It worked! It really worked. I got 6.5 hours of sleep and felt like a champ. I forgot that I had men's prayer breakfast this morning until around 02:30 this morning. So I even took my final nap starting at 03:30 instead of 04:30. Now I am not going to lie..... I did not fall asleep immediately..... In fact, I have noticed that I am not falling asleep immediately with any of my naps thus far.... But even so, I have realized that even though I am shooting for 6.5 hours, and getting maybe 5.8 - 6.3, I am so rested when I awake. I have actually been waking up earlier than the alarm by up to 20 mins. This bothered me at first, but I fall right back to sleep and awake either a minute before my alarm, or I wake with it. So, I have no idea what my sleep has been. But I feel rested.... My face still looks a bit fatigued initially in the morning before my shower.... but that should fix with a tad more time. I would rather look terrible and feel good than the other way around anyway. But that is the thing. My girlfriend mentioned it last night and I feel it this morning too.... I am ON TOP OF THE WORLD... I am so energetic! I have not felt this good since highschool before the onslaught of thyroid issues took effect. I mean that.... I am not just saying that either. Last night could have been a fluke, but, if it isn't, then I have found a method for me from now on (as long as schedule allows for that 1:30ish nap).
Now here is even better news.... I went digging through my electronics and found a power charger that will work for my zeo. I was going to send it away today for fixing.... FORGET THAT... I may send the plug, but that thing has some recording to do.... I am so thrilled. That made my morning even more fulfilling. So, I will start recording data each nap now and I hope the headband won't affect me [ I have not worn it for about 2 weeks now :( ].
So with it being over 4 days, I feel like I finally got some GREAT results. Trust me, the process was not as difficult as the UBERMAN was, but it still takes some dedication and will to do this (especially day 2). But if your schedule allows, I think it is worth a shot at attempting if you are unhappy with your sleep or (like me), had issues dozing off/concentrating after eating and during parts of the day. But you have to find your style. As you can see, I shot for one thing, and adjusted to how my body reacted.... I know that I cannot take a nap at 1:30 AM.... If I do, that 3-5 AM time slot will kill me. (I think that is the time that I naturally sleep deep when in monophasic). So, I had to schedule around that. I also, up till now, know that I need a 3.5 hour time slot instead of a 3 based on my findings of data. Also, that I need to take a 3.5 hour nap timeslot. (this may change when I try back at the 90min later this week or next week, but that is only because I feel that, when I am more adjusted, it is a possibility). Not toying with that yet. That is for future experimentation to try to get down to 4.5 hours (prob the min you can function on this triphasic approach due to only 3 naps). Now that I have my ZEO, I feel that I can monitor to see if I change my midnight nap to a 60 min, or 30 min depending on how my readings average out. When I see, where I get my REM and at what time and at what NAP during the day, I will tweak my schedule as needed. This is stuff for down the road..... But I am so pumped that I have been thinking about this non-stop and with extreme interest.
My posts (hopefully) from now on will record and portray my Zeo Data. School will be starting Monday, so my posts may only be weekend posts with all of my week data. Who knows, but being a Bio-Molecular major, these final classes will require some focus ha ha. Luckily, I feel as focused now as I have ever felt. I hope this has not bored you, clearly you are reading this blog because you know me, or are interested in the content discussed..... or my health because you care... ha ha. But if you have any questions, feel free to comment or discuss an idea that I may not have thought of. Like I said... For a person that has 90 minutes free mid day at some point, this cycle is possible. even taking an 11PM-12:30AM nap with a 3.5 from 3:30-7:00 or pushing back the naps listed by another hour for traveling to work at a longer distance and being up by 6. You get it... and my formula is my own with some guidance here and some experimenting there. Done my salespitch..... Until next time I post, I am hoping to continue to rest up and get my body's optimum sleep without major REM deprivation. I want my mind to be sharp!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Day 2-3+ Learning my limits.... Adjustments
Its been a while. :) I didn't post yesterday due to tiredness, but I think I have resolved that issue.... More on that to come. But at this point, I want to share my past, present, and future plans. I will do my best to describe exactly why I have chosen these plans and what benefit (or lack of) may come of it. So, originally, I was shooting for an Everyman. But when I started this about 3+ days ago, I chose to try a Tri-Segmented approach to sleep. 3 X 90 minute naps spaced evenly at 6.5 hours apart from the end to the beginning of the next. Here was my idea:
