4 PM, and 11 PM.
>>>>>
>>>>> I will be in IRC a lot to answer any questions and also I'm living on
>>>>> campus if you want to talk face to face just let me know. via email/irc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Make sure *you do your research* and let me emphasis two points: Do not
>>>>> drink alcohol during adaptation (honestly wouldn't recommend it at all
>>>>> while
>>>>> doing polyphonic sleep, but social drinking is OK after adaptation).
>>>>> Watch
>>>>> caffeine intake; I never had caffeine during adaptation, but now I do
>>>>> have
>>>>> it occasionally directly after naps (I like coffee!).
>>>>>
>>>>> Jonathan
>>>>>
>>>>> Ed Anderson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> To those with experience with this, After adjusting, do you still feel
>>>>>> drained or tired at all during the day or near your nap times? Or are
>>>>>> you
>>>>>> typically always well rested and energetic the same as if you'd had a
>>>>>> full
>>>>>> night's rest?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ed
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Debbie Carraway
>>>> Systems & Hosted Services
>>>> Office of Information Technology, NC State University
>>>> Voice: XXX.515.5498 AIM: DeborahCarraway
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>