Night One

It is 3:52 a.m. and Maggie and I are well into our first night of polyphasic sleeping. Originally inspired by Nick and blogger guy, Steve Pavlina, we set out on this journey for several reasons. First (for Sarah), to have more time in the day for hobbies which have fallen by the wayside. First (for Maggie), to have more discipline in all areas of life, in particular with her sleep schedule. Second, to have bragging rights. Third, to lucid dream and drop into REM cycles more quickly.

The basic idea is as follows. For mental functions, your body needs REM sleep. A REM cycle lasts around 20 min and occurs once every 90 min sleep cycle. The idea behind sleeping polyphasically is to deprive your body of REM sleep long enough so that you train yourself to drop immediately into REM within short naps. We are trying a modified Uberman cycle. Maggie and I are starting with eight - 30 min evenly spaced naps occuring at 12am, 3am, 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm. Eventually, we hope to cut back to a more rigid Uberman schedule of 6 naps.

Our goal is to last 2 weeks, which is really only barely long enough to start enjoying the benefits of this new sleep cycle, but we are both traveling extensively after that point. From our reading of other peoples experiences, the first 3-10 days people are quite loopy, groggy, and as one person so eloquently put it "feel like a bus is perpetually running you over". However once over the hump, people report feeling more alert, healthy, and productive. Grapes are supposedly an essential food source, providing many nutrients that you need on this sleep-deprived schedule. 

We will update this blog at least once daily, probably at some random time in the middle of the night to prove that we are really doing this. For those at the CfA, feel free to stop by in the middle of the day (not between 12 and 12:30 or 3 and 3:30) to check in on our mental state. Early today in preparation we scoped out 4 beds and a shower in Perkins. Amazing.

- Daily Summary -

Health: So far so good. Not too surprising.

Energy Levels: Surprisingly good considering it's 5:02 a.m.

Daily Functioning: Normal.

Academic Performance: Normal.

Social Performance: We are hanging out and having a blast. To Nick and Paul: you are missing out....

Don't forget to take our poll on the homepage of this blog!

References (check out blog guy, who's other topics are equally fascinating):

Main blog guy, Steve Pavlina. He lasted 4.5 months and took around 5-7 days to adjust: 

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/

Other interesting blogs:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/15/103358/720

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Everyman%20Sleep%20Schedule

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=892542&lastnode_id=124