In attempting this plan, I would lighten my body's load by only charging up for a 6.5 hour slot. To be honest, I think that this plan had the theoretical planned out decently, except for the reason that I was unable to adapt to it. The reason is actually quite simple. In this format, (now that I have attempted it), I am not getting the necessary rest needed. I am still (this is normal) getting tons of energy during the normal (day awake) hours. Around 8:30, I begin to get my (I'm Tired) headache. After my nap at around 23:00 (11PM), I am fine and dandy. I normally eat my dinner here and feel great. My girlfriend has also commented that I am cognitive, sharp, and not in a fog during our conversations at this time (up till now). But as time gets closer to 01:00, I begin to yawn. This is when I came up with an idea to help fix this tiredness issue. Because, honestly, I am only getting 4.5 hours in this format. In extreme cases of diligence and patience for about 21 days, I believe that someone could adapt to this. But it would take some REM deprivation (more on that with next figure). So easy adaption is a NO for this idea, and I planned accordingly. What if I added a nap in-between my evening naps equally between them to help my through the evening? This would also give me 6 hours of sleep and help me make it through! :) So this is what I started around right before day 2. It looked like this:
Here I am getting 6 hours of sleep to help with my REM intake and I am sure (from previous experience, though I have no ZEO to test this) that I am getting ample amounts of DEEP sleep, since I normally get a chunk at the beginning of every nap, sleep, rest. So light sleep should be diminishing (approx 55% to probably around 45-50%) somewhat in a small amount. But here is my issue: Again, I am really tired in that very dark (and cold) time at night. This is what people have called the graveyard hours. No one stirs, very little interaction is really achievable at this time, and your lack of movement is detrimental to your state of tiredness. So I would wake up around 03:00 and not have any motivation to move. I would get the light on, but I would end up drifting back and forth into a sleep as i attempted to think about different things..... (sure, If I had a work out spot or something, this would give me something to do and help me stay warm). But even there, my motivation is completely shot. Once I start moving, I am fine and feel great.... but I have to get blood pumping to warm up my body and get circulation to my cold extremities. And my will is completely shot at this point. :( Lastly, I did some research with the 1.5-2 hours of normal time I am saving and found that someone mentioned that REM increases with each consecutive cycle.... DUH... I knew that, but it was helpful. In the current configuration above.... I am getting about 20 minutes per each cycle = 1.33 hours of REM..... If I compound a double cycle, I should get more.... So I studied some of my sleep charts, and I found that this is the case..... But I think I am going to increase my nap from 1.5 - 3.5 hours. This is because some of my sleep data really showed that it can take me 3.5 to finish my added REM cycle. Details are seen here:
Reminding you that Dark Green is DEEP sleep and light green is REM, from point to point it is 3.5 hours. Getting only 3 hours would chop my REM cycle. And as you can see, my REM more than doubled the second cycle. This is not always the case, but I am positive that my state of 3 naps will promote this to happen 90% of the time. :) So the next logical question is..... Where do I put this 3.5 hour nap..... Anyone want to take a guess???? I am going to put it at 04:30. This is my reasoning.... I am awake after my initial 21:30-23:00 (9-11PM). Yes I get tired, but when I am awake, it is easier to stay up.... But just to make it easier on time, I am going to change my previous nap to 2.5 hours later to 00:00-01:30. I am just hoping that it will give me that boost I need and that it is not late enough (ex 03:00) to force me to be dead weight. :) My new schedule will look like this:
Here is my logic.... My large nap will cut out that Graveyard shift of death for me.... I will be asleep when it really gets cold. I will wake up, then take a nap 5+ hours later at 13:30. This should be just the boost I need to make it 9 hours to midnight. Though I am sure i will feel tired (initially at midnight). That little boost should be enough to make it till 04:30 in the morning. There, I rest.
The first night (tonight) will be tough to do.... REALLY tough... I will be skipping a nap at 9:30 PM and taking it 2.5 hours later. But if I can wake up, make it to 4:30 and crash, I should be able to then repeat this for 2 more days. Then, hopefully, I should be able to fully adapt to this with no headaches and such... I have stayed healthy so far, so I am sure that I can make this without getting sick (Lord willing).
