Biphasic sleep log

[silicon toad2000]

It's been a while since I was here last. My Biphasic sleep has brought me back looking for info so I thought I would post my progress.

I practiced biphasic sleep for a few months a couple of years ago. It was great while I was doing it. I stopped because I started travelling for work and it cut down the oppotunities to catch up with friends. While I was sleeping this way I enjoyed the extra time it afforded me, mid afternoon lows experienced when monophasic sleeping disapeared and it also provided a nice distinct time box between the nap and the core sleep.
My workload has picked up recently and I felt a biphasic sleep schedule would be of some benefit. I work full time and have a young family. I am undertaking 2 subjects as an internal part time student at Uni to finish out a degree.

I normally get about 7.5 hours sleep.

I have just spent a week sleeping with a 90 minute nap and a 6hr core sleep to get myself ready for cutting back the core to 4.5 hours. I felt by doing this I could ease into the routine and cut out most of the settling in period while my body gets used to it.
In the last week I napped from 9pm to 10:30pm and slept from 12:40am to 6:40am. I was unable to get a nice solid sleep during my nap. It was a catch 22, I didn't get a solid sleep during my nap, so I knew if I cut the core sleep back to 4.5 hours I would be tired the next day. At the same time I knew if I didn't cut the core sleep back I wouldn't be tired enough to get a solid sleep during my nap the next day.
Avoiding the tiredness the next day won out. I didn't feel that I could really afford a case of the zombies while at work.

With the weekend to aclimatise to cutting back the core sleep friday night I slept from 9pm-10:30pm and the core sleep 2:30am to 7am and I have just finished the saturday afternoon nap.
I still haven't managed a solid sleep during my nap. I try and keep the same routine for my nap. I go to bed at 8:30pm and read a book with only my bedside light on. By 9pm I will have turned out the light.
I will see what tommorow brings.

[Lena Carpenter]

Interesting, look forward to reading more about your adjustment! I'm sleeping biphasically, but not strictly in 1.5 hour increments, but more intuitively with the constant of sleeping twice a day, and adjusting to how tired I feel.

You say you have a young family? Do you have any kids? That can throw a bit of a challenge in the mix

[silicon toad2000]

Hi Lena,

I read your thread with interest.
My sleeping isn't exactly 90 minutes, takes time to fall asleep and I have been known to hit the snooze button every now and then.

There are conflicting theories on the 90 minute cycle. The other side, as shown in the chart on the below page, -
sleep cycles
- shows the cycles get shorter with each consecutive cycle.
Once I can start getting regular unbroken sleep during my nap I'll start playing around with times with the view to wake refreshed rather than groggy, a problem I had during my last foray into biphasic sleeping.

I have 2 kids, both still in the single digits, but they're awesome. I go to bed about the same time they do during the week. They stay up later than me on the weekends.

Using the biphasic sleep schedule I can play with them when I get home from work, knowing I have a 4 hour window after my nap to study/work whatever.

[silicon toad2000]

I finally had a nice chunk of unbroken sleep during my nap.

I read for 10 minutes from 8:40pm to 8:50pm and dozed on and off, glancing at the clock every now and then. I believe I had a nice unbroken sleep between 9:30 and 10:30 when my alarm goes off each night.
I've woken up without too much drowsiness.

My core sleep last night/this morning shifted. I was late getting to bed, usually 2:30 wasn't until 3am and then realised something outside was banging in the wind and needed to be quieted before I was going to get a good sleep. I last remember looking at the clock at 3:30am. My alarm went off at 7am as usualy but given the night before stopped it and fell asleep again. My oldest daughter woke me up at 8:30am to help her cook breakfast. It all seemed to work out.

Today I have not found myself to be drowsy at all.
Studying today, I found my recal of material covered in lectures last week to be better than it has previously.

This coming week I will be paying close attention to my alertness, reasoning and my physical energy levels.

[Hern]

How do you handle this? If I take as much as a 15 min nap, my sleep cycle is thrown off for a week. Of course I was an insomniac for almost 20 years so my sleep patterns should not be considered normal.

