Biphasic sleep log - Day 20 - 9th Feb

Evening 9th:

As I mentioned in the previous day's log I was going to have to modify my nap today which I did with no differences.

But first about the day, the feeling of tiredness and sleep dep that I was feeling in the morning kind of wore off for a while but then I got tired towards the late afternoon. But as I said before, I was able to function

I was home at 1734, and took the nap from 1800-1830, also gave myself about 10 minutes fall asleep when setting the alarm. I fell asleep quickly and woke up only by the alarm.

Waking up was just as easy or difficult as after a 90 minute nap, no difference. Also no difference in the feeling afterward. I was devilishly hungry but since I wasted some time in actually persuading myself to wake up and get out of bed I didn't have time to cook a proper dinner before my guitar class.

I was worried that I might be too groggy to drive myself to the class having had only a short nap so close before driving. But it was absolutely fine, I felt fully awake and alert. No issues with driving.

No issues with guitar lesson either. Based on my teacher's feedback, I was making my usual progress. No complain about lack of focus etc. He taught me a new concept and I was able to grasp it and start learning it. My teacher was happy with my progress.

Once I got home I did some more creative work in Photoshop after dinner. No lethargy, grogginess or clouding of mind. No sign of any sleep dep.



Morning 10th Feb:

Went to bed at 0100 last night and was able to fall asleep in about 10 minutes this time. I find that once I am comfortable mentally, in terms of stop thinking other stuff to do on computer and physically in terms of the bed being warm enough, finding my perfect posture for lying etc. it doesn't take me more than a few minutes to drift into sleep.

I never had that kind of issues where I'd toss and turn waiting to sleep for hours, (except the usual times when I was too excited or anxious about next day or had messed up my sleep cycle), but now it's getting even better.

Before biphasic there used to be times, usually, when I'd lay down to sleep, go into hypnogogic stage then suddenly jump and wake up from something in the hypnogogic imagery/sensations, then I'd try and sleep again and would be able to. Sometimes the thing repeated a couple of times befor I'd finally fall asleep properly.

Now, it's an easy, slippery slope into dreamworld as soon as I get comfortable in bed. Feels awesome!

Woke up at 0545 by the alarm. Waking up difficulty about the same as usual. Felt slight sleepy/sleep dep during the morning even after I got to office. But felt much better after a good breakfast on a hot panini with water. No caffeine this morning and still fully alert and awake. There is some sleep dep at the back of my mind but could also be because I expect to have sleep dep after only 5 hours of sleep last evening/night.

Oh, did you notice that I didn't wake up half an hour after falling asleep last night? Also, I felt in the morning that the quality of sleep last night was awesome!

Today's plan is to keep the nap to 30 minutes and core sleep to 4.5 hours.

Tomorrow or maybe even tonight, I want to try reducing core sleep to 3 hours using the upcoming weekend as a buffer to fix any problems encountered. I know I am being impatient, but I can't help it, I have got a LOT to do this weekend, and I am loving this new sleep system so much I want to make the best of it. I love both the sleeping and awake periods on this new schedule.

That extra 1 hour I got from the shorter nap last night, felt great. At least that I am not changing back.

Told you so!

http://blogs.computerworld.com/16671/wow_android_now_sells_more_than_iphone_4_and_3gs_and_bizarre_email

Do read the comments below, they are hilarious, Apple fanboys coming out of the woodwork. :D

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.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 18 - 7th Feb

Evening 7th:
I felt sleep dep today. Not horrible and not worse than what I have felt on monophasic as I mentioned before but still noticeable. I got home about 17.30 and was more than ready for my nap.

The nap however, completely refreshed me. I woke up about 1930 as planned.


Morning 8th:
Went to bed right on schedule at 0100. Felt like I had gone to sleep and then woke up maybe about 0130. But was able to go back to sleep within a few minutes.

Then I woke up in the night at least once. Had several dreams in the night so I know I did have REM sleep. In the morning, I woke up without the alarm. I was ready to get up and start the day when I noticed that the time was 05:12. I felt that I shouldn't cut corners on my sleeping time like yesterday and went back to sleep. Was back in sleep within a minute or two then woke up by the alarm at 0547 which is like on the dot every day.

Now I am wondering if I should have gotten up at 05:12 since it was a natural waking up. But so was the one at 01:30. That time also I felt like I could have gotten up and worked or a few hours. Anyway, we'll see how the days goes. For now, I feel fine, much like a usual biphasic morning.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 17 - 6th Feb

Evening 6th:

This is the pattern this weekend, I get late for the sleeping time. Same for this nap, but not by much.

I was in bed at 18:18 and set the alarm for 20:00 giving myself only 12 minutes to fall asleep. I am happy to report that I feel I fell asleep even faster than that.