Now, lastly, I need to comment, that if this sticks, I will be shifting my 13:30 nap during school to 11:45 on Wednesdays and Fridays. This should not be an issue when this picks up and I may even counteract that by moving my Midnight nap earlier the preceding day. The only question is whether that 11:45 nap will be too close to the 3.5 hour block. Hence why I would move the midnight nap, to earlier, (to allow me not to be too rested to risk not falling asleep). O well... I have talked enough.... Lets just see if I can walk the walk now! :) Until next time...
In attempting this plan, I would lighten my body's load by only charging up for a 6.5 hour slot. To be honest, I think that this plan had the theoretical planned out decently, except for the reason that I was unable to adapt to it. The reason is actually quite simple. In this format, (now that I have attempted it), I am not getting the necessary rest needed. I am still (this is normal) getting tons of energy during the normal (day awake) hours. Around 8:30, I begin to get my (I'm Tired) headache. After my nap at around 23:00 (11PM), I am fine and dandy. I normally eat my dinner here and feel great. My girlfriend has also commented that I am cognitive, sharp, and not in a fog during our conversations at this time (up till now). But as time gets closer to 01:00, I begin to yawn. This is when I came up with an idea to help fix this tiredness issue. Because, honestly, I am only getting 4.5 hours in this format. In extreme cases of diligence and patience for about 21 days, I believe that someone could adapt to this. But it would take some REM deprivation (more on that with next figure). So easy adaption is a NO for this idea, and I planned accordingly. What if I added a nap in-between my evening naps equally between them to help my through the evening? This would also give me 6 hours of sleep and help me make it through! :) So this is what I started around right before day 2. It looked like this:
Here I am getting 6 hours of sleep to help with my REM intake and I am sure (from previous experience, though I have no ZEO to test this) that I am getting ample amounts of DEEP sleep, since I normally get a chunk at the beginning of every nap, sleep, rest. So light sleep should be diminishing (approx 55% to probably around 45-50%) somewhat in a small amount. But here is my issue: Again, I am really tired in that very dark (and cold) time at night. This is what people have called the graveyard hours. No one stirs, very little interaction is really achievable at this time, and your lack of movement is detrimental to your state of tiredness. So I would wake up around 03:00 and not have any motivation to move. I would get the light on, but I would end up drifting back and forth into a sleep as i attempted to think about different things..... (sure, If I had a work out spot or something, this would give me something to do and help me stay warm). But even there, my motivation is completely shot. Once I start moving, I am fine and feel great.... but I have to get blood pumping to warm up my body and get circulation to my cold extremities. And my will is completely shot at this point. :( Lastly, I did some research with the 1.5-2 hours of normal time I am saving and found that someone mentioned that REM increases with each consecutive cycle.... DUH... I knew that, but it was helpful. In the current configuration above.... I am getting about 20 minutes per each cycle = 1.33 hours of REM..... If I compound a double cycle, I should get more.... So I studied some of my sleep charts, and I found that this is the case..... But I think I am going to increase my nap from 1.5 - 3.5 hours. This is because some of my sleep data really showed that it can take me 3.5 to finish my added REM cycle. Details are seen here:
Reminding you that Dark Green is DEEP sleep and light green is REM, from point to point it is 3.5 hours. Getting only 3 hours would chop my REM cycle. And as you can see, my REM more than doubled the second cycle. This is not always the case, but I am positive that my state of 3 naps will promote this to happen 90% of the time. :) So the next logical question is..... Where do I put this 3.5 hour nap..... Anyone want to take a guess???? I am going to put it at 04:30. This is my reasoning.... I am awake after my initial 21:30-23:00 (9-11PM). Yes I get tired, but when I am awake, it is easier to stay up.... But just to make it easier on time, I am going to change my previous nap to 2.5 hours later to 00:00-01:30. I am just hoping that it will give me that boost I need and that it is not late enough (ex 03:00) to force me to be dead weight. :) My new schedule will look like this:
Here is my logic.... My large nap will cut out that Graveyard shift of death for me.... I will be asleep when it really gets cold. I will wake up, then take a nap 5+ hours later at 13:30. This should be just the boost I need to make it 9 hours to midnight. Though I am sure i will feel tired (initially at midnight). That little boost should be enough to make it till 04:30 in the morning. There, I rest.
