Posts Tagged ‘12’

3rd Polyphasic Attempt: Day 12

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

And I’m still alive. Alive and kicking actually. It was a real challenge getting up from my core nap, which was no surprise. I was happy though, as I got up and after about 30 minutes of awake time, I was feeling alive again. I feel like I am making good progress on Everyman right now, as I have not overslept for 3 nights in a row now. It may be wishful thinking to hope that I make it to the end of the week, but it feels more possible than ever before.

I had some serious sleep deprivation today, the most which I have had over this entire attempt. It started in probably the early morning, and progressively got worse. I managed to put off my nap until the appropriate time, but it was a challenge. I suppose I really haven’t been tested by Everyman until now, where I spent most of the morning trying to watch movies or play computer games while poking myself with a pin. I find that a pin works rather well to jolt you back into the land of the living, but you eventually get used to it. To counteract this, I suppose I could poke myself harder, but I don’t really like the idea of that. :)

I was practically narcoleptic in the morning, and I was trying to do anything I could to stay awake. I ran and jumped around, had a cold shower, had some tea (and burnt myself, which in turn probably helped a lot) and forced myself to eat breakfast standing up. That’s the thing about sleep deprivation, it really can’t get you until you are sitting down. Lying down is just asking for it. I started waking up mentally about an hour after my nap, just in time for my first day back at school. Now, being sleep deprived at school is less than fun. People tease you when you micro-sleep, teachers find you annoying, you don’t retain any information, and I thought that this was exactly how today was going to be… but it wasn’t.

Well, it was like that for a bit. We had an assembly in the morning, with many students and teachers welcoming everyone back and speaking motivationally. I’m sure it was very interesting, but I really don’t remember much of it. Luckily I was sitting behind many people, so my micro-sleeps where only detected by one of my friends, who hit me whenever I started to drift off. It’s surprisingly effective.

Apart from the assembly in the morning, I think that I did very well. On Uberman at school, half the time was spent in complete agony trying to stay conscious. Here, it was just a little nagging thing in the back of my mind. So, school went on, and I hid myself away from everyone else at lunchtime to have my nap. I naturally assumed it was going to be poor quality sleep, but it wasn’t. Also, nobody disturbed me. Today was full of surprises :]

So, here I am, updating my blog before doing some more work.. and then it’s off to dreamland for 3 hours. I am desperately wanting to get through this adaptation period, and I know that if I can just resist oversleeping for another 4 more days, then I will have no problem… it’s just a matter of willpower now :]

God, I really don’t want to screw up now…

Raap!d

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2nd Polyphasic Attempt: Day 12 and 13

Friday, January 8th, 2010

It’s a shame that I need to constantly keep apologising for delaying my posts, but this time there was a good reason. The past few days have been far more eventful socially than I had previously expected. On day 12 I had  a small gathering of friends meeting up at my local national park, which was nice. What was not nice however was the fact that I barely managed to get 5 minutes of sleep. Due to the hot weather, friends waking me, distracting me and deserting me, I really couldn’t sleep. I was really tired, but sadly none of them realized that I desperately need the sleep. That was at 5 pm. After our little gathering was over, some of us decided to stay at a friend’s house, and we ended up attempting a walk to a nearby beach. A beach about 8 km away, but due to one friend’s relationship issues we ended up walking to his girlfriend’s house… he said it would take like 15 minutes. It was more like another 5 km. As soon as we arrived, his mum came and picked him up, telling him that he couldn’t hang around. So, this pointless journey took us late into the night, took way too long, but more importantly: I missed my nap. This has been the first nap which I have missed (when being awake that is), which I regret, despite the fact it was rather unavoidable.

So, on day 12 I got about 95 minutes of sleep, which is obviously not healthy for my particular schedule. I fell asleep at about 6:00 am on day 13, and managed to get up 4 hours later. This was caused by the lack of sleep, and partially due to the inappropriate large volume of certain beverages consumed. Woke up with a bit of the fog of brain, but overall pretty good. It is now the end of day 13, and all my other naps have been on schedule and restful.

There are a few things that I have learnt from these past 2 days:

  • Missing naps, while bad for you, is not the end of the world. You can still bounce back if you are adjusted enough.
  • Prolonged exercise has minimal effect on napping.
  • Be careful drinking when polyphasic. It causes you to struggle with nap times, makes it very difficult to get up, and causes oversleeping.

Well, there really isn’t much else to say. Moral of this story: Don’t miss naps. It hurts.

Until tomorrow, Raap!d out.

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Polyphasic Sleep: Day 12

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Technically this was yesterday, I am now on day 13. Sorry about not posting earlier, but I was tired and not really in the mood. I will try and compensate my actually getting a bit written.. maybe.

 

Today was not so great. I am sure that you, dear reader, would have experienced sleep deprivation at some point in your life, and it saddens me to inform you that this is what you are going to get if you try polyphasic sleep. It’s usually around 3 am (when the human body is most tired) and onwards untill about 6 that you are most likely to crash and oversleep. However, because I stayed awake so perfectly the night before, I knew I was going to be in for a rough time. I was, but it didn’t seem so bad.

I overslept after my 1 am nap. I remember me wishing for that nap to come, and when it finally came, I had no trouble falling asleep. Then my alarm woke me up. I am not too sure what happened next, although I imagine fell back into sleep. I still find it impressive that I can sleep through 3 alarms set on my phone, with about 5 mins or so between, but I managed it. Oh well.

It is rather a disapointment, as I was assuming I am past oversleeping. Turns out that would not be the case. My body seems to be rather stubborn in its ways, and not adapting rather well. That being said, I always get REM sleep now, and feel dramatically better after naps (except occasionally after my 1 or 5 am naps). My unhappiness with sleep deprivation has decreased too, although I think its me just becoming slightly more desensitized. Many people at school who have seen my ‘blag’ have talked to me through the day. Some want to join me, some want me to stop, but everyone comments how I look like I am dead. To be honest, I could be.

The funny the about this is that I am starting to get into a routine, and it’s rather comfortable. I enjoy being awake in the dead of night and early morning (I just wish there was someone I could talk to). But, of course there are disadvantages. Because I am awake for so much longer, I procrastinate even longer, and when it finally comes down to doing the work, I am either exhausted or about to oversleep, which isn’t good (and why I am going to do some work after this post).

As for the rest of the day, it was mainly normal. The rests didn’t seem quite so ‘restful’, but they were good none-the-less. Because I overslept and realized that if I went to school then I wouldn’t get my nap, I had a quick 15 minute one at home. This made me slightly late, but was much better than risking next nap.

I was reading someone elses polyphasic blog, and he was talking about adding extra naps. He failed eventually, and he blamed the extra sleeping. I can understand how that could happen, as I have overslept on a few occasions when I’ve tried to grab another nap. In my opinion, I think that if you are resigning yourself to oversleeping by saying “Hey, I might just squeeze in another nap at 3 am”, making you and your body think that it is ok to go to sleep. Then, upon waking you just feel “Hey, why not just another half hour?”, and then you crash. Well, that’s my personal experience. I suppose everyone’s different. Steve Pavlima pulled it off, this guy didn’t. I really hope that this all turns out for the better.

Oh, just a reminder, yes I will be making a post on polyphasic sleep, the Uberman method, and how to start in full detail (almost definately doing that tomorrow night). Just as a quick reminder for everyone attending some form of education, DON’T start this now. Wait until holidays. Your brain will love you for it.

 

Until tomorrow (today),

Jimmi

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