Polyphasic Sleep (Day 2)

I've done a bunch more reading on this now. Many of the failings of others I have simply ruled out by my habits and lifestyle. For instance, I'm very structured to begin with--hurray for engineering students!--and this allows me to keep to the rigid schedule I need. A very good blog can be found here but be warned that the guy is out there a bit. I'm not nearly as spiritually based as him but a lot of his experiences match mine.

At the time of this writing it has been 42 hours since I last woke up from an eight hour sleep period. I haven't missed any naps--though I have pushed a few out longer--and I have not overslept even one minute. My last sleep period, which I took at 10:30 to 11:00 pm was the only one I had any trouble falling asleep on. I did manage it but it was a bit of a struggle. I didn't toss or turn, my mind just wouldn't slow down for a bit--perhaps ten minutes. No harm, no foul.

As the physical sensations of this...I was expecting a lot more fatigue and drowsiness. They are there but only at a minimum. I think perhaps what is different from myself and others is that I started after I had been up 18 hours since my last sleep cycle. Others--Steve Pavelina--started directly upon waking up from a monophasic sleep cycle so they weren't really tired to begin with. I don't know if this is the case--need more data and a larger population to sample from--but it seems to be true.

The time thing is stranger than you think it will be. I had read about what others had experienced and was still in no way prepared for the 'other-ness' of the thing. I simply want to be unconscious. Not because I am particularly tired or anything, it just seems the right thing to be after this long awake.

That sense of being awake for an extended period of time is also weired. True to other's accounts, it is still the same day I started this in my subjective time. Leads to very odd problems concerning what day it is, how long ago a thing was, etc. Not annoying, just interesting and a little disconcerting. I'm fairly certain this will pass due to the texture of the feelings elicited. They seem to be a bit ephemeral, if that makes any sense.

Crackgerbal is a bit worried about the health consequences but I'm not concerned. Call it ignorance or just stupidity but I feel young--because I am--and healthy--because I 'sorta' am. :-)

I'm getting a shit-ton of stuff done. This is a no-joke way to get way more hours in your day. I have a lot of projects that I'm working on with or for other people--as well as my own--and this allows me to get to all of them in a 24 hour period whereas before I would have to spread the rotation out over two or more days.

My specific schedule seems to be shaping up like this:

• Naps at 6, 11, and 4 (am/pm) though this can spread and contract as needed.
  
• Shower when I get home from work at 4 pm and then straight to nap.
• Eat whenever I feel like it.

I have made up my mind to take more frequent naps at night if this seems necessary to maintain my pattern of not oversleeping as this seems hugely detrimental. Most others failed due to this over sleeping. I won't make that mistake--I'll make others, I'm sure! ;-)

I will continue to post other blog entries but all of the ones concerning my Polyphasic experiences will be labeled Polyphasic Sleep (Day #).

That is all