Woke up and looked at the time 19:57. That was close enough so I woke up. Though the temptation to go back to sleep is still there for each sleep. But waking up naturally rather than alamr is preferable so I didn't utilize the last 3 minutes.

Energy levels fine through this period. So much so that I got late for sleeping again.

Morning 7th:
Finally, was able to get to bed at about 0145. Since I needed to go to office this morning, I left the alarm set for 0545.

Woke up a few minutes before the alarm and felt good about it. Got up then as I had to get ready, even though the same feeling of wanting to stay in bed was still there. This feeling may be the result of, or least helped by the feeling of being in a warm bed in a cold weather. We will see when summer rolls around. Or IF. This is England, after all. :)

On a general note, I do feel a bit "achy" all over but that feels like the result of spending a whole weekend hunched over the laptop in various very un-ergonomic positions. I think it's safe to assume that my slight variations in sleeping times haven't affected the biphasic routine.

I am yawning a bit but it's early morning yet, not even 9 am, and this is nothing compared to what I have felt on monophasic after 6 hours of sleep before.

This was my first full weekend on Biphasic without any major variations, esp. in sleeping durations, and I am feeling like it works. I felt like I had a big chunk of time to work with as opposed to the "fleeting" weekend that I have usually. Even if I don't go out at all.

In view of the more frequent "natural" wake-ups and the slight, natural shrinkage in sleep times AND in view of my sore need for more time in my day, I am very much tempted to try and reduce my total sleep duration but I am keeping a tight rein on it until I can complete at least 30 days on biphasic. Still, if I am too tempted I will try to reduce my nap time next weekend. That way if I feel horrible sleep dep, I will have time to sleep a couple of extra hours and make up for it.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 16 - 5th Feb

Evening 5th:

Nap time came around before I realized it. I was talking to my nephew Sagar on gtalk voice (about biphasic and polyphasic sleep) when I suddenly realized it was 1742. So, I wrapped that up then prepared to sleep. Was able to get into bed about 1815. Set the alarm for 20:00.

I woke up on my own and the time was 19:53. Felt like I could get up easily, but still closed my eyes, seeing that I had time. Alarm went off at 20:00 and I must have been in light sleep as I heard it right as it started the very low-volume fade-in beeps.

Now for some fun until 0100.

Morning 6th:
Last night I got delayed in SL again. I had work to do so I decided to delay core sleep instead of postponing the work. The work needs coordination with other people, and I have a deadline approaching fast.

So, finally I went to bed at 0145 and set the alarm accordingly for 45 minutes later in the morning, i.e. 0630.

But this morning, I woke up before 0600, kind of around the time when I usually wake up, soon after 0545. That time after opening my eyes and looking at the time, and actually waking up is my weakest time. Any excuse to sleep more is fine. This morning the excuse was already there, I hadn't finished my 4.5 hours of core sleep.

I went back to sleep and woke up by the alarm at 0630. It was the same difficulty in getting as every day, but I got up at that time. Didn't feel any bad effects of the variations in the core sleep, felt great in fact, all day.

Since I didn't use to wake up so early on weekends, I felt like I had extra hours today.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 15 - 4th Feb

Evening 4th:
Since I was working from home, I was feeling very sleepy in the afternoon after work, but then I got into something interesting in SL and got late for my nap. But not too late, just half an hour.

So, the nap was from 1830 till about 2000. Pretty uneventful. Feeling the same as every day. Quite alert and awake, able to do creative work.

Morning 5th:
Alarm went off normally at 0545. Waking up was hard, but not after once I made up my mind. Being Saturday, I could have slept much longer today but once I made the decision it was not all that bad. I did enjoy the extra hours today as I usually sleep till almost noon on weekend mornings (when I was monophasic) and getting up at 0600 felt like I had so many extra hours today, which I did and I used them.

Despite the difficulty in waking up, I did feel great. I was able to do creative work, the household chores in the afternoon and talked to people on phone. Nobody complained that I was talking gibberish so I was successflly communicating. :)

Biphasic sleep log - Day 14 - 3rd Feb

So, as you may remember we were going to monitor today's sleep closely, and I did.

Evening 3rd Feb:
I felt sleep dep all day, not severe but enough to be a factor in things. By the time nap time came around I was quite ready for it. And this is the beauty of the new routine that even though I got home about 1740, I was in bed by 1800, ready for the nap, and fell asleep in just a few minutes.

The nap was restful and I felt much better after it. The same feeling of being in-between sleeps was still there but I was awake and alert enough to do whatever I wanted. A bit of caffeine was part of the meal as I like tea with some foods.

Morning 4th Feb:
There was something remarkable about the core sleep tonight.