The first night (tonight) will be tough to do.... REALLY tough... I will be skipping a nap at 9:30 PM and taking it 2.5 hours later. But if I can wake up, make it to 4:30 and crash, I should be able to then repeat this for 2 more days. Then, hopefully, I should be able to fully adapt to this with no headaches and such... I have stayed healthy so far, so I am sure that I can make this without getting sick (Lord willing).
Now, lastly, I need to comment, that if this sticks, I will be shifting my 13:30 nap during school to 11:45 on Wednesdays and Fridays. This should not be an issue when this picks up and I may even counteract that by moving my Midnight nap earlier the preceding day. The only question is whether that 11:45 nap will be too close to the 3.5 hour block. Hence why I would move the midnight nap, to earlier, (to allow me not to be too rested to risk not falling asleep). O well... I have talked enough.... Lets just see if I can walk the walk now! :) Until next time...
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Day 1 COLD...HOT Adjusting to TRIPHASIC
Alright..... Let's go over today. It was a decently busy day. A lot happened. It feels pretty long compared to a normal day, yet not as long as the old school Uberman was. ha ha. My body is getting used to the naps. My first two naps were useless. I lay there for most of it and could not fall asleep. But that was standard of the beginning of my last attempt back in December. I thought it was excitement before, but I actually think that is a way that your body, mentally, prepares for its rest. You see, when that happens, you get no rest and are actually tired by the 3rd attempt and you fall asleep and get that REM rebound (direct REM at the beginning). So by 7:00 PM tonight, I was very tired..... Someone even commented that I looked pretty.... uh.... (not awake). :) So my 9:30 nap went great! I jumped in bed, and was out in about 7-13 minutes [estimation..... NO ZEO....... :'( ]. I woke up early..... tossed a bit, and fell back asleep only to awake before my alarm went off. (nice!). The booster nap went well at 1:30. Except for the end of it.
(backtrack) just like when I went on Uberman.... I found that my body temperature dropped. This is not normal for me (see previous posts) and it is weird to be cold at any point in my life. Again, I believe this to be a slowing of my metabolism due to the extra conscious hours I have been getting. Nothing I can't deal with, but I feel like a pansy (since I normally make fun of people in hoodies, under covers, in a warm house). O well....
So I had been pretty chilled most of this evening. Well during this last nap, I must have gotten enough rest since it is so close to my last nap..... because I woke up HOT and my back was itching like it had hives..... I couldn't figure out what was going on..... But when I got out of bed (when alarm sounded) and took off my shirt and socks--(only because I had been cold. I never wear socks to bed)...... The itching ceased. So, I know that I overheated..... (tend to itch when I get too hot too quickly). That may be tricky if I continue to cool at nights and warm up during that booster. O well... I will have to live with it currently. Though I am hoping the body cooling will subside at some point..... When I adjust. Remember, (I am getting 6 hours of sleep a day). That is almost feasible in a monophasic lifestyle at my age....... though you have to catch up on weekends..... When I adjust to this, my plan is to kill that booster nap and see how far I get on the 4.5 TriPHASIC!!! One step at a time though.... I am trying to be functional during this period since I have work and other things to do.... (not as free as I was on Uberman). but this is helping me.... I was at work early today and got what I needed done, completed. :) I am just going to have to deal with the fact that my mornings will be refreshed while my late afternoons will be a bit slow.....
It is only day 1+. So I will need to see how the next 36 hours go before I can start predicting anything.... But my will seems intact... (could change quick) :) Ok.... uh.... I currently feel like I only got 4.5 hours of sleep on a normal night of sleep. this is not that bad for a day 1 of a transition period. I am just hoping that the number will climb each day and not drop..... But you never know!
I have no headaches..... No eye twitching currently. These are good signs that I am decently rested. (compared to Uberman). focus is still there. Talking with my girlfriend tonight, I was able to concentrate on her and what she said. (compared to day 3 of Uberman). And I can remember the day in detail.. (I know that I am basing that from memory which could be very illogical....) and remember details.... I haven't needed to write anything down. So in conclusion, my symptoms of sleep deprivation are not kicked in yet...And mentally, my second wind is there..... while my eyes are adjusting to the extended day (not that I am up drastically longer.... but my eyes are only getting power naps compared to a 6 hour solid block). That should fix itself quickly like it did with Uberman (I hope).
