Polyphasic Sleep Day 30 the conclusion
Posted by Chris on September 24, 2009
Day 30. I made it all the way through with only 3 or 4 really bad over sleeps. Today I got woke up at 2:35 by my backup alarm clock. I had my regular alarm (iphone) in my hand and didn't even know it. I thought that was a pretty funny start into day 30.
Now I know 30 days isn't enough to really judge polyphasic sleep but i will give my 30 day point of view analysis here. Note that these are pertaining to my self and others may have different results.
Monophasic: On average people sleep anywhere from 6 - 10 hours on a normal monophasic sleep schedule. In my case id say i used to sleep 8 hours on average. But just because its monophasic and normal doesn't mean its perfect. I had plenty of days where i woke up tired after 8 hours of sleep.
Theoretical average productive hours = 16
Actual average productive hours =14.5
Basically i think sleeping in on weekends and sometimes 9 - 10 hour nights during weekdays brings monophasics # down to 14.5 hours for me.
Biphasic:(siesta)
Just before i started the polyphasic experiment i tried the Siesta sleep for about a week or so. It worked very well for me in that time frame, but of course i don't have any long term data. On average you sleep a 6 hour core and a 20 - 30 minute nap some time during the day. Very flexible and still good gains over a monophasic sleep schedule.
Theoretical average productive hours = 17.5
Actual average productive hours =17
I was very impressed with it for the short time i tried it.
Polyphasic:(everyman3)
I cant really say much about uberman or the other everymen because i have not tried them. I imagine everyman2 (4.5 core 2x 20min naps) may be pretty good. And I might try it some day, but for now ill get into everyman3. On everyman3 you take a 3 hour core nap and then 3 20 minute naps spaced evenly through out the day. This should give a good hourly gain while still giving some flexibility in napping.
Theoretical average productive hours = 20
Actual average productive hours =17.5
Yes, at this point in time im only getting about 17.5 hours worth of actual productive time. Here is the reason why. Tiredness: I fall asleep during my naps and dream like I'm asleep for days. I take all 3 of my naps and my core but I'm still tired when i wake up at 2 am. On average when i haven't oversleep within the past 2 days. I will be tired for at least 1 hour after waking up and at least 30 mins before the first nap.
So there is 1.5 hours right there. Then there is the matter of accounting for falling asleep time during the naps and core. I give each nap 5 mins and the core 10. that ads up to 25 mins. And finally i get tired before each nap and start to loose focus so that's another 10 mins of tired time per nap(noon,5pm and core) adding up to 30 minutes. When its all set and done I spend 2 hours per day tired and unable to focus and 25 minutes trying to fall asleep.
Overall its still a huge gain over Monophasic sleep but it is unclear if its much of an improvement over the siesta sleep(0.5 hours gained vs only taking 1 nap). I will continue with everyman3 for another 15 - 30 days to see if i adapt better and reduce that tired time. If there is no improvement i will probably try the everyman2.
Any experienced polyphasic sleeper input would be appreciated.
Comments
3 Responses to “Polyphasic Sleep Day 30 the conclusion”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
This is a very interesting and useful analysis! I look forward to seeing your 60 day comments. I tried polyphasic a little while ago (Everyman3) and failed and am seriously considering it again very soon. When I was in university I slept a form of polyphasic with a core of about 3 hours and 2-4 naps a day, depending on how I felt. Probably slept about 4.5 hours a day on average and was always productive. I never used an alarm and woke up in less than five minutes fully alert! It was the only time in my life that I slept on my natural schedule rather than society’s.
Congratulations on making it to day 30!
My biggest issue with the polyphasia experiments I see on the internet is that they seem to advocate an overnight (pun intended) switch. My opinion is that this shocks people’s body undue stress. Really, I think that the adaption period should probably be around three weeks to a month, during which the mono sleep is slowly shortened and naps added during the day.
I’ve done uberman in college for about a month and after I graduated I did everyman 3.5 for around five months. Now, about a year and a half later, my schedule has gotten very busy and I’ve always been curious as to whether polyphasia is adaption to the periods of sleep or just an adaption to the amount. I also wanted to test the gradual adaption. Every day I dropped around 20-30 minutes off of my sleep and every three or four days, I added thirty minutes. I’m at 3.5 hours a night, my goal is to reach three. No naps.
I feel about as good now as I did when I was fully adapted to everyman in less than half the time. What’s more, I felt the same throughout the entire process, with the exception of a few days towards the beginning.
I would recommend feeling free to add a half an hour to the days where you feel exceptionally tired. After thirty days, I’m sure you recognize the difference between when you wake up a bit tired and those hell mornings where all light is painful and it feels like you’re swimming in jello. I personally try to remain awake for at least forty-five minutes before adding the half hour; I’m trying to train my body. When I wake up, I usually still feel pretty bad, but it seems to go away somewhere around 9 am, unlike in my previous attempts where it would be a constant battle to make it through the day. And after I drop back down the next day, I feel as if this amount of sleep is just normal.
Just my two cents. Good luck!
Hey, Great comment kiyote. Your right on with most of what your saying. Before i started i read all the popular successful polyphasic blogs and thought hey this sounds easy. Everyone was adapted within 2 weeks or so haha. By the end of the first week i had rings under my eyes at work and quite a few times blood shot eyes too. Maybe a slower approach would work better for some.
The swimming in jello reminded me of something that happened recently at like 4am or so. It was one of those tired days. I was sitting in my chair with my headphones on blasting loud music. Had a glass of ice water in my hand and was sipping on it. All of the sudden i hear this clonk noise…
Yes, i fell asleep and the noise was the water glass falling on the carpet spilling all the water. I then decided that i was just a little to tired to even bother and took a 30 min nap after which i felt pretty good.