By the time 0100 rolled around, I was not overly tired but still sleepy enough to be able to go to bed. I went to bed a few minutes after 0100, I think it 0104. It didn't take me long to fall asleep, you'd see why.

I had a couple of dreams, but not one after the other, rather one inside the other. I dreamt that I was on my bed trying to sleep, and then somehow I started to have an OBE. That scared me and I "woke up" but that was yet another dream, or what is known as the False Awakening. FA is quite often (from what I have read) is an indicator of Lucid Dreams and/or instrumental in OBE. In this second dream or false "awake" condition I tried to look at the project time on the clock (that part is true, courtesy of my ex-gf, I have a projection clock that I look at when I wake up in the night), and there was no projection. This usually is considered a good chance to realize that you are in a dream and take control of it. I, however, made an excuse that we must have lost power several hours ago for the clock to run out of back-up battery power also, hence no projection. (The real clock has no battery power, only mains.)

I woke up from this second dream also, coming back into reality, however real this is, and looked at the projected time on the roof. This time the projection was there and time was 01:27!

So, in about 25 minutes, I fell asleep, entered REM state, had a dream, had a False Awakening and woke up. This bides really well for the time to come. :-)

If my body is entering REM state so quickly this means that:
1. I may be able to successfully reduce the total sleeping time to 4.5 hours at a later stage,
2. I might have some Lucid Dreams in the near future, if I stick to biphasic.
Sweet!

This morning, woke up by the alarm at 0555. I don't know why 10 minutes late, maybe I had snoozed the alarm without remembering it later, or it had been ringing for 10 minutes. Still, 10 minutes oversleep is not a worrisome matter.

Since, I was going to work from home today, I could have slept at least another 2 hours, but staying faithful to my biphasic schedule, I exercised my willpower (needed a truckload of this today!) and got up.

It's 15:27,  I have felt some light desire to sleep or nap, but not a big deal. It could be an effect of the weather as well which is cloudy and windy. Next nap in 2 hours 32 minutes!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 13 - 2nd Feb

This is an interesting log entry as this was a variation day. So, now we find out how biphasic handles deviation from plan within the first two weeks.

Last night I had a work thing after work so couldn't take my usual nap. I started back from London about 18:50 and was fine so far. I was thinking about doing a 20 minutes nap since my journey is too short for a 90 minute nap and anything in between 20 and 90 is not considered good. But I didn't get a good enough seat for a nap, plus the train was not one that ends at my station, it goes all the way to the coast. I was afraid I might oversleep and overshoot my station.

That would have been really bad because I would miss my guitar lesson.

During the guitar lesson I was fully awake, no struggling with sleep or sleep dep feeling.

At night, I had trouble staying up. Around 2200, I was started getting very hungry and also very sleepy. So, I did what any super-smart person would do. I had a couple of bananas and went to bed immediately so as to fall asleep before I could get hungry again. :-)

It was around 2245 that I actually went to bed and fell asleep very quickly. This is one good thing that I have got from biphasic, the ability to fall asleep quickly, both for the nap and the core sleep.

I had set the alarm for 0500, giving myself 6 hours to sleep, since I didn't have time to sleep for 7.5 hours which is advised for the deviation nights.

Waking up this morning was hard, but no more than yesterday. I do feel slightly tired, and more than a little sleepy but that could change during the day. I expect sleep dep today but what I really want to see is how long it takes for me to get back on track whether it would take only the next nap or the nap and core sleep or even more.

I plan to be sleep biphasic again today (and subsequent days) so observations will continue.

Look ma, no cables! - Android Web-based Market

Even before I get into the biphasic sleep log today, I MUST express my delight about the new web-based Android market.

I read about it on my Android tablet on the train, using a feed manager called Pulse. Google has launched it's web-based Android Market at http://market.android.com/ where Android users can buy application. I had been waiting for this to happen for a long time.

I just used it for a test app and wow! It's absolutely perfect! There are categorized apps, there is search, paid apps, free apps, games, reviews, related apps, basically everything a user could ask for. And unlike Apple, Google "does it right" the first time. As soon as I clicked Install on an app, it asked me to sign in first. Once I signed in, I was navigated back to the same page where I had to click Install again. The beautiful thing is, I own three Android devices and there was a drop-down list for me to choose where I wanted to install this app. With NO prior setup, it just had a list of all 3 of my devices!

I selected to install on my Desire HD and within a few seconds it was installed. Look ma, no cables!

This is going to be my new favourite website. Thank goodness there is a huge collection of free Android apps!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 12 - 1st Feb

Evening 1st Feb:I am sensing a pattern. I start getting gradually sleepy as I approach my sleep (nap or core sleep) time. I almost fell asleep in the train home today.

Nap: From 1830 to 2015. Woke up by alarm and felt like I need a much longer sleep. Became awake and alert after washing face, but the feeling of being in between sleeps is still there.

Morning 2nd Feb:
Woke up by the alarm at 0547. So, still on the program. It was still hard to make the decision to wake up and get up. This is the one thing I am looking to get rid of.

Results so far: I am usually quite awake and alert in the day. There is no feeling of sleep deprivation or tiredness that I'd have after sleeping only 6 hours of monophasic for 2 weeks. So, even in adaptation period I can say that it's an improvement over monophasic. As soon as I am sure that I have formed this habit fully, I will try to reduce time in some way. I still need more time from my day. I've been trying to even think of some way I could try Uberman.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 11 - 31st Jan

Evening 31st:
I missed my first train and got home about 1744. So, went to bed for the nap at 1830 instead of 1800. Set the alarm for 1945. I fell asleep much faster than 15 minutes I think. I don't remember twisting and turning much. It felt like my body was ready to sleep the moment my head hit the pillow, though it took a few minutes for my mind to quiet down.

The alarm seemed like an enemy when it went off and I think I even snoozed it once, for 8 minutes. But finally got up slightly before 20:00 and felt like I could have slept through till the morning.

It's 23:11 now and I still feel like I have a disturbed sleep even though I am awake and alert. I guess, it'll take more time to get used to this than I thought.

1st Feb Morning:

Oh, it was hard to wake up this morning. The alarm went off as expected at 05:45 and annoying as the beeping alarm is, it is effective. I wanted to sleep another 6-7 hours, but I got up.

Caffeine routine the same, only Chai Latte, nothing else. Alertness level good, soon after getting out of bed. No tiredness or anything. Don't really feel any sleep dep even though it was mighty hard to get out of bed in the morning.

I am thinking of adding some workout routine to my day now. I haven't been doing anything since I stopped going for a run when it got too cold outside, and I didn't want to add antoher reason to be tired while I was observing this experiment. But now I think is time. My options are - gym at the office, doing some push-type stuff at home, or using the Wii and Balance board that are just gathering dust so far.

I'd start something either this weekend or next week. I am delaying because I have a deviation planned for tomorrow morning. I won't be able to take my evening nap, so in order to sleep monophasic one night, I'd have to add an extra 1.5 hours and not sure how I'd feel on Thursday morning.

Dil Ki Baat - Blog Ke Saath

I have read somewhere that we bloggers think we are changing the world. Ridiculous notion, isn't it? I mean how egotistical can you get? But believe it or not, there are some bloggers in the blogosphere who have my utmost respect. Why? Because their thoughts move me or their analytical skills impress me or their way of expression inspires me...whatever the reason, I am always looking for new, fresh blogs to read, but unfortunately what you find when you search is mostly the commercial blogs and while I love reading what Google have to say, what I enjoy the most is personal blogs from people who philosophize about everything and nothing.

This morning, through a very round-about route, I came upon a blog that delighted me immensely. This girl writes about the simple things in life, her slant is usually heart-touching and positive. The blog is called Dil Ki Baat Blog ke Saath. Loosely translated it means - Using the Blog to Speak from the Heart.

Here is the link:
http://dilkibaatblogkesaath.blogspot.com/

Even though she is Indian and the blog is named in Hindi, she posts in English and is an absolute delight to read! The fact that you read my blog convinces me that you'd love hers! Highly recommended!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 10 - 30th Jan

Evening 30th:
I still have that feeling that I don't have enough time in the day. And as such even though my body is ready for the nap mentally I feel pressed for time. Felt this especially during this weekend.

As such today's nap was relatively uneventful. I was feeling quite sleepy right from 1730 so went to nap exactly at 1800 with an alarm for 1945.

Woke up at 1900 and got up. Got up because it felt like I had finished my nap, even though I looked at the time.

Morning 31st:


Woke up by the alarm right on the dot of 0545. Needless to say I had gone to bed as per my schedule at 0100 last night. Another things I had learned this weekend was that MP3 songs are slightly less effective as alarm on this schedule. So, last night I changed my alarm sound to beeps and it worked this morning.
The motivation to stay up was also from the pressure to get ready and go to work today.
Even though I was awake quickly, I am still not very alert as I was on Friday. I put it down to three reasons,

1. Monday morning

2. Lack of caffeine (Chai Latte is very weak in caffeine content)

3. Deviation from schedule on both weekend mornings.
I am happy to report that my cough is almost gone, so I don't need to deviate any more. And I don't have any caffeine withdrawal headache and don't exepct it.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 9 - 29th Jan

Evening 29th:
I was quite fine in the day but my business in the town took much longer than expected, then after coming back home and having something to eat I could get into bed at exactly 18:00.

I set two alarms today one for 1845 and one for 1945. I had been feeling a crunch of time, Saturday already gone and I had so much stuff to do that I hadn't even started on yet, so why not push this sleep thing further.

After last night's evidence of quick start of REM I was thinking let's try one of those 20 minute things. Plus, if I messed it up a bit and woke up really tired tomorrow from core sleep I had my Sunday to take a small or big nap in the day.

But it didn't work out like that. I hadn't even properly fallen asleep when the first alarm rang. I blame the cold bed which was just getting properly warm and comfortable. Since I had been out in the town, my hands and feet had been freezing cold.

So, I did what I had planned to do if I felt that I'd need more sleep. I turned the alarm off and went to sleep.

Then I woke up at 1955. My alarm was ringing, but it was the safe alarm. I had a vague recollection that the first alarm which plays an MP3 playlist, had played a song and I had easily slept through it even though I heard the song in my sleep.

No harm done. I had still slept less than 90 minutes so no oversleep issue. And I felt awake now, I just got up.

Conclusion: Let's continue biphasic strictly until it becomes the default mode for my body and then try to squeeze more time out of my day.

Morning 30th:
I am realizing something - there's a lot more to following biphasic than just going to bed at a certain time.

Had another bad night last night. It was my fault. Being busy in stuff, I didn't realize the time again and ate very late about midnight. Then even though I went to bed before 0100, I wasn't ready to sleep. So, I took another half an hour and then lay down to sleep, at 0130.

I didn't have so much cough tonight, but because of the late eating, I couldn't sleep. I saw 3 AM on the clock. Then after a while I did fall asleep. In the morning, although I woke up by the alarm, I didn't want to get up.

Part of it was the weekend feeling and part of it was the effect, psychological as well as physiological, of less sleep in the night. I woke up again about 0700 I think, and then again drifted off before I realized it. Finally about 0800, I decided to get up.

So, considering I slept after 3, it was not a long sleep, 5 hours or less. But lying awake in bed, in-between sleep and awake, that can't be good while training your body to enter REM state immediately.

So here's the plan. To keep following the schedule, but pay greater attention to eating times. Caffeine is already controlled with only tea with meals. Ah yes, I bet that was a big part of the problem last night. Hopefully, I'll have better results to report soon.

P.S. I did have long, vivid dreams, with very good recall in the morning. 

Biphasic sleep log - Day 8 - 28th Jan

Evening 28th:

Throughout the day I was a bit confused about my physical condition. Mentally I felt fully alert and awake, physically I felt a bit tired. And I kept thinking if could be the Lemsip Max still mixed with the refreshing dose of Vicks Cough syrup (has a little alcohol too) or it could be my changed sleeping pattern.

I did have the tiniest tiny bit of caffeine in the afternoon, but I think it was too small to affect anything. Here's how I know it was the tiniest.

You see,  I have figured out how to get just milk from the coffee machine. When I punch the code for Latte, it goes through the following process,
1. The cup falls down into the slot
2. It pours hot milk into the cup
3. It pours hot water into the cup
4. It pours a liquid mix of coffee into the cup
5. It beeps to let you know your drink is ready.

What I do is, to pull the cup out right after step two and there I have myself a cup of hot, sweet milk to enjoy with my mid-morning snack. Today I didn't want pure milk because of my cough, so I stuck the cup back in, at step 4 just for a fraction of a second.

And then too, I didn't finish it, I had only a few sips of it to finish my snack.

And that's how I am sure that my alertness was not aided by the caffeine. Good thing though, is that I am able to report that caffeine withdrawal symptoms were much less pronounced today. I had a slight headache around 10:00 or so when I usually used to have a Latte but it went away on its own within about an hour.

I had a short day today, so I was back home by 1600. But keeping my discipline about the schedule, did not go down for my nap until almost 18:00.

But something went wrong today with the nap. I went to bed at about 17:50 and I had the alarm set for 19.45, allowing me time to fall asleep and also a little time after the 90 minutes to see if I'd wake up before the alarm went off.

I think I woke up about 19:00 or before and thought I was supposed to be up. I looked at the alarm time, but as I might have mentioned I am useless at time arithmetic when I am half-asleep. From then I was between sleep and waking state until the alarm actually did go off. At that time I woke up and sat up.

One guess is that I might be getting to that stage where I don't really need a nap as long as 90 minutes. Esp. considering the psychological effect of reading so much about Uberman, Everyman and the fact that 20 minutes is the most effective time for napping.

At any rate, it's 21:22 and I am fully awake now, but a bit of sleep dep feeling is there. I would get more alert and less sleep dep in about an hour as I am most alert around that time of evening.

For this weekend, I am considering various options. One is to concede one morning's sleep for the sickness (just the cough/cold) and sleep as long as it feels good to sleep. Another option is to reduce the evening nap on the weekend and add another short 20 nap somewhere just to see how it feels.

And another option, of course is not to monkey with the experiment and just continue on strictly biphasic routine as usual. I am considering this the strongest option but we'll see how I feel tomorrow morning and might consider it prudent to sleep a couple of extra hours in the morning.

29th Morning
It was not a good night. Part of the problem for sure is the cough. It wakes me up if I get too much cough and that just messes with my mind.

Last night I forgot the time and it was 00:30 before I noticed. So, finally ended up on bed about 01:10. Set the alarm for 0600.  and tried to sleep.

I woke up at 0150.

And I remembered very definitely that I had been dreaming. I even remembered part of the dream. It was most definitely not hypnogogic imagery. Even in my just awake mind I was happy about that dream as that meant that my body is adapting to the biphasic way and entered REM state in less than 40 minutes!

Then I went back to sleep.

In the morning, I decided to sleep a couple more hours since I had had a slightly disturbed night even after 0150 and had been coughing.

So I finally woke up about 0810.

Conclusion and planning. I think I made the right decision about sleeping extra this morning as I have been coughing much less today and feel healthier and more alert. I didn't need a shower to fully wake me up.

I am quite happy that my body is adapting and after another week I will think about either stopping with this log or reduce frequency.

I am already thinking about trying some different combinations to reduce the amount of sleep I need per day, but reason says that I should live on biphasic for at least a month before doing anything fancy.

Since I had things to do today, it is now at 1518 that I am writing this and still I am out and about. The 18:00 nap time seems very near and I am thinking "Where did the day go?" I suspect it's the effect of having slept till 0800 today.

Tomorrow I plan to follow the program as usual. Same for the nap this evening.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 7 - 27th Jan

The day was quite okay, in terms of level of alertness. Caffeine dose today was only a tea I made myself in the morning. But there was no headache today. I did feel tired, like aching back and legs, that could have been from the caffeine withdrawal.

Was working from home, so more time in front of the computer and less breaks, but still didn't feel like I was too tired. Actually, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to fall asleep easily. Did some housework and that made me a little late for the planned 18:00. So I was in bed about 18:08.

Evening 27th:
The nap:
Last evening for the nap and later for core sleep I had followed the advice of other polyphasers to leave a small lamp on. Since all the lamps I have are too bright, I just left my TV on. No, no, don't get on my case yet, let me explain!

My second computer is connected to my 26" LCD TV by way of a VGA cable. I use it to watch movies, TV shows etc. etc. since I don't watch any live TV anyway. (These days my second laptop is down with Windows-itis so it's my 4th computer, my little UMPC that's performing this duty.) At night, I put this on blank screen screensaver so I can sleep. Last night I left it on, so it was a little more than a small lamp but less than a big lamp. Actually, I can reduce the brightness with a different wallpaper.

Anyway, I couldn't do it for the nap today as it was too bright for me and I was not too sleepy to begin with.

So going down at 1812 I set the alarm for 20.00.

Then I woke up at 19.35 and saw the time and tried to remember what time I was supposed to be up. It felt like I was coming out of core sleep until I saw the time (Most of my clocks including phone and laptops are in 24 hour format.)

Time arithmetic is never easy to do when my head is filled with woolly clouds. So, I tried to sleep couple more minutes then checked the set alarm time then finally just woke up. By 19.40 I was up. Feeling rested and fresh once I sat up.

And hungry, of course.

Time now is 20:30 I'll update this with next mornings findings before posting it. That's my usual practice, btw, even though I post in Day-long chunks, I type it after each part of the sleep in order to capture all the data that's fresh in my mind.


Morning 28th:
I don't know what happened there. I woke up before the alarm rang, exactly at 0545, but it took a LOT of willpower to keep my eyes open. It was the return of the "Let me sleep or kill me" feeling. Thankfully, it was Friday.

The only thing I can think of is, last night I took a gulp of Lemsip Max to fight off the cough/cold I have and it immediately made me drowsy. It must have some alcohol in it. I lay down about 0045 last night though I closed my eyes only at 0100. Fell asleep within about 15 minutes by my guess and this morning...still had that same drowsy/drunk kind of feeling.

I am considering treating this as a "sick" condition and taking a long sleep tomorrow not getting up until my body is ready. I figure by now I should be able to do that for one day without abandoning my schedule but I also had another plan to early morning tomorrow.

