Biphasic sleep log - Day 90 - 20th April

Having a clear plan is important. Without a plan things go kind of random.

For today I had a sort of plan but at night I messed it up.

Nap1: 0730-0800. By the book and worked well.

Didn't have time for an afternoon nap as I had an appointment outside. But didn't feel like I needed the afternoon nap either. I was home by 1500 and feeling fine.

Nap 2: 1830-1900. By this time I needed the nap and delayed it half an hour only because of SL. This one worked fine as well.

By midnight I was feeling fine, sleepy but not like everyday when I can't keep my eyes open.

Went to bed at 0000 and set 2 alarms, one for 0300 so I could wake up by E3 routine if I felt like it, and second for 0430 to use biphasic core time if I felt I needed more sleep.

Well that's where I lost the plot. Both alarms rang, and I turned them off (apparently) but kept on sleeping...until 0740!

A Chinese proverb comes to mind, "A man with a watch knows what time it is, a man with two watches is never sure."

Plan must be concrete if I expect it to be followed. Lesson learnt.

Energy levels: 100%
Health: Fine
Body: Fine
Mood: Resentful

Even though body and energy levels were all good, waking up late starts me off in a bad, almost panicky mood. I feel like it has put me behind the clock. It's merely psychological as I do have lots of hours to do what I want.

The reason I considered Biphasic instead of Everyman last night was the time-saving vs. the effort.

Everyman:
Total Sleeping Time: 3 hours core + 3 x 30 minutes for naps = 4.5 hours
Pros: Waking up at 0300 gives me time for SL appointments.
Cons: Shorter waking time slots, more times goes in preparing for sleeping and coming awake. Complicated sleep log entries.

Biphasic:
Total Sleeping Time: 4.5 hours core + 30 minute nap = 5 hours
Pros: Longer waking slots, flexible nap time, much less sleep inertia.
Cons: Wasting 30 minutes in extra sleep, can't do 3 am SL appointments.

So, you see, even once Everyman started working, it'd still give me maximum of one hour more at the cost of flexibility and shorter waking slots. I am leaning towards Biphasic again.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 78 - 8th April

Morning energy levels were very good but then started feeling sleepy quickly as the sun got brighter.

Nap 1: 0950-1020. Good sleep, wanted more.

It was hard to stay up, but most of it was to do with staying home and having the freedom to sleep any time. Also the days are like summer, lots of sunshine that makes one drowsy. And don't forget all my exercise on the Wii. Did 1 hour 7 minutes on it in 2 instalments, most of it running on the balance board for Obstacle Course.

Nap 2: 1800-1830. Slid back and slept till 1845. And could have slept more had my friend not called on the phone.

Then went out at night and did a little bit more walking, not too much, but enough to know that my legs were tired from all the running on the Wii.

Considering that I have tired myself today and I will have an active, long and nap-less day tomorrow, the plan is to sleep 4.5 hours not 3.

More in the morning.

Morning 9th: To bed by 0050. And up at 0530. How I love when a plan works! Didn't feel like sleeping more. Up and at'em by 0545.

Energy level: 100%
Body: Legs still a bit tired but good enough to play more Wii if I weren't going out.
Mood: Relaxed but Active

Biphasic sleep log - Day 77 - 7th April - Everyman

Yes, I have started Everyman. After last night's regulation 4.5 hours sleep I felt fresh and rested and thought I was up to trying the Everyman schedule. Esp. as I have my schedule free to take as many naps as I want right now.

Since it's experimentation time I chose nap times today whenever I felt the need.

Nap 1: 1100-1130. I am actually considering reducing the nap time to about 25 minutes since I fall asleep within 2-3 minutes. I did this time as well and woke up once at 1113 but went back to sleep to wake up by the alarm and 1130.

Energy was good after the nap, I could do work that required presence of my brain.
Body is healthy but not in training so while I enjoyed doing some fitness stuff on Wii it did tire me a little.

Nap 2: 1910-1940. Again I fell asleep within 3 minutes and slept through.

It's about 2200, energy levels are good, mind is clear and I think I'd feel sleep in about 2 hours.

Plan for the night to get core sleep from 0100 to 0400.