[silicon toad2000]

Hi Hern,

There is a period of adjustment while your body adjusts to the new schedule. This is part of the reason I tried to ease into it this time.
I know what you mean when you say if you have a 15 minute nap it can throw you out. I used to have a lot of trouble getting sleep on a sunday night if I'd had a bit of a sleep in on a sunday morning, which made mondays quite difficult.
With the biphasic schedule you need a big enough gap between your nap and your core sleep, otherwise you'll find it difficult to get to sleep for your core sleep.

[silicon toad2000]

I had a little trouble falling alseep for this mornings core sleep. It took just over half an hour by my reckoning.
I had a case of the yawns after I got up at 7:30am until about 8am. After that it all seemed fine. No drowsiness to report today.
I had no coffee after 3pm.
Didn't get to bed for my nap until just after 9pm, I was playing with the kids. They had some yoyo company come to their school and of course now they have yoyo's. Rip off's. The kids were told the cheaper yoyo's didn't spin but the more expensive ones would spin. It was just the way the company had installed the strings. After putting new strings on each of the kids cheaper 'non-spinning' yoyo's worked fine.
I had a nice solid sleep during my nap from about 9:30pm until the alarm at 10:30pm. I woke up very groggy and fell back to sleep until just after 11pm. I'm hoping this means my body is getting used the nap and if I was in bed with my usual plan at about 8:30pm, I would have had a nice solid 90 minute nap.
The next few days should be interesting. Tuesday and thursday nights I have uni and I don't arrive home until 8:30. Wednesday nights I have Karate and get home about 8:45. Thursday nights the family don't get home from Karate until 9pm. I might have to play around with my nap time slightly. I might make a permanent move to 9:15 until 10:45, we'll see how it goes.

[silicon toad2000]

I had a drowsy afternoon today. I think I took a little while to get off to sleep during my core sleep last night.
Got into bed by 8:45 for my nap and lights were out by 8:50. I think I slept through, I don't remember seeing the clock after about 9pm.
I was quite tired after my nap for a short time, the tiredness went away after a drink and a snack.
My aim is to be in bed before 2:15am for my core sleep tonight.

[silicon toad2000]

Last nights sleep went well, I was in bed just after 2am. No drowsiness to report today.

I got home tonight at about 8:45 and climbed into bed at 9pm. Pretty much slept right through.

All seems to be going quite well. I feel I have adapted almost fully to the new schedule. At the moment I am only unhappy with the quailty of sleep I achieve during my nap. I don't think I have achieved a solid 90 minute sleep as yet but I feel I am moving towards it and it won't be long.

[silicon toad2000]

Last nights core sleep went well, in bed just after 2am a nice solid sleep through from just after 2:30 until about 7:15.

My nap tonight went a little over time. I didn't get into bed until about 9:15pm as the kids had to shower after Karate and one uses the shower in our ensuite. I think I drifted off to sleep about 9:30 and my alarm sounded at 10:45. I allowed myself a snooze but hit the stop button instead of the snooze button. Luckily my wife woke me at 11:30. Not too far overtime I don't think.
The good point is that it was a nice solid sleep.

I recall reading an article stating our sleep cycles aren't 90 minutes each, more that they start from about 2 hours and each consecutive cycle diminishes slightly. On a std 7.5 / 5 cycle monophasic sleep schedule that the last cycle is more like an hour. Perhaps the nap should be 2 hours instead of 90 minutes. I'll try a 2 hour nap over the next few nights and report back on drowsiness and the effect on falling asleep for the core sleep over the next few days.

[silicon toad2000]

My core sleep last night was great. I climbed into bed at just after 2am, read for about 15 minutes and slept through until the alarm went off at 7am. No problem getting out of bed at all, no drowsyness.
Great day, no yawn attacks. Felt alert all day, no issues to report.

I was a little late getting to my nap tonight. We had a yummy roast beef dinner with baked potato. The kids convinced mum that dessert was in order so I felt I should wait up to make the most of that, It's a 'sometimes' treat after all.
All seems to be going quite well.

See what the weekend brings.

[silicon toad2000]

Well that kind of all fell in a hole.

A bit of a recap then.
Saturday night was business as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. I chose not to post as I was working on an assignment. Nap went fine, core sleep was fine.

