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deathsushi · 08-25-2009, 03:36 PM

Now that I'm sleeping biphasically, this cycle is shattered. The first key is that I am always aware of what time I go to bed, and what time I need to get up in order to ensure that I get three full cycles of sleep (at 90 minutes a cycle, that is 4.5 hours). By doing this, I'm ensuring that I never have my alarm go off and wake me up in the middle of REM sleep, and this is the situation that leads to you feeling completely blindsided when that alarm goes off. Getting woken in your REM sleep is the worst thing that you can do, as it robs you of the most important part of your sleep, and precludes your body from going through it's natural process of gradually coming out of that deep, deep slumber. Even if I stay up late, I don't need to worry about sleeping in through my day; even if I don't get into bed until 4:00AM, the latest I'm going to get up is 9:00 the next morning (allowing myself 30 minutes to fall asleep, and then 4.5 hours of actual sleep). I know this sounds ridiculous, but I actually feel like I've leveled up. Being in control of my sleep, and not the other way around, is amazing.

This is a significant discovery for me, and I think coming to this conclusion is enough reason for me to adopt and maintain this habit beyond the end of the experiment (which will be over in two more weeks).

Although initially I was concerned that having to nap would play havoc with my scheduling, it has not been an issue so far. So far I have been able to shift my nap as needed within about a four-hour window, which is quite a lot of leeway. I would not want to leave my nap much later than this, as I would start to feel a dip in energy (though probably less so than the middle of the day on a monophasic sleep schedule), and I would be pushing my nap and the next phase of my core sleep pretty close together. To really remain consistent, it is ideal to have your nap half-way between your previous and next core phases of sleep. I currently am not working (taking the time off to prepare for the Fall, when school will start), so I have the luxury of a fairly open schedule. I will have to see how and when I can fit napping into my schedule come the start of school, but unless there is something drastic preventing me from doing so, I will be aiming to maintain this new habit.

This marks the end of my first week of experimentation with biphasic sleeping, and the end of the first set of journaling. Although I had originally planned to publish the entire journal at the end of three weeks, this starting to reach a good length, and I think it makes more sense to publish on a weekly basis. I will continue to keep journals for the remaining two weeks, so keep it locked if you find this subject matter interesting.

08-25-2009, 03:36 PM	#296 (permalink)
deathsushi Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 3	Biphasic sleeping (cont'd) Now that I'm sleeping biphasically, this cycle is shattered. The first key is that I am always aware of what time I go to bed, and what time I need to get up in order to ensure that I get three full cycles of sleep (at 90 minutes a cycle, that is 4.5 hours). By doing this, I'm ensuring that I never have my alarm go off and wake me up in the middle of REM sleep, and this is the situation that leads to you feeling completely blindsided when that alarm goes off. Getting woken in your REM sleep is the worst thing that you can do, as it robs you of the most important part of your sleep, and precludes your body from going through it's natural process of gradually coming out of that deep, deep slumber. Even if I stay up late, I don't need to worry about sleeping in through my day; even if I don't get into bed until 4:00AM, the latest I'm going to get up is 9:00 the next morning (allowing myself 30 minutes to fall asleep, and then 4.5 hours of actual sleep). I know this sounds ridiculous, but I actually feel like I've leveled up. Being in control of my sleep, and not the other way around, is amazing. This is a significant discovery for me, and I think coming to this conclusion is enough reason for me to adopt and maintain this habit beyond the end of the experiment (which will be over in two more weeks). Although initially I was concerned that having to nap would play havoc with my scheduling, it has not been an issue so far. So far I have been able to shift my nap as needed within about a four-hour window, which is quite a lot of leeway. I would not want to leave my nap much later than this, as I would start to feel a dip in energy (though probably less so than the middle of the day on a monophasic sleep schedule), and I would be pushing my nap and the next phase of my core sleep pretty close together. To really remain consistent, it is ideal to have your nap half-way between your previous and next core phases of sleep. I currently am not working (taking the time off to prepare for the Fall, when school will start), so I have the luxury of a fairly open schedule. I will have to see how and when I can fit napping into my schedule come the start of school, but unless there is something drastic preventing me from doing so, I will be aiming to maintain this new habit. This marks the end of my first week of experimentation with biphasic sleeping, and the end of the first set of journaling. Although I had originally planned to publish the entire journal at the end of three weeks, this starting to reach a good length, and I think it makes more sense to publish on a weekly basis. I will continue to keep journals for the remaining two weeks, so keep it locked if you find this subject matter interesting.