Further on today though, the drowsy feelings hasn't left me yet, even after my Chai and one hour of travel, so it could be more than just Lemsip, it could even be the accumulated sleep dep. We'll see how today goes.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 6 - 26th Jan

The day was okay, I had work and meetings so didn't have to fight off sleep but sleep dep was there in the form of some tiredness and in the head.

Got a headache from the second meeting, about 11 O'clock, but realized later that that must be from lack of caffeine. I hadn't had any coffee today, just a mild tea in the morning. But continued with headache and didn't feel too bad.

But just like yesterday it got worse as time passed. The cough added to the headache. Caffeine withdrawal might have given me the headache but at least I didn't have nausea today.

Was feeling pretty tired by 16:30 which is my leaving time but didn't try to nap in the train, sticking to the schedule for the time being.

At least once in my life I do want to try Uberman sleep pattern and see what it feels like to be awake 22 hours a day every day!

Nap:
Started at 1800, but of course, the cough was a factor. Still did fall asleep in about 20 minutes I think. Woke up faithfully by alarm about 1948. Felt sleepy of course, but I think it's more the seductive warmth of my bed then actual sleep that's hard to overcome. But I can't sleep without a warm bed either.

But still got up and had milk and toast for dinner. Which was a mistake. It's the safest fastest meal in cough and cold but I forgot to put a tea bag in it. That could have helped with the headache but oh well.

After a while felt the most alert and awake I have felt since I started this routine. Other than the headache, really felt that I had extra time.

One of the problems with reading about Polyphasic esp. Uberman is that I feel like Biphasic is trivial stuff. But can't really do Uberman or even Everyman while I am working full time. Though I do want to reduce the sleeping time under biphasic, maybe to 1.5 + 3.0 if possible. I might even try a triphasic combo though most people say they don't work.

I don't feel like sleeping 6 hours a day is a good use of the time, esp. when there are options like Uberman doing only 2 hours in the whole 24 hours a day.

Let's do some sleep arithmetic, shall we?

5 days in the week I sleep about 11 and get up about 6. If I get up at 5 to play or have breakfast, then I feel the sleep dep in a day or two. Not sustainable.
And still Friday evening I feel so tired I sleep about 1900 and sleep till about 0800 Sat morning. That's 13 hours.
Then Sat night I stay up late, usually till about 0100 or 0200 and sleep about 10 hours.

So, in a 7-day week I do..
5 days x 7 hours = 35 hours
Friday night = 13 hours
Sat night = 10 hours

That's a total of 58 hours.

With the new routine I will have 6 hours x 7 days = 42 hours. A net saving of 16 hours in a week. That's 2 working days every week! Combined with alertness, health benefits, energy levels, quality of sleep I think basic is well worth doing even at that saving.

Morning 27th Jan:

It's getting hard to assess progress now. I mean, hard to pinpoint and say how difficult it was to wake up. For example, this morning I was quite business-like - the alarm rang at 0545, I woke up, looked at the alarm, and propped up an elbow.

I did feel like I wanted a few more hours of sleep but I still got up. So, as I said, it might be getting easier, or it might be just today. I should mention again that I didn't have to go to office today so I could easily have slept 2 more hours without any issue.

On health side, cough is still there, and may be responsible for the slight headache, but other than that the energy level is good, I felt fully alert and awake even as I was brushing my teeth. Usually, after even 7-8 hours of monophasic I am about half-asleep for a couple of hours or until my shower, whichever is first.

The benefit I am looking forward to with biphasic, other than getting more time, is the eradication of the "let me sleep or kill me" feeling in the mornings. On the flip side is the joy I currently have in sleeping late on weekends, but who knows I might enjoy being up and at'em early when I have the energy and the drive for it.

These days I do enjoy, or used to enjoy, the Sat morning period of rolling over and going back to sleep several times until finally urge to check email would prevail over the desire to roll over one more time.

So, in short, with 6 days of the biphasic experiment gone, things are still good.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 5 - 25th Jan

Evening 25th:

Energy levels during the day were fine, though there was the undercurrent of sleep dep. Maybe reading about polyphasic adds to the feeling of sleep dep. I had meetings and other work to keep me busy so that was good to distract me, but it got worse as the day wore on.

By the time I got home I was ready to puke. Maybe some of that was from the cough though I am not very sure.

Was home at 1738 with a plan to sleep at 1800. I did get into bed but couldn't sleep quickly. That WAS the coughing. I'd get to the hypnogogic stage and then start coughing waking myself up. That went on for half an hour then I changed the alarm to get up 90 minutes from then.

Did get up in 90 minutes by the alarm and felt better for the rest but not entirely rested. The nausea was a little better but not entirely gone and forgotten. Two things help me get up from the nap, 1 the fact that I have another sleep coming in a few hours and 2, that I will be at home between now and next sleep doing anything I like - eating, games, TV, no work crap.

