You might also like...

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Biphasic sleep log - Day 19 - 8th Feb

Evening 8th:
Today, tiredness increased throug the day and felt some sleep dep. Nothing big and I was able to continue with my work at full capacity but just didn't feel the same great energy levels as I have lately since I started biphasic. I don't know if this was because of waking up half an hour after I went to bed last night or from re-sleeping at 0512 this morning.

I was feeling quite sleepy on the train home and thought I should try and see if I can take a nap on the train and then just go ahead and stay awake till 0100. It didn't work. It's hard for me to sleep on the train now though I remember when I was a kid I used to fall asleep as soon as the train left the station. But then those were Indian trains, for longer journeys. And they have a very relaxing, sleep-inducing rhythm to them that the English trains somehow lack.

Still, being able to nap on the train is part of my future strategy, so I will try this again soon.

As I got home, at 1734, I observed that the biphasic routine has increased my efficiency in some things. For example, I got home at 1734 and by 1738 I was fully changed and in home clothes, at 1740, on the bed. At 1800, I was in the bed, ready to nap.

Another efficiency improvement is in falling asleep time. It has reduced from about 15-20 minutes to well under 10 minutes. So, I set the alarm for 1930 instead of 1945.

Again I woke up about half an hour after sleeping. And went back to sleep. Then woke up by the alarm at 1932 and got up. Felt quite refreshed, as if there was no sleep dep from last night.
Another change that I have been wanting to bring is reducing my caffeine intake. Given my tastes, it's going to be very hard to give it up entirely. But I know it messes with the body clock so I must give up or reduce it to minimal if I want to succeed with this biphasic experiment or, more importantly, optimize it further.

I have replaced the workplace coffee with hot chocolate or milk but at home, I have either tea or Diet Coke with my meals and that's hard to change. I still had tea tonight, but I made sure it was extremely light, taking out the tea bag much quicker. It tasted almost like milk. I am also going to explore the herbal tea option.

Morning 9th:
Energy levels last night till 0100 were great. Still, I was in bed by 0100 as per plan. Again being aggressive, I set the alarm for 0530 instead of 0545.

Fell asleep very quickly. But woke up a half hour later. Went back to sleep easily.

Woke up at 0532 by the alarm and stayed up. Difficulty in waking up was same as every day nothing more or less.

Energy levels fine but slight feeling of sleep dep, like yesterday. Today it might be aided by the fact that I ditched my regular tea at the station and opted for hot chocolate instead. It was tasty but didn't have that caffeine kick. Well, I am just gonna have to deal with that.

I am not happy with the last 2 night's sleep. That's the kind of stuff I was trying to get rid of when I started biphasic. I will see what I can change to try and make it better.

It suggests to me that maybe I should have my sleep in 30 minute increments. But since I can't (as of now) accomodate a nap during my work day, I don't want to get into that yet.

Still, I will have to deviate from normal biphasic schedule tonight as I have my guitar class this evening. Since one of my main reasons to try this schedule was to make more time for my guitar, I am not going to give up the guitar class. But instead of missing the nap entirely I am going to make the evening nap 30 minutes and see how things feel based on that.

If tonight's 30 minute nap works well, (the real test will be tomorrow) then I may try only 30 minute naps on the next 2 days as well, using the proximity to the weekend for a fall-back plan if things go horribly wrong somehow.

I will do a proper summary after completing 21 days, but even as of now I feel like I have gained more time but not enough. I no longer feel like I have no time for anything and my life is being spent chasing the hands of the clock. I feel like I have enough time for "playing" now but still need more to be able to do some more useful stuff. (Or just more discipline in using the time I have now.) But even getting an hour from the reduced nap time may help.

I will, of course, update you.

No comments: