So in my last post I said I was going to give this sleep schedule another week to try and get it done, but I'm deciding tonight that I think I'm going to cut it short. I'll definitely be giving this another try sometime in the future, but I'm going to make sure that when I do I don't have stuff to do while adjusting(attend classes, do homework, etc) I decided to end it early for a couple of reasons, but mostly because of all the classes I've missed and because I think I'm getting sick. I wasn't feeling well last night, so decided to just sleep all night. Woke up around 5:30 and I'm not feeling very good.
I'll be trying this again sometime in the future, and I'll probably use this blog again when I do. Thanks to everyone for the comments and advice and all the support from everyone.
G'night.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Dymaxion Sleep Schedule - Day 12
Well I overslept again today. A lot. Went to sleep around 4am and didn't get up until almost 9:30am. I would've been up earlier but I slept through my alarms and my roommate forgot to set his. We both missed our morning classes. oops. Then at 11am, I started to get up after 30 mins of sleep, but rolled over and slept for another 45 mins or so. 5pm and 11pm naps went fine though.
So I've realized I need to either fix this oversleeping problem or go back to a regular sleep schedule. I've missed my morning chem class four times now. Next week, we have a weird 2 day break before the weekend, so Sunday of that weekend I'll make my final decision on if I'll stay on with this or not. 9 more days to try and fix oversleeping in the morning. I'm thinking that during Thanksgiving Break I could give this another shot if it doesn't work out now. I'll have about a week then to do it, and we're not doing any travelling so it wouldn't be too difficult to do I think.
I hate making such short entries, but I can never remember to write what I wanted to write. Short entry tonight I suppose.
So I've realized I need to either fix this oversleeping problem or go back to a regular sleep schedule. I've missed my morning chem class four times now. Next week, we have a weird 2 day break before the weekend, so Sunday of that weekend I'll make my final decision on if I'll stay on with this or not. 9 more days to try and fix oversleeping in the morning. I'm thinking that during Thanksgiving Break I could give this another shot if it doesn't work out now. I'll have about a week then to do it, and we're not doing any travelling so it wouldn't be too difficult to do I think.
I hate making such short entries, but I can never remember to write what I wanted to write. Short entry tonight I suppose.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Dymaxion Sleep Schedule - Day 10+11
I forgot to post yesterday oops. I'm not so good at this bloggity thing.
So Day 10 was pretty normal. Overslept at 5am and missed my morning chemistry class again. The rest of the day was the same as the previous several days. Then between Day 10's 11pm nap and Day 11's 5am nap, my roommate and I decided to go get some Steak 'n' Shake at about 1:30 in the morning. I have now gone there twice this year, both times between midnight and 5am. There's something about their food that just makes it tastier in the middle of the night.
I had been torn most of yesterday, deciding how I was going to sleep that night. I had a Calculus test Thursday morning at 6:45am and wasn't sure if I should get a good nights sleep or hope I don't oversleep. I decided to just set all my alarms and hope I woke up in time. I set my alarms for 6am, woke up at 6, got out of bed and sat in a chair, and fell back asleep for another 20 minutes. I made it to the test on time and did fine on that. Since I only got 2 hours of sleep then(compared to most oversleeping days of getting closer to 4 or 5 hours at least) I've been very tired all day. After the test, I had my chemistry lab at 9am and it went until 11:15am. So I was a bit late for my nap, but I still was able to get in 30 minutes before my Theology class. In the afternoon, I was started to get tired around 3:30, and by 4:30 I was considering taking my 5pm nap a bit early. I got up and walked around my dorm a bit instead, and just napped at 5 as usual. Almost the exact same thing happened with my 11pm nap, feeling very tired about 30 minutes prior. Now it's just about midnight of Day 11 and I feel mostly awake after my nap.
When I was researching this sort of sleep schedule, everyone that tried it said that they would eat more because the body uses more energy to be awake 22 hours a day. I can say that this is definitely true. I've pretty much gotten into the habit of waking up and eating a meal, even after my 11pm nap. Although usually for late night, I have to pick something up during the day and keep it in the fridge. Also I've found that I'm craving fresh fruit since doing this. I had some strawberries a few nights ago. I haven't had strawberries since I was single digit years old. So tasty.
Thanks to all the people that gave me advice on waking up. I was able to use some of it, and I think it helped me get up for the calc test.
~5 hours until the next nap(and hopefully no oversleeping)
So Day 10 was pretty normal. Overslept at 5am and missed my morning chemistry class again. The rest of the day was the same as the previous several days. Then between Day 10's 11pm nap and Day 11's 5am nap, my roommate and I decided to go get some Steak 'n' Shake at about 1:30 in the morning. I have now gone there twice this year, both times between midnight and 5am. There's something about their food that just makes it tastier in the middle of the night.