Morning 8th: The plan didn't work entirely. I did go to bed at 00050, and turned the alarm off at 0400 but then slid back into sleep without even realizing. Woke up at 0530 by another alarm, an obsolete one on my laptop with much less volume. Since it was 4.5 hours as per my normal biphasic schedule, I wasn't devastated about the extra sleep cycle. Also, I woke up in a very creative+active mood so decided to not mind it.

Energy levels: 100%
Body: Fine
Health: Fine
Mood: Creative & Active

Creative to the point that I finished the posts I was writing last night and posted them. Active to the point that I did some stuff on Wii even before breakfast.

Plan for today is to try and continue to do E3. 

Biphasic sleep log - Day 76 - 6th April - Off Uberman

Off Uberman but not yet fully back on biphasic. I figured I'd need some compensating sleep to adjust from the so-far-Uberman back to biphasic. So, I slept as and when I needed it and as long as I needed it.

It was essentially Biphasic but not according to any pattern. I took the nap when I felt sleepy. From 1600 to 1700. The plan was to take the 20 minute nap, but I felt the need for more so woke up but slept again.
That was very good. Had perfect energy levels and clear mind.

Then at night, I went to bed at 0015, with alarm set for 0500 - 4.5 hours of sleep. Woke up before the alarm, about 0430 and even felt like sleep was over. Had to rub my eyes a lot but the mind was clear and it was apparent that I was ready to wake up. So got up about 0445.

Energy levels very good, mind clear and mood creative.

The plan for today is to try Everyman with 2 to 3 naps and 3 hours of core. I don't know where I will place the naps right now but I will experiment as everybody has to with Everyman. 

Biphasic sleep log - Day 75 - 5th April - Uberman 3

Summary: The Uberman experiment has failed, at least for this time. Read on for details.

1900 Nap: Woke up at 1930 but then fell back into sleep and woke up at 1959.

So far, I am not liking Uberman, with 6 naps, the possibility to oversleep is much more esp. in the adaptation period. If I oversleep in the 2300 nap, it's usually till 0330, which is total 4.5 hours. Same as my core sleep in biphasic. But the number of naps in Uberman is more, so I end up losing time over biphasic.

Plus there's the "intertia period" the time I take to get out of bed and be active after waking up. Because of number of naps that also wastes more time in Uberman than biphasic.

If it keeps going on like this, I'd lose so much time this week and won't be adapted to Uberman. That's not a desirable outcome. If I oversleep tonight on the 2300 nap, I will drop the Uberman and move to either Biphasic or Everyman 3, both of which are more sustainable even in a job than Uberman. But for tonight, I am still trying Uberman. 1 nap down, 5 to go.

2300 nap: 2311-2330. I got late in sleeping because I setting up a third alarm, a video playlist to play on the TV for the 23.30 time. Didn't change time as I was sure to fall asleep very quickly and it's a pain to change 3 different alarms. Did fall asleep within 5 minutes. And woke up by the first alarm at 2330 and managed to get up as well.

Feeling very sleep deprived now. Waiting for the next nap even though it's only 0123 yet. I won't be able to do much during these between-nap periods but since I didn't oversleep the 2300 nap, I am going to continue with the Uberman pattern still.

Final update of the day: It was very hard to stay awake even till 0200. And that made me think. Between extreme sleep dep, being tired and the time Uberman naps need in the day, I am wasting a lot of time. The long and short of it is that I couldn't handle the sleep dep, didn't like it and decided to just sleep.

The rationalizations are as under:
1. In the short term, the adjustment period for Uberman is proving to be very counter-productive, time-wasting and stressful.
2. In the long term, I won't be able to do it just yet, so any success I get during this period will be immediately wasted.
3. Even this week I have a couple of things I don't want to ruin with sleep dep.
4. The 4-hour periods are too short to indulge in anything properly, even for playing in SL.
5. I need to eat once in almost all 4-hour periods wasting time by multiplication.
6. More naps need more sleep-to-alertness initial period wasting yet more time.

So, in other words, I was getting the worst of all worlds here. Just dumped it then. Slept from 0200 till 0730. It felt very indulgent and lazy, but good on the body. Now I feel very good except the back that hurts. I think that's from playing Wii last evening. I did some half-hour of Wii Fit plus training and enjoyed it very much. Playing games to work out is the best way to work out. Actually, I played some more of snowball fighting this morning and will play still more later today.

For sleep pattern, I am thinking of trying Everyman E3 with 3 hours of core sleep and 2-3 naps. It is much more flexible and I can go back from E3 to biphasic very easily once I start a job and can't maintain E3.

