[LesGawn]

Hi everyone.

I have been fascinated to read about all the experiences people have had with polyphasic sleep. I have been determined for some time to improve the way I use sleep to increase productivity and well-being.

What helps is an ability to sleep virtually anywhere almost on cue.

Before the experiment I would routinely fall asleep within minutes, sometimes seconds of switching out the light and putting my head on the pillow. My wife would often think I was joking when I was so quickly under.

At various times I have also enjoyed naps - and could usually be off within minutes, conscious of REM when I awoke 10 to 15 minutes later.

I regularly 'doze off' in the evening - particularly in front of the television. My greatest 'claim to fame' though was a family trip to the cinema to watch 'Pirates of the Caribbean II'. Despite the noise of the sound track I slept (verified by my wife and my 12-year old nephew) for about an hour and 40 minutes of it!

I also decided that my love for strong ground coffee was going to complicate things so I switched to decaffeinated and no other caffeine other than weak tea about two weeks before the new sleep routine.

In determining which sleep pattern to adopt, I realised that full Dymaxion / Uberman 6 X 20 was not going to be practical.

The best fit for me was the 3-hour block with 3 supplemental naps. To help, I created a spreadsheet showing my sleep times and how tired I felt on a scale of 1 (least) to 5 (most) in between.

I began my schedule on Saturday 6th January 2008.

Initial adjustment did not seem too hard - started off with ...

Main Sleep Block 3-6; then 20-30 minute naps in late morning, (10:30) mid afternoon, (2:30) late evening. 10:30).

I wasn't 100% rigid from the start as I was determined to see if I could find a natural rhythm within a range of times - focussing on good quality naps when I did take them and moved rapidly to Main 4:30 - 7:30 with naps at around 12:30, 6:00 and 11:30.

I missed my midday nap completely on day 6 and I overslept at the end of the morning by an hour on days 7 and 8.

Now I am on day 9, and feel I have hit a wall. Last night I just could not get up again at midnight, so decided to continue and take my 3 hours then. Great - woke up just a few minutes before my alarm.

For the first hour quite alert - but during the last couple (it is now 5:15 am) I have felt physically nauseous with the effort of staying awake. This is where the ability to sleep sitting up in a chair is possibly a bit of a disadvantage. I am also feeling cold - something I rarely have a problem with and even getting up and moving around the house a bit (being careful not to wake wife, father-in-law or 3 dogs of course) has had only a limited effect. A chocolate bar and another walk around just now seem to have lifted me slightly from the absolute pit - but this is a major struggle today!

I will add to this post to report further, but at the moment am feeling a bit desperate!