I had been torn most of yesterday, deciding how I was going to sleep that night. I had a Calculus test Thursday morning at 6:45am and wasn't sure if I should get a good nights sleep or hope I don't oversleep. I decided to just set all my alarms and hope I woke up in time. I set my alarms for 6am, woke up at 6, got out of bed and sat in a chair, and fell back asleep for another 20 minutes. I made it to the test on time and did fine on that. Since I only got 2 hours of sleep then(compared to most oversleeping days of getting closer to 4 or 5 hours at least) I've been very tired all day. After the test, I had my chemistry lab at 9am and it went until 11:15am. So I was a bit late for my nap, but I still was able to get in 30 minutes before my Theology class. In the afternoon, I was started to get tired around 3:30, and by 4:30 I was considering taking my 5pm nap a bit early. I got up and walked around my dorm a bit instead, and just napped at 5 as usual. Almost the exact same thing happened with my 11pm nap, feeling very tired about 30 minutes prior. Now it's just about midnight of Day 11 and I feel mostly awake after my nap.
When I was researching this sort of sleep schedule, everyone that tried it said that they would eat more because the body uses more energy to be awake 22 hours a day. I can say that this is definitely true. I've pretty much gotten into the habit of waking up and eating a meal, even after my 11pm nap. Although usually for late night, I have to pick something up during the day and keep it in the fridge. Also I've found that I'm craving fresh fruit since doing this. I had some strawberries a few nights ago. I haven't had strawberries since I was single digit years old. So tasty.
Thanks to all the people that gave me advice on waking up. I was able to use some of it, and I think it helped me get up for the calc test.
~5 hours until the next nap(and hopefully no oversleeping)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Dymaxion Sleep Schedule - Days 6 through 9
Been forgetting to update this a bit. Sorry sorry etc. Although not much has changed really. Been following the schedule pretty well, except that I keep oversleeping at 5am. I've decided that I'm going to try changing the schedule a bit. Normal naps at 11am, 5pm, and 11pm. But then instead of a 30 minute nap at 5am, I was thinking of sleeping from 4am to 7am. If I can get easily adjusted to this, then I'll slowly shorten the 3 hour sleep period and get it down to just 30 minutes from 5-5:30.
I've thought about taking a break from trying to change my sleep schedule for a bit to re-adjust to what I was doing before(sleeping from 10 or 11pm until 6am). If I re-train my body to automatically wake up at 6am, that could possibly help with the oversleeping problem I'm having. What I think is happening now is that my body isn't sure when to wake up in the morning(the alarms I have just aren't waking me up. Sadface.) so I just end up waking up whenever. This morning, that whenever was 10am. Any other day of the week, and I would have been missing class.
If anyone has any ideas about what to do to wake up on time, please share your ideas with me. Right now I have my phone on vibrate in my pocket(this can usually wake me up, but for some reason it just doesn't work at the 5am nap time), and I have two audio alarms(one alarm clock and one on my ipod). I've heard that telling yourself how long you want to sleep before you go to sleep works(so saying "I will wake up in 30 minutes" before I nap). I tried it a few times, and I have no idea if it works or not.
As a side note, Blogger gives me a bunch of random stats. I just have to say, how dare 4% of readers use Internet Explorer. Get a real web browser, 4%.
As a side note, Blogger gives me a bunch of random stats. I just have to say, how dare 4% of readers use Internet Explorer. Get a real web browser, 4%.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Dymaxion Sleep Schedule - Day 5
So I ran into a major setback last night. I was a little late for my 11pm nap(got back at 11:20 so was going to go from 11:30-12:00.) and when I woke up, it was 7:20am. I know I set an alarm I think. I'm going to keep trying to adjust and will continue with normally scheduled naps today. I think my problem yesterday was, was that in my naps I wasn't able to get to sleep at 11am or 5pm. I really hope to get this schedule fully adjusted to soon. Lately I've generally felt pretty tired in the mornings and have missed class a few times due to oversleeping. Once I'm adjusted, I should be fine though.
I found an interesting book on Polyphasic sleep. It's "Why We Nap: Evolution, Chronobiology, and functions of polyphasic and ultrashort sleep." I've only read a bit of it so far, but it's got some pretty interesting stuff. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying that a normal monophasic sleep schedule is "a deplorable regression to the primitive state of the caveman." Also, some types of dolphins never fully go to sleep. Half their brain sleeps for an hour, then the other half sleeps for an hour, then they're fully awake for a hour. They repeat that 3 hour cycle during the night instead of stopping to sleep. So far the book has only really talked about reasons that might be why humans are almost exclusively monophasic. Overall pretty interesting.
I found an interesting book on Polyphasic sleep. It's "Why We Nap: Evolution, Chronobiology, and functions of polyphasic and ultrashort sleep." I've only read a bit of it so far, but it's got some pretty interesting stuff. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying that a normal monophasic sleep schedule is "a deplorable regression to the primitive state of the caveman." Also, some types of dolphins never fully go to sleep. Half their brain sleeps for an hour, then the other half sleeps for an hour, then they're fully awake for a hour. They repeat that 3 hour cycle during the night instead of stopping to sleep. So far the book has only really talked about reasons that might be why humans are almost exclusively monophasic. Overall pretty interesting.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Dymaxion Sleep Schedule - Day 4
So after oversleeping(a lot) for the 5am nap and skipping the 11am nap, I took normal naps at 5pm and 11pm. 5pm nap was no problem, but I had slept so much in the morning I couldn't get to sleep for the 11pm nap. I set three alarms for my 5am-5:30 nap,but still overslept until about 7:30. I'm thinking that I might adjust this Dymaxion schedule to be more like an Everyman schedule. Everyman is where you get a few hours of 'core sleep' at night and then take 3 naps throughout the day. I'm going to try some more stuff to see if I can get on this Dymaxion schedule. 5am oversleeping is really my only obstacle right now.