That's it for now I will of course update later with today's report on E3.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 74 - 4th April - Uberman 3

1900 Nap: 1900-1929: Deep sleep. Woke up by alarm.
2300 Nap: Overslept right through to 0330 then woke up by the alarm. Still took a lot of willpower to get up and get out of bed. Felt like I have slid back in the Uberman training. After yesterday's all good naps I was feeling like I was on my way but apparently more hurdles still on the way.
Totally feeling like I woke up in the middle of the night and needing more sleep. Considering I got good sleep on all my naps, I shouldn't have needed that much sleep.
Very sleepy right now but will stay up till 0700, next nap time.
Thinking about ways to avoid this happening in tomorrow's 2300 nap. That's the one with most possibility of oversleeping so far.

0700 nap: 0705 - 0732. My first alarm was set to 0738 for some reason, but the backup alarm at 0732 went off and I woke up. It took a lot of willpower to wake up. I am actually surprised how I managed to wake up at all, I had been in deep sleep.

And felt serious sleep dep after waking up as well. Breakfast helped, eating plus light tea.

The problem with Uberman is right now I look forward to the next nap right after I wake up from the first, and can't have much expectation from the next one also because it'll be only a 20 minute nap. But I still want to see it through and find out how it feels after adaptation.

Even between 0300 and 0700 naps, I managed to do some creative work.

1100 nap: 1105-1132. Woke up by the backup alarm again. I do feel tired and kinda achy. Some of it from sleep dep and some of it from being on the laptop more hours than I usually am.

1500 nap: 1500-1530. Woke up by the first alarm. Waking was not too hard though I was surprised to see that it was time to wake up. Oh yes, the landline rang at 1515, but since I don't pick that up, I could go right back to sleep after it went to voicemail.

In conclusion: Uberman is hard to get used to and looks like it'll be very hard to maintain as well. 

Biphasic sleep log - Day 73 - 3rd April - Uberman 2

Summary: Uberman day 2 was much better than day 1. All the naps went well, almost like clockwork.

1900 Nap: Took a few minutes to fall asleep. Then woke up at 1917. It wasn't close to 20 minutes so slept more. Woke up at 1930 by alarm. Easy to get up. Energy good.

2300 Nap: 2315 - 2345. 20 minutes.

0300 Nap: 0300 - 0330. 20 minutes sleep. Beginning to feel sleep dep now.

0700 Nap: 0700-0729. Woke up naturally. Sleep dep building. Tired. But mind clear.

1100 Nap: 1105-1130.Woke up easily. Quick recovery to full alert mind.

1500 Nap: 1500-1529. Woke up naturally. Feeling less sleep dep.

Feeling happy about not oversleeping on any of the naps, but feels like it's a lot of work to take so many naps each one on time. Only 3.5 hours to do everything I need to do in that chunk of time. Also have to eat in every chunk of time. Continuing the experiment.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 72 - 2nd April - Uberman 1

After last night/this morning's incident of oversleeping by two hours I have decided to up the stakes and simply go for Uberman now, rather than waiting another day. There are many reasons for doing this but most of them lean towards "Not trying to cross a chasm in 2 small jumps" and the like. On a practical note, I have found that waking up from a nap is always easier than from a longer, core sleep.

The most challenging thing would be to handle the sleep dep of course and also keeping the demanding every-4-hour routine going in view of other activities both business and social. Like today I was trying to figure out what schedule I want to keep for maximum benefit during this period and even in the new job. But I was watching the Cricket World Cup Final match till 1830, which ultimately decided the time for my first nap - 1900.

The deal with the log will remain the same. First nap of the day will be between 1900-1930. Then one nap each 4 hours.

Here are the times for easy reference:
7 PM
11 PM
3 AM
7 AM
11 AM
3 PM

I will create and update the log after each nap, but publish only after all 6 are done for a day. 6 log posts every day I think might be too much.

11PM Nap: Oh, this did not go well. I went to bed only for 20 minutes and woke up 4 hours later. I remember faintly turning the alarm off, but I have no recollection after that. I woke up naturally on my own at 0300, but saw the time and realized that this was supposed to be my next nap.

It was of course frustrating, oversleeping by almost 4 hours, but I also felt well-rested.

It is just as important to take each nap, as it is to stay awake between them. So I slept again, and managed to sleep 14 minutes before waking up again naturally.