And finally my meals consisted of two bowls of cereal this morning... (normal)...... A grilled cheese sandwich with tostitoes and dip............. and 2 pieces of chicken cooked and smothered in cream of chicken with 2 biscuits...... Yes.... I did not have any vegetables or fruit..... ( I will attempt to fix that tomorrow). But I did take a multi-vitamin just as I did with Uberman (I normally do not take multi-vitamins). So besides the lack of fiber.... I should have gotten what I needed. :) Meal times were 7:45 AM........ 4:00 PM and 12:30 AM respectively... Not bad since they were spaced 8 hours apart..... When you do this, you find that you either spread out your meals, or you add another meal to your diet..... the latter could be bad because that is another meal you have to digest and exercise off..... But, being awake like this also burns more calories.... So it is a give and take...... BTW, this is an excellent system for physical exercise... because of the multiple naps, you get more DEEP sleep than normal and you restore those muscles and cells better.... However.... It will seem to you that you are exercising with longer breaks in-between... Because if you don't watch it, you could overwork a muscle..... Just a bit of info in case you were interested.
As I close, I want to share this final thought. I know that some people think I am ridiculous for doing this and putting my body through this. I answer with the thoughts in the previous posts about why it helps me, but I also enjoy trying new things.... Seeing how miraculous the human body is at adapting to different stresses and how it changes its processes in regard to the necessary functionality needed to operate, it is an amazing thing the Lord has done!
(backtrack) just like when I went on Uberman.... I found that my body temperature dropped. This is not normal for me (see previous posts) and it is weird to be cold at any point in my life. Again, I believe this to be a slowing of my metabolism due to the extra conscious hours I have been getting. Nothing I can't deal with, but I feel like a pansy (since I normally make fun of people in hoodies, under covers, in a warm house). O well....
So I had been pretty chilled most of this evening. Well during this last nap, I must have gotten enough rest since it is so close to my last nap..... because I woke up HOT and my back was itching like it had hives..... I couldn't figure out what was going on..... But when I got out of bed (when alarm sounded) and took off my shirt and socks--(only because I had been cold. I never wear socks to bed)...... The itching ceased. So, I know that I overheated..... (tend to itch when I get too hot too quickly). That may be tricky if I continue to cool at nights and warm up during that booster. O well... I will have to live with it currently. Though I am hoping the body cooling will subside at some point..... When I adjust. Remember, (I am getting 6 hours of sleep a day). That is almost feasible in a monophasic lifestyle at my age....... though you have to catch up on weekends..... When I adjust to this, my plan is to kill that booster nap and see how far I get on the 4.5 TriPHASIC!!! One step at a time though.... I am trying to be functional during this period since I have work and other things to do.... (not as free as I was on Uberman). but this is helping me.... I was at work early today and got what I needed done, completed. :) I am just going to have to deal with the fact that my mornings will be refreshed while my late afternoons will be a bit slow.....
It is only day 1+. So I will need to see how the next 36 hours go before I can start predicting anything.... But my will seems intact... (could change quick) :) Ok.... uh.... I currently feel like I only got 4.5 hours of sleep on a normal night of sleep. this is not that bad for a day 1 of a transition period. I am just hoping that the number will climb each day and not drop..... But you never know!
I have no headaches..... No eye twitching currently. These are good signs that I am decently rested. (compared to Uberman). focus is still there. Talking with my girlfriend tonight, I was able to concentrate on her and what she said. (compared to day 3 of Uberman). And I can remember the day in detail.. (I know that I am basing that from memory which could be very illogical....) and remember details.... I haven't needed to write anything down. So in conclusion, my symptoms of sleep deprivation are not kicked in yet...And mentally, my second wind is there..... while my eyes are adjusting to the extended day (not that I am up drastically longer.... but my eyes are only getting power naps compared to a 6 hour solid block). That should fix itself quickly like it did with Uberman (I hope).