Feeling a bit tired, esp. my back.

Bought medicine from London so as to thwart the cold before it takes hold and messes up my plans.

Have cancelled guitar class for tomorrow evening, I am no good in the evening these days. Secondly, don't want to miss another evening nap during this adaptation period.

Morning 26th:
Last night wrapped everything up and was in bed by 00:44. Set the alarm for 05:30 with 15 minutes of falling asleep time as usual. But we all know it doesn't work that easily!


Didn't fall asleep till about 0100 at which time I applied some Vicks Vaporub to the throat as it was again the cough that was pulling me back from the hypnogogic stage.

Saw the time but didn't change the alarm. Thankfully, fell asleep soon after, maybe 5 minutes or so.

0535: Woke up by the ringing alarm. I should mention that I use only one alarm on my phone. My problem is not usually in opening my eyes, but actually closing them again after turning the alarm off.

This morning was the same. I opened my eyes easily, and it did feel like the end of a sleep cycle. But the effort it took to not close them again...! Again it was not the thought of work that made me stay awake but the thought of how much I have already invested in this biphasic endeavour.

Warm shower felt really good and woke me up much better. Chai at the station instead of coffee again though I am thinking of staying away from all caffeine for the rest of the day. I had a strong Costa cafe latte yesterday late morning, and I think it might have contributed to the nausea.

Planning to drink more fluids though, water, Lucozade, cough syrup..:)

The feeling today is not an underlying sleep dep but a full on one. Still I would not say it's very strong. My eyes are not hurting, but it feels like if I blink for too long I'd fall asleep.

I have work and meetings today too so we'll see how it goes. One thing I can tell you, I started waiting for the evening nap right after I woke up this morning.

I am worried about tomorrow as I am working from home and it'll be much harder to fight off sleep.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 4 - 24th Jan

Let me start with the day. In the morning, I was a bit tired, not much to count, but as the day progressed, I felt more and more sleep deprived. It could be psychosomatic effect of reading too much about Uberman sleep schedule etc.

By the time I got home, at 1830, I was well ready for my nap. So went to bed at 1900, with an alarm for 2045. Woke up at 2048 by the alarm and didn't know which way up was the sky. Got up as per the plan, but it was hard. I was not only tired but the nausea I was feeling before as a result of sleep dep was worse.

I have had a slightly sore throat since Sunday morning, today it was worse, and I have cough, so that would be adding to it. I really can't afford a cold right now otherwise following PureDoxyK's advice I'd have to stop with biphasic for the time being. Definitely don't wanna waste my already spent effort. I am on day 4, almost halfway through the adjustment period. :-D

Planning to take some vitamin C to avoid the fate worse than death - cold!

Morning:

Okay, I can see that things are going to get interesting.
I had the alarm set for 0545. But I woke up at 0522. Feeling completely tired and very much in need of sleep. Tried to decide if I want to sleep till the alarm or this is the right time to wake up as it would be the end of a cycle.
It didn't seem like the end of a cycle judging from how deeply in the grips of sleep I felt. Then I blinked!
It was 0548 and the alarm was ringing. It took a lot more willpower than yesterday to prop an elbow and decide that I will be getting up. And today it was not about work at all, I could have slept another hour easily, it was all about biphasic today!
I think the one thing that did motivate me was to not waste the effort I have already invested in this endeavour. Still, I can't guarantee that I can perform the same superhuman feat tomorrow morning.

No, I am not giving up. I will try my best to do this tomorrow as well, but I can see it's getting harder. Hopefully, only for a couple of days before it starts to get a bit easier.

Another thing that helps (I am listing them all just in case it can help someone else in a similar situation), is to remember that I had just as hard a time (or harder) when getting up after a "normal" night. When I try to do any of my personal projects done, I don't get more than 6 hours of sleep, usually less.
And everybody knows that 6 hours of normal sleep is not the same as 6 hours of biphasic.
Energy level today, quite low, though a warm shower helped.

At the station got my drink. I have changed to Chai Latte since yesterday which is weaker than Latte but it still helped.

The cough is still there. I had ginger tea last night. It might have helped but I also had an omelette so maybe they canceled each other out. I really, really hope I don't get a cold. Even used a scarf today to wrap my throat.


Normal morning feeling was definitely with heavy sleep dep overtones, but coffee helped. Fortunately I have lots of work today so I wouldn't be battling boredom and sleep dep at the same time. That's a deadly combo.

Regardless of whether this experiment works or not, at some point in my life, when my schedule allows it, I plan to try the Uberman or Everman sleep schedule. But for now, let's stick to Biphasic.