Today I'm definately feeling some effects of sleep deprivation. My eyes are very tired and have a bit of trouble focusing on something for too long, I feel rather irritable, and I'm just generally tired. I tried reading something on Wikipedia just now and my brain didn't like that so it stopped paying attention. Even in typing this, I'm having a hard time focusing on this post. I just switched to a different window and got distracted by the internets. If this is anything like how I was earlier in the week, I should be mostly fine after the 11am nap.
Today I'm definately feeling some effects of sleep deprivation. My eyes are very tired and have a bit of trouble focusing on something for too long, I feel rather irritable, and I'm just generally tired. I tried reading something on Wikipedia just now and my brain didn't like that so it stopped paying attention. Even in typing this, I'm having a hard time focusing on this post. I just switched to a different window and got distracted by the internets. If this is anything like how I was earlier in the week, I should be mostly fine after the 11am nap.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Dymaxion Sleep Schedule - Day 3
(The first part of this was typed last night, the second part was done today. )
Overslept my 5am nap again. This time woke up nearly 3 hours late and missed my morning Chemistry class(oops). Tonight I'm going to try sleeping in a comfy chair we have to see if that helps me not sleep so long. At 11 got a bit of sleep, but not the full half hour, most likely because I slept in so late.
We have too much comfy furniture in our room. Between the 11pm and 5am naps there isn't much to do in the dorm or around town so I'm usually just at my computer. Thankfully, the chair I usually sit in is uncomfortable(no unexpected naps!). Although sometimes it's tempting to sit on my bed or on our futon or on our comfy chair. Although I know that if I do I'll probably fall asleep. Almost happened around 3am last night. Sat in our comfy chair and closed my eyes for a few minutes, but got up before going to sleep.
That part I said about no unexpected naps in this chair? I lied. Last night I fell asleep at my computer around 2am and woke up around 4am. I was so dead tired I set my alarm for 5:30 and just laid down in bed. Slept through the alarm and woke up at 8 and went to my Chemistry lab. Then Chem lab took longer than expected(45 extra mins) and so I didn't get back to my room until almost noon. I wasn't sure if I should take a later nap or not. I decided not to, since I slept for something like 6 hours this morning. Normal naps will resume at 5pm and 11pm.
I've been thinking about switching off a Dymaxion schedule and to another type of Polyphasic sleep. The other two I'm aware of are the Uberman(six 20 minute naps, 4 hours apart each) and the Everyman(a few hours of 'core sleep' in the early morning, plus three naps throughout the day). I'm not sure I could do Uberman simply because of my class schedule this semester. If I go a few more days and keep oversleeping at the 5am nap time, I might switch it to Everyman schedule. I'll give Dymaxion a few more days though.
Overslept my 5am nap again. This time woke up nearly 3 hours late and missed my morning Chemistry class(oops). Tonight I'm going to try sleeping in a comfy chair we have to see if that helps me not sleep so long. At 11 got a bit of sleep, but not the full half hour, most likely because I slept in so late.
We have too much comfy furniture in our room. Between the 11pm and 5am naps there isn't much to do in the dorm or around town so I'm usually just at my computer. Thankfully, the chair I usually sit in is uncomfortable(no unexpected naps!). Although sometimes it's tempting to sit on my bed or on our futon or on our comfy chair. Although I know that if I do I'll probably fall asleep. Almost happened around 3am last night. Sat in our comfy chair and closed my eyes for a few minutes, but got up before going to sleep.
That part I said about no unexpected naps in this chair? I lied. Last night I fell asleep at my computer around 2am and woke up around 4am. I was so dead tired I set my alarm for 5:30 and just laid down in bed. Slept through the alarm and woke up at 8 and went to my Chemistry lab. Then Chem lab took longer than expected(45 extra mins) and so I didn't get back to my room until almost noon. I wasn't sure if I should take a later nap or not. I decided not to, since I slept for something like 6 hours this morning. Normal naps will resume at 5pm and 11pm.
I've been thinking about switching off a Dymaxion schedule and to another type of Polyphasic sleep. The other two I'm aware of are the Uberman(six 20 minute naps, 4 hours apart each) and the Everyman(a few hours of 'core sleep' in the early morning, plus three naps throughout the day). I'm not sure I could do Uberman simply because of my class schedule this semester. If I go a few more days and keep oversleeping at the 5am nap time, I might switch it to Everyman schedule. I'll give Dymaxion a few more days though.
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