Upon reflection, it is not surprising that I overslept. I have trained my body to sleep 4.5 hours around those times every night, so that would be a habit I'll need to break with effort and willpower, it's not going to happen overnight (pardon the pun).

Time now is 0504. I feel well-rested, with a hint of sleep dep from being in-between sleeps. It doesn't feel natural to be up at this time but that maybe because I don't have to get ready for work.

Energy levels are very good but mood is a bit lazy and leisurely than productive.

7AM Nap: Another frustrating nap. I slept easily even after waking up just 4 hours ago after a 4 hour sleep. And then woke up at 0939. Then I checked the phone and found that I had forgotten to put an alarm for this nap. But still how did I manage to sleep so long, I don't know.

This is counter-productive to the biphasic training. Even that will be reversed if I keep oversleeping so much. And the problem is sticking to the schedule I still have to try and nap at 1100. No matter how much sleep I have had in the last 12 hours, I still need to practice sleeping at all the appointed nap times.

More later.

11AM Nap: Understandably it was hard to fall asleep for this one. I managed about 2 minutes of sleep and then looked at the time 1126. Then again managed 4 minutes of sleep until the alarm went off.

At least I didn't oversleep this time.

One more nap left in this day.

3 PM Nap: This was the best so far. Fell asleep within minutes, then woke up at 1525. But I went back to sleep and got up when the alarm rang at 1530.

Feeling a bit tired in the body, esp. shoulders, but that usually happens with too much time in front of the laptop also.

I am curious to see how tonight goes.

End of day 1 on Uberman.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 71 - 1st April - Everyman 3

Let the madness begin!

I should mention that this post, even though has "1st April" in the title does not contain a joke. Well, except for my usual sense of humour. 

I didn't really get a chance to have a nap as I was out on my business engagement and got home about 1845. But I had a headache when I got back and didn't want to waste a perfectly good evening with fatigue and headache, so what's the best way to fix that? You are right, a nap!

So nap was from 1910 to 1940. And it was heavenly! Well, maybe heavenly is an overstatement, but it was a great nap. No problem getting up, no headache left, no fatigue, everything awesome! 

Now, we come to the nub as I call it. I have this whole weekend plus a few days of next week to take the sleep pattern to the next level. 

As I mentioned in yesterday's log (written today) I want to really try Uberman. I have to admit, a big part of the attraction of Uberman to me is its extreme craziness. Imagine sleeping every 4 hours! And just for 20 minutes! A total of 2 hours in 24 hours! Having 22 hours to yourself every day!! 

It's extreme! It's crazy! It's .....me!!

Since I want to be able to still use my time and don't like the thought of extreme sleep dep while I am at home (think of wasting all that time, just fighting sleep), I plan to slide into Uberman by way of Everyman 3 (3 hours core and 2 naps). 

It does bring up a few question as to how would I progress with the log now. Well, I have decided to keep simple rather than technically accurate. So, I will keep the same format, as in evening to evening. Will keep the same title but will add one word for technical accuracy like polyphasic, Everyman 3 or Uberman as I go through the stages. 

For this weekend I will keep Everyman. Then I will add more naps and reduce the core. LOL. I am talking like it's going to be sooo simple. I know there will be issues, mainly with oversleeping and sleep dep but you need a plan to start with. 

I will update this same entry after each nap. It'll be less confusing to track then I think. 

I already have a polyphasic to-do list to keep me busy during the waking hours when I am not resting and watching movies. 

So, here's the schedule I plan to follow until Sunday evening. 

Nap 1: 1800-1830

Core sleep: 0100-0400

Nap2: 1100-1130

This will change tomorrow when I figure out what schedule I will keep for Uberman and adjust the nap times to the same times. But all that tomorrow. For now, Goodnight. 

Wish me luck!

Core:
I was able to sleep by 0100 but woke up at 0600. It made me sad a bit though I understand that this could happen.

Energy levels: 100% (after I managed to get up.)
Body: Fine
Health: Almost normal.
Mood: Sad

Nap 2: 1100-1130

Took a few minutes to fall asleep, not hard at all. Woke up at 1120 of my own but tried to sleep till 1130 so as to get a full nap. Managed it in 2 minutes, then woke up by the alarm. Waking up was quite easily.

Energy levels: 100%
Mood: Productive (Writing type)