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Originally Posted by SnitchyCat  In polyphasic sleeping, if you are trying to do 20 minute naps, should one set the alarm for twenty minutes after lying down or should fall asleep time be counted in too? I.E., if it takes me 5 or 10 minutes to fall asleep should I set an alarm for 25 or 30 minutes, or is the falling asleep time included as part of the "nap?" |
The idea is to get a 20 minute nap, so you set the alarm for 25-30 minutes to account for the time it takes to fall asleep.
There is no universal "best" time. Every person's body and mind work differently -- obviously, you knew that. But if you browse the polyphasic sleep Google group, you'll find that people report quite a range of numbers: some people find that 20 minutes (alarm time) is the golden number, others 22 or 25. One person reported that dropping the time from 20 minutes to 17 gave her a bit of a boost.
Eventually, many people drop the alarm time down to 22/23 and find that to be rather successful.
Even still, you have to find what works best for you. Personally, my body has been giving me lots of 10-minute REM naps, which seems very unusual. I wake up before the alarm (by 10 minutes) and freak out thinking I overslept. I get up and check the clock and sure enough, I only slept for 10 minutes, despite having a vivid dream. I usually just stay up, going about my day, bragging to myself about the possibility of being the first uber-Uberman who gets 1 hour of sleep a day
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