And finally my meals consisted of two bowls of cereal this morning... (normal)...... A grilled cheese sandwich with tostitoes and dip............. and 2 pieces of chicken cooked and smothered in cream of chicken with 2 biscuits...... Yes.... I did not have any vegetables or fruit..... ( I will attempt to fix that tomorrow). But I did take a multi-vitamin just as I did with Uberman (I normally do not take multi-vitamins). So besides the lack of fiber.... I should have gotten what I needed. :) Meal times were 7:45 AM........ 4:00 PM and 12:30 AM respectively... Not bad since they were spaced 8 hours apart..... When you do this, you find that you either spread out your meals, or you add another meal to your diet..... the latter could be bad because that is another meal you have to digest and exercise off..... But, being awake like this also burns more calories.... So it is a give and take...... BTW, this is an excellent system for physical exercise... because of the multiple naps, you get more DEEP sleep than normal and you restore those muscles and cells better.... However.... It will seem to you that you are exercising with longer breaks in-between... Because if you don't watch it, you could overwork a muscle..... Just a bit of info in case you were interested.
As I close, I want to share this final thought. I know that some people think I am ridiculous for doing this and putting my body through this. I answer with the thoughts in the previous posts about why it helps me, but I also enjoy trying new things.... Seeing how miraculous the human body is at adapting to different stresses and how it changes its processes in regard to the necessary functionality needed to operate, it is an amazing thing the Lord has done!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
What Went Wrong..... Thoughts...... Beginning of Triphasic Attempt
Alright. I am picking up this blog again. And there are many reasons why it stopped. So I will begin by divulging..... I had to kick the polyphasic cycle. The reason stems from that missed nap (~90 min late). I struggled to keep up my hard work, but that missed nap drug on me. From that point forward, I could not function. My will practically disappeared and I (for the first time in the entire experiment........) I felt exhausted. I was tired at other points, but it is a whole different feeling when you are completely zonked..... That is the problem with Uberman. You have to keep a STRICT schedule to actually accomplish it. Don't get me wrong, I really did like it. But even after all the hard work or scheduling it to work in my schedule..... I was affected from an outside source...... Keep that in mind if you ever try it. So I ended up making it till Sunday when I overslept again (by 30 minutes extra). NOW THIS WAS WACKED OUT WEIRD..... I think only half of my brain got the added rem.... Because half of my face was numbish.... (really, no words to describe it) while the other side was refreshed and exuberantly awake. It was interesting. But it was half of my head, face, eye...... (IT WAS LIKE A STROKE).... But not.... I had control of everything. Anyway, that feeling subsided after 20ish minutes. I cannot even guess what was happening. But that was how messed up missing that nap was and oversleeping......
Here are my numbers of that Saturday..... First set of numbers is 2 naps before the delayed nap...... 2nd set is before the delayed nap.... 3rd....delayed nap.......... the rest are afterward
1. 8 minutes DEEP 3 minutes REM 20 minutes Light
2. 5 min DEEP 5 min REM 20 min Light
3. 27 min DEEP 12 min REM 45 min Light
4. 0 min DEEP 10 min REM 20 min Light
5. 3 min DEEP 9 min REM 13 min Light
6. 2 min DEEP 16 min REM 15 min Light
7. 12 min DEEP 6 min REM 15 min Light
On to today. Since Uberman was really never my goal, but a conditioner, I am ready to attempt my own creation of a sleep cycle. In getting the little sleep in my previous experiment.... I realized that I was getting more deep sleep than normal and 20% of the REM I needed. Upon this idea, I have thought through my strategy. I am staying away from 20 min power naps as much as possible. Sure, they can help, but in order to adapt to those lucid dreams (where your nap is almost entirely REM) you starve yourself of REM. Like I said before..... I felt good (for 2 hours!!!!!) but my mental capacity was shot........... ( I never truly adapted to lucid dreams) I was still fighting REM deficiency...... (headaches.....) I will be following a traditional sleep cycle....... (90 min). I talked about this before. 90 min is the amount of time that you should sleep in increments.... 90, 3 hours, 4.5 hours, 6, 7.5, 9 etc.... So I wanted my body to experience the normal sleep cycles of Deep......Light......REM..... in normally occurring people. But I want the privilege of polyphasic sleep where I spread out my naps and need less sleep. (remember, you are charging yourself just till that next sleep opportunity..... If you miss it, you crash and burn!!!). So I am doing my own variation of the Everyman........but not. I will be doing the following.
