Polyphasic sleeping - help waking up

[hobbes01721]

So I decided to try a polyphasic sleeping cycle, since my sleep cycle was screwed up anyway. I decided to do 4 naps a day at 30 mins a nap, since at times I'm required to be up for more than 4 hours at a time. I figured that'd be better to suit my schedule. The first day went great, but after that I haven't had a nap that lasted less than an hour. Any suggestions on waking up?

I usually use my cell phone which is just the phone ringing, is there an online alarm clock that I can get that's fairly useful, or a downloadable one?

If it helps I'm at school but I have a single room, so I can nap whenever it's necessary, and I don't need to worry about waking a roommate up.

[foreversleep]

Hi

I think the first thing I would do is question going with Dymaxion sleep (the name of the type of sleep pattern you're doing). From all the research I did when I was looking to become Polyphasic- it's the hardest one to make work and I didn't come across anyone who was able to make it work.

If you need to go a long time between naps, perhaps you would be best going for one of the Everyman schedules. I'm doing a 3 hour core, with 3 X 20 minute naps. I vary the times I nap/ sleep enormously and I always seem to get away with it. I even miss the odd nap. Just stick another 1.5 hours on your core and you should be fine.

Of course, you need to adapt, which will take you at least a couple of weeks anyway- whichever system you are on. You will need to be completely strict about your schedule until then.

Best of luck mate

[The Cloud]

Definitely have multiple, highly inconveniet alarms unless you have superhuman waking powers. From my experience (I didn't do quite your schedule, but I'm assuming the adaptation period is similar), the hump is at three days, and after that it begins to plateau and then get better. But then I've run into a secondary difficulty that is harder to get by than I expected; a psychological desire for shorter days. After all that time being spent awake, my mind begins to rebel against the length of the days, and I begin to long for that long period of doing nothing that is sleep. So beware become complacent when things start becoming physically easier, because they will almost certainly become psychologically more difficult. Honestly, I've never gotten past day 5, but this is my experience and as much help as I can provide.

I have this alarm clock software on my computer, and it works quite well, in addition to being free.

Do not sit on beds or couches unless you plan on sleeping, or even chairs with arm rests. Avoid reading, unless it is on a computer screen.

Always have multiple, staggered alarms. I don't care if you're on day 5 and have woken to the first ring every time; it's better to be safe than sorry. Sometimes it is the knowledge that there are more alarms that gets you up as much as the alarms themselves.

If you do lapse, don't try to use your old system again with the hopes that it will work better this time; create a new system that addresses the problems of the old one. Maybe you need more alarms, or maybe your alarms need to be harder to reach.

Sometimes it may be necessary for you to remain standing for a period of an hour or two at a time to keep awake. These uber-tired times likely won't last more than four hours at a time, but they are the most dangerous points. You will know what I'm talking about when it happens, if you don't already. You will feel absolutely zombified. Be most careful around the times that you normally sleep, as those will be the periods that you tend to lapse the most.

Always always always double check your alarms for volume, am/pm, on/off, and time. You won't believe how easy it is to set an alarm but forget to turn it on, or set it to the wrong half of the day. I cannot stress this enough. Make a checklist. I'm not joking.

Also, in the beginning I don't think it matters so much how many times a day that you sleep, but rather how long each sleep session is. As long as you don't allow yourself more than 40 minutes or so per session, and have maybe and hour or so between sessions, you should be able to get away with napping as many times a day as you want in the beginning. After you start to acclimate, you can start cutting sessions down to the 4 that you're trying for. Believe me, 12*30minutes is not at all the same as 6 solid hours. You will definitely still feel deprived, since you aren't getting any REM.