Sunday night, the wheels all fell off.
I was working on my assignemnt. I had been having trouble staying focused all day. My mind kept wandering off, I'd check this forum and that forum. Which isn't a new problem by a long shot, I've always struggled with my studies in that manner over the last few years.
Anyway after my nap I got back into the study. At 2:30am when I was thinking of heading to bed I had a flash of inspiration and managed to work solidly for an hour. Then at about 4am after half an hour of meandering through some research and was thinking of heading to bed, another period of clarity.
So I ended up still going at it when the family got up.
After the wife had taken the kids to school I went for a 90 minute nap and afterwards felt fine, refreshed and ready to face the day.
All day I felt fine until... a headache begun creeping up the back of my neck just before my nap. When I awoke from my nap and got up I found it had turned into a full scale migraine. Like the study issues this isn't a new problem either, I get these from time to time. If i can take an anti-inflamatory in time they don't progress this far.
Short version, the wife came to see if I was getting up, I replied no darn way. She got me my anti inflamatories and I went back to sleep.
I woke up at 7:30, so effectively I slept for 11 hours on Monday night.
Tonight (Tuesday) I understandably had a spot of toruble getting to sleep for my nap. I managed a few small period of sleep, but not a nice unbroken sleep. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get back into a routine after the interruption.

[Lena Carpenter]

Originally Posted by silicon toad2000

. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get back into a routine after the interruption.

I had an interruption with my biphasic today as well. Good luck getting back to your schedule!

[silicon toad2000]

I chose not to post last night, I had to complete the review questions for my uni tutorial tonight.

Last nights nap and sleep went well. I managed a reasonable chunk of unbroken sleep with my nap, but not the 90 minutes, was more like about an hour of unbroken sleep. I was quite groggy when I woke up.

I also need to be more diligent about my core sleep, I didn't go to bed until after 2:30am, as a result my core sleep was a little short, probably only 4 hours instead of 4.5.

Tonights nap was similar to last night. Thursday nights is difficult as the family don't get home from Karate until after 9pm and the kids have a shower before bed. I got into bed at 9:30pm and got up at 11pm. It took a little while to get to sleep so again I think I got about an hour of unbroken sleep.

[silicon toad2000]

I just got up from the most refreshing and complete nap I have had so far. I went to bed at 8:50. I read 3 pages of a new book I'm reading and turned out the light just before 9. My alarm went off at 10:45 so I think I managed at least the full 90 minutes, or a little more. Not too sure how long it too to get to sleep, I didn't notice the clock anytime after i turned the light out. I feel great.
Core sleep last night was a little short i think. It was after 2:30 when I got to bed. I hit the snooze button a few times this morning. Was a little tired today, I had a few yawn attacks.

[silicon toad2000]

Well following on from my last post, I also had the most refreshing core sleep that night too. In bed by 2am, asleep just before 2:30am I think. Up at 7am. Well rested and woke up feeling more focused and productive than usual.
I worked through my scheduled studies steadily and finished each task slightly ahead of schedule and manged to fit in a few chores.
Unfortunately my nap saturday night was not very good, I slept in small chunks. Mostly noise interferring. Someone in the neighborhood was having a party which included fireworks. Plus the kids didn't go ot bed until 10ish and they were being playing noisily as kids do.
Core sleep wasn't too bad, I didn't get the 4.5 hours I would have liked, possibly closer to 3 hours.
Even with these issues with the sleep schedule I didn't feel tired until about half an hour before my nap tonight.

Tonights nap was good. I went to bed at 8:50, read a few pages from the book im reading (I have decided to have a run at war and peace, been meaning to for years) and I don't recall having any isues falling asleep.
I'm going to try shortening my core sleep to 4 hours this week and see how that works out.
I have been trying to remember the last time I followed a biphasic sleep schedule and I seemt o remeber that on occasions I managed the full 4.5 hours sleep and a complete nap, I had trouble falling asleep for my nap the following night. I feel that shortening my core sleep slightly, might help the quality of my naps.

