For a few months I have been considering the idea of trying out polyphasic sleep. Steve Pavlina has a lot of great information on his website (latest post here, with links to earlier posts at the bottom). The basic idea is that you sleep for 20 to 30 minutes at regular intervals throughout the day, usually every 4 hours. After an initial period, your body learns to enter REM sleep, the deepest and most-needed of the three sleep cycles, immediately and to wake up at or before the end of your sleep periods. Instead of getting about 1½ hours of REM sleep every 24 hours (the normal amount for a night's sleep) you end up getting 2-3 hours or REM sleep. I have been working a lot lately (3 jobs, about 60-70 hours each week), so my sleep schedule was already kind of messy. I figure that now is as good a time as any to try polyphasic sleep out.

So, I am officially on my first day. I am sleeping at 2AM, 6AM, 10AM, 2PM, 6PM, and 10PM for 30 minutes. This schedule allows me to still participate in all of our various activities (shul, Hebrew class, Bible study, etc.) while also giving me 21 hours every day in which to get work and other projects done. I started with my first nap at 2PM Monday February 27 (yesterday), and I hope to be over the hump within the next week or so. If you notice me acting weird during that time, don't worry, it's normal. Adjusting to the "non-hibernation" sleep mode can be a bit taxing, but, according to those who have made it through that adjustment period, it is well worth it.

I have noticed so far that my body is definitely used to sleeping for longer periods. In my first 4 sleep cycles it has taken me at least 10 minutes to fall asleep, mostly because my mind continues to run. It is kind of funny, too, because I am excited to be doing this, so a decent portion of the thoughts running through my head when I am laying there are things that I should add to my to do list now that I have time, and excitement that I will be getting up in 30 minutes.

I will post more as time goes by and I adjust to the new cycle. This should be interesting...

Labels: Health