My Polyphasic Sleep Diary

[Zod]

Several months ago I decided to experiment with polyphasic sleep, and since then have been preparing for it (strict sleeping pattern, early arising, quitting caffeine, etcetera) and at midnight last night (the beginning of June 24th) I tried it out.

Below is a diary of recordings taken after awaking from every nap.
Spoiler: I didn't make it.

More details can be given if asked, but I think the below is vivid enough.


Day 1: June 14, 2009. Nap 1.
I began my first nap at 12:30, meaning that my alarm was set for 12:50. I have previously been going to bed at 10:30, so tiredness was already getting pretty heavy. It was evident that I caught no REM sleep during this nap, as I took approximately one minute to get to sleep, yet upon waking to my alarm, I had no idea that I had even slept, or that any time had even passed, for that matter.

I am feeling more tired now than before the nap, and it’s a struggle to keep my eyes open; and I still have three hours to kill! If I will feel like what I feel right now for another week or two, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stick with the pattern.

Day 1: June 14, 2009. Nap 2.
I went to sleep on time, but this time my alarm failed to wake me. It isn’t an issue of volume, as it managed to alert my oldest brother on the other side of the floor and awaken my mother, yet I was oblivious to it.
It’s thanks to my oldest brother that I’m actually awake typing this right now, instead of sleeping. He woke me up and was persistent in not letting me fall back asleep.

I had every temptation to lay back and sleep the rest of the morning away, and to be honest, I can’t wait until this transition period is over.

Day 1: June 14, 2009. 5:30
An hour after waking previously, the tiredness is simply too much. I can’t keep my eyes open, I can’t concentrate on any one thing for over a minute, and my deduction skills (measured by time taken on games of Minesweeper) have started to fade already.

If this is the effect after less than one day, I know that I can not last a full week- perhaps two- for the transition process. It feels as if I’ve had absolutely no sleep, and if it takes a week before REM sleep is present for my naps, then it will be 7+ days before having any sleep at all; three days, I could manage, with a moderate dose of caffeine. With no caffeine (which hasn’t been present in my system for months), there is no way that I can do seven full days with no sleep.

That is why I’ve decided to give up on my attempts for now. I’ll be going to sleep after writing this, and hopefully won’t wake up until after noon. It saddens me that it failed, but I know that I would have folded eventually, so why waste a few more days before quitting.

I will be trying this again at a later point in time, however. The concept of having six more hours every day appeals greatly to me. However, right now, I think the problem is that I lack incentive. I don’t have a real reason to stick with Polyphasic Sleep. I’m only trying it because I want to, and that incentive is not strong enough.

After I finish completely in the education system, in a few years’ time, I should try it again. Until then, though, I’ll be returning to waking at early hours and going to bed at sensible times.

[Jduester]

Zod,
Sorry to hear you let polyphasic sleeping go for a while. I have been biphasic sleeping for 6-7 weeks now. I really enjoy it. I get 6 hours/24 and feel much more refreshed after waking up. My work schedule will be changing shortly however, and I would like to change my schedule.
Polyphasic is a whole 'nother animal. Not sure I could try it that extreme. But I'm thinking about keeping full sleep intervals (90 minutes), but only having 1 at a time several times a day.
My study is in my signature below.

Josh