[Lena Carpenter]

You are doing a really great job! It's funny, that you write mostly about how you are sleeping and I write mostly about how I'm staying awake. I really never have trouble sleeping at all. The longest it takes me to fall asleep is five minutes and unless there is outside interruption, I sleep perfectly through my naps and core sleep. Staying awake, on the other hand, can be a challenge for me. War and peace, wow, cool! I'd like to read it too. I've read bit and pieces but never in its entirety. Anna Karenina is one of my favorites

[silicon toad2000]

From my previous experiences, if you get the sleeping right, staying awake is not an issue. I guess thats why I'm focussing on the sleeping.
But you're spot on, I hadn't realised it until you had pointed it out.

[Lena Carpenter]

Originally Posted by silicon toad2000

From my previous experiences, if you get the sleeping right, staying awake is not an issue. I guess thats why I'm focussing on the sleeping.
But you're spot on, I hadn't realised it until you had pointed it out.

Hmm, well, maybe I may still need tinkering with my sleeping schedule, although 99% of the time, I'm having trouble staying up after core sleep and no trouble after a nap. I wonder if it's because I have been adjusting to be awake at times, that I haven't been before? It seems it's more of a matter of being sleepy in the morning, rather than not getting enough sleep. I was accustomed to going to bed around 12-1am and getting up 9am or so. Now I'm going to bed around 11:30pm and getting up at 4am. It would be easier for me to stay up, rather than get up, but not really practical for my schedule.

P.S. Although now I'm wondering if I might want to try 2:30-7am and a nap in the evening.

[silicon toad2000]

Last nights core sleep was 4hrs 3:30am to 7:30am.
A few yawns caught up with me at work, but it was one of those days where I was stuck with a mundane task.

Tonights nap went great, I think about 100 minutes. It's difficult to pinpoint, I can only go by the last time i remeber seeing the clock. I'm going to aim for 3-7 for my core sleep tonight, I'd like a little more time in the mornings before heading out to work.

[silicon toad2000]

Originally Posted by Lena

I was accustomed to going to bed around 12-1am and getting up 9am or so. Now I'm going to bed around 11:30pm and getting up at 4am.

That's a pretty dramatic shedule shift. Usually I would suggest the easiest way to adjust a sleeping schedule is to get out in the sunlight as soon as possible. I read something ages ago about sunlight being a natural catalyst for being awake. It was something about the gland referred to as the third eye and releasing something. Since I can't remember what they were called I can't even google it to give you a link.
Getting into sunlight served as a kind of reset button for the body clock. Artificial light isn't bright enough.

The two key natural drivers I use in the mornings is a big drink of water and get out in the sun. These things produce a physiological response in the body to tell it it's time to be up and about.

[Lena Carpenter]

Thanks for the tips on keeping up!

Actually, shift in my schedule was more gradual than one might think. I started adjusting to a different schedule about a month or so after my baby was born, which was three months ago. He was the one who usually woke me up early, so on most days, I started being awake early enough to then transition to 4am.

See my latest thread update! Really shortly after considering this sleeping schedule, I decided to give it a try! I'll be getting up at 6, simply because I need enough time in the morning to do my yoga routine. But I won't be sleeping until 8pm for nap time. I am a little concerned about having my nap time so close to my sleeping period, but it seems like it has been working to you. Have you ever tried them more spaced out? I have a class once a week, that I might not even getting home from until 7:30pm, so I couldn't make it 7pm. Really excited to give this a try though!

[silicon toad2000]

The core sleep last night I think was shorter than I would have liked, I think just after 3am till 7am. I had a case of the tired today and lacked a bit of focus and conentration. I'm going to shift back to 2:30am to 7am tonight.

Nap seemd fine tonight. I got into bed a bit late as I didn't get home from uni until 8:30 and it wasn't until 9:15 that I climbed into bed. I got right to sleep though, 9:15-10:45, pretty much unbroken as far as I can remember.

[silicon toad2000]

Oops, been a while since I posted, thought I'd only skipped a day or two.

A few hiccups since I last posted. Thursday night, by the time the family got home from Karate and I was able to get into bed it was rather later than usual and I didn't get a good nap, only an hour or so.
Also Saturday night it grew too late before I was able to get to bed so I skipped the nap and just had a 6 hr core sleep. The family took my truck for an outing and the mrs accidentally left the lights on (I must wire up a relay to turn the lights off automatically when the ignition is turned off). When we all got back from jump starting the truck and the kids were settled from the outing it was after 10pm.

