It is hard to believe we are in the middle of Day 4 of our experiment. I would say today was much the same as yesterday as far as energy goes. The only difference I found was that I have now fallen asleep in all my naps, though I often either don't dream or don't remember. How much REM sleep I am getting is questionable at this point. I am also starting to feel a slight scratch in my throat. This is possibly due to the second SCUBA session as breathing dry air from the tank always makes my throat scratchy. Or it could be the signs of a real sore throat. Only time will tell.
As yesterday, energy was great in the normal daylight hours. And again, as yesterday, around 3am staying awake has become more and more difficult. My 3am nap was rudely disturbed in the middle by a loud car alarm outside my window that went off for around a minute. I think this had a severe impact on my alertness after the nap as illustrated in the following story. I was talking to Christian on Skype after that nap, complaining that I couldn't find my ear plugs. I was getting quite upset since they were my favorite pair since they had a cord between them. (Before this pair, I used to often wake up with only one ear plug, having had one fall out and forever disappear.) I knew they were near since I had them not more than 10 min prior, but I couldn't find them anywhere. As soon as we started the video chat, Christian pointed at me and said, "What's that?" Sure enough the cord was caught in my hair and I had failed to notice this key fact as I tore apart my bed, distressingly searching my sheets, pillows, etc.
Maggie was in a similar state of groggyness. We both took an extra nap around 4:45am for 30 min. I walked into Maggie's room after and asked. "Would you like a smoothie now or after our 6am nap?" She just looked at me and closed her eyes. I said, "Hey!" She looked again, and closed her eyes, clearly falling asleep. I woke her up again. The third time of her utter non-responsiveness, I said, "What's your answer." She looked at me and asked, "What's the question again?" You know it's bad when your partner in polyphasic sleeping starts falling asleep as you are standing there asking a question.... She pulled through, and we decided to write our blogs now, drink smoothies later.
I find to push through the groggyness is in large part a matter of sheer willpower. Mentally I have to determine to be alert and then I am after a few minutes of doing an activity I wake up. For example, when I started to write this blog, I was not so coherent. Now I feel fine as I am nearing the end of it.
Health: Starting to maybe have a sore throat? Hopefully echinacea tea and vitamin C will stave off any oncoming illness.
Energy Level: Surprisingly good during the day and upto around 3am. Dismal in the early hours of the morning.
Daily Functioning: Ear plug story says it all.
Academic Performance: Will work on Sunday to catch up missed hours due to napping. I am as productive as normal while working, it's more the lost time due to the rigid schedule.
Social Performance: Finally, was able to have dinner with my friend between my 6 and 9pm nap.
Maggie's Post:
Today I slept during almost all of my naps. However this seems to rather have caused me to feel groggier than when I didn't sleep at all. I am going to remove the delta waves from my binaural beat regime in hopes of avoiding being awakened during very deep sleep and feeling groggy. DDR(Dance Dance Revolution) has proved to be invaluable in getting through the rough patches. All I need is to play one song to get my blood pumping and myself woken up so that I can comfortably keep my eyes open. I am still in general less tired than I expected, particularly during normal waking hours. However, the hours between night naps are beginning to stretch interminably. My usual problem with staying awake once my alarm goes off is proving to be a problem. I make poor decisions when I am tired and now that I am groggy when I wake up I keep closing my eyes and falling back asleep. I need to get to the DDR immediately- it is my only hope. Especially when Sarah abandons me to my own weakness at 3:30 am so she can talk to Christian.
Health: Still fine
Energy Level: Groggy immediately after waking up, especially during the night.
Daily Functioning: No real 'brain fog' but reaction times are slowed and during night hours it is all I can do to keep my eyes open sometimes.
Academic Performance: Few hours spent working at the CFA, need to spend some additional time this weekend. However, focus and productivity during the hours spent working was pretty good.
Social Performance: Need Sarah to make sure I don't keep falling back asleep. Otherwise little social interaction at night anyway. Was able to have some nice Skype conversations with friends between naps yesterday though.
No comments:
Post a Comment