Otherwise all seems good, awareness is fine, not sleepy at all and the extra time has been an enormous help with balancing work/family/study.

[Lena Carpenter]

Originally Posted by silicon toad2000

Oops, been a while since I posted, thought I'd only skipped a day or two.

A few hiccups since I last posted. Thursday night, by the time the family got home from Karate and I was able to get into bed it was rather later than usual and I didn't get a good nap, only an hour or so.
Also Saturday night it grew too late before I was able to get to bed so I skipped the nap and just had a 6 hr core sleep. The family took my truck for an outing and the mrs accidentally left the lights on (I must wire up a relay to turn the lights off automatically when the ignition is turned off). When we all got back from jump starting the truck and the kids were settled from the outing it was after 10pm.

Otherwise all seems good, awareness is fine, not sleepy at all and the extra time has been an enormous help with balancing work/family/study.

Oh hey, cool update! I'm glad it's going well. I had a few hiccups too and still adjusting my new schedule. I hope once I'm adjusted again, it'll go as well as it did with my earlier one.

[silicon toad2000]

had a great nap tonight. I slept from 9:30pm to 11:15pm. I forgot my alarm had been set to 11:30 on the weekend. This sits well with what I have read about sleep cycles initially being longer than 90 minutes but decreasing in duration with each consecutive cycle. I know for sure I had completed the cycle as I recall dreaming just before I woke up. From what I have read dreaming occurs during REM sleep and rem sleep occurs between the delta phases of sleep.
Now the trick will be getting to sleep earlier to extend the time between the nap and the core sleep.
Core sleep last night was fine, a little short. I got into bed on time and thought ill just read for 5 minutes to wind down, I became a little engrossed and 5 minutes turned into 20.
I'll just have to be a little more diligent tonight.

[silicon toad2000]

Tuesday night went well. I ran into trouble again this week getting to sleep for my nap after Karate on wednesday night and tonight I had trouble getting to sleep for some reason too.
I'm not too sure why this is.
I figured on wednesday night i was just too wound up from karate, but im not sure about the reason tonight.

Otherwise all seems to be going well, no undue tiredness. I had a stretch of about an hour on Tuesday where i found it difficult to focus but i think that was related to some mundane tasks i was working on. Hasn't happened again yet.

[silicon toad2000]

This week has been fine.

One hiccup, on wednesday night after Karate my sensei came back to my house after training. We discussed some training related issues and some organisational issues. He needs a bit of help with the admin side of running the dojo.
Anyway this meant i missed my nap. I had a 6 hour core sleep (1am - 7am) and then thursday night continued the regular pattern (9:30pm-11pm & 2:30am-7am). No apparent ill effects on either productivty nor ability to get back into routine.
Other than this hiccup all has been going well. Occasional dificulty in falling alseep for the core sleep, I think the nap and core sleep might be slightly too close together but it does allow me to be consistent each day. An earlier nap means on some nights I will have to move the nap. I find being consistent more beneficial than optimising the gap between nap and core sleep.

Well over a month into the biphasic schedule and it has been great. Spending a month of regular 6 hour monophasic sleep would have caused me a great deal of issues with concentration, ability to learn and health. While an hour and a half a day may not seem like a great deal on a day to day basis, over a month, combined with the efective time block seperator the nap provides, I feel I have been able to achieve a great deal more than I would have been able to otherwise.

[silicon toad2000]

gosh its been a long time since my last update.

still going well. 9:30pm - 11pm nap and 2:30am - 7am nap

like clockwork.

every now and then something will wake me up just before 10 and that makes it more difficult to get up at 11, feel a bit groggy for about half an hour.
the cat seems to know when im falling asleep at 2:45-3am and will start scratching the couch.
other than that it's been great.
I'm even seriously considering continuing after my exams indefinately.

[silicon toad2000]

First hiccup for a while tonight.

I couldn't get to sleep for my nap.
I think a number of factors have influenced this.
1) daylight savings has started (my 9:30-11 has become 8:30-10 solar time)
2) overslept a little this morning
3) weather has become much warmer than it has been

I think all of these things have played a part, we shall see tommorow night.