Morning Nap at 5:30 till 7:00 AM
Daily Nap around 1:30 till 3:00 PM
Evening Nap at 9:30 till 11:00 PM
and an additional graveyard nap at 1:30-3:00 AM
Excluding the graveyard nap, I will be taking a nap starting 8 hours apart (really 6.5 hours from wake till next nap) The graveyard nap is in-between my evening naps and is kind of like a booster nap. This will give me the extra Cycle I need to Run at 4 sleep cycles a day. That is 6 hours total..... Most people can functionally do that. They have to catch up on weekends, but it is possible (speaking of my age group....As you age, that becomes normal or even a good night for some people). But my trick is that I will be spreading my sleep out over the day. This should make those 4 cycles count for their max restoration. But for me, I remember having felt so good on uberman... minus the fog of disclarity from lack of REM.... Doing this experiment.... I should have extra DEEP sleep (due to multiple times falling asleep (since I always tend to hit my DEEP sleep first)) and the REM that I get (I am supposing around 1.1 hours initially) will be enough to keep me focused and give me my memory function until my body adjusts for more REM down the line. This will give me my REM and hopefully it will spread out better over my day.
Now, if this doesn't work (It clearly may not), I will attempt to do a 3.5 hour graveyard section, a 90 min nap and two 30 min naps. The problem is....with school, getting naps in is difficult with my schedule and job. So I am hoping that this system works. Anyway, that is my attempt.
You may be wondering why I am even attempting this if it inhibits me. ANSWER: my body naturally gets really tired during the day and naturally gets over active during the day. This really is upsetting when I am sleeping normal and still have to fight off the dosing that I naturally do. When I am on these systems, that problem goes away...... I just have to make sure that my body is taken care of. SO in all failure, I will have to drop to the Bi-phasic system and repeat last semester (which in all honesty, was a great improvement being biphasic. I slept 6 hours a night.......... and napped for 90 min. 7.5 hours....)
So for those out there that have sleeping discomforts, issues, or fatigue..... I am doing this for myself and hopefully you are picking up thoughts about how this could work in your life.... I will be that guinea pig. Like I said, this system I am doing has never been done as a normal system. This is just a experiment with my knowledge of theoretical sleep with actually body compliance.......
Lastly, I am afraid to say that my ZEO power cord was damaged. It fried. So I will be doing this experiment without my ZEO to guide me. I am saddened by this, but if this works, I will get to see the finished product when i receive the replacement in 2 weeks. :) It is different not knowing how you slept.... I guess I am just going to have to be normal like everyone else. :)
Here are my numbers of that Saturday..... First set of numbers is 2 naps before the delayed nap...... 2nd set is before the delayed nap.... 3rd....delayed nap.......... the rest are afterward
1. 8 minutes DEEP 3 minutes REM 20 minutes Light
2. 5 min DEEP 5 min REM 20 min Light
3. 27 min DEEP 12 min REM 45 min Light
4. 0 min DEEP 10 min REM 20 min Light
5. 3 min DEEP 9 min REM 13 min Light
6. 2 min DEEP 16 min REM 15 min Light
7. 12 min DEEP 6 min REM 15 min Light
On to today. Since Uberman was really never my goal, but a conditioner, I am ready to attempt my own creation of a sleep cycle. In getting the little sleep in my previous experiment.... I realized that I was getting more deep sleep than normal and 20% of the REM I needed. Upon this idea, I have thought through my strategy. I am staying away from 20 min power naps as much as possible. Sure, they can help, but in order to adapt to those lucid dreams (where your nap is almost entirely REM) you starve yourself of REM. Like I said before..... I felt good (for 2 hours!!!!!) but my mental capacity was shot........... ( I never truly adapted to lucid dreams) I was still fighting REM deficiency...... (headaches.....) I will be following a traditional sleep cycle....... (90 min). I talked about this before. 90 min is the amount of time that you should sleep in increments.... 90, 3 hours, 4.5 hours, 6, 7.5, 9 etc.... So I wanted my body to experience the normal sleep cycles of Deep......Light......REM..... in normally occurring people. But I want the privilege of polyphasic sleep where I spread out my naps and need less sleep. (remember, you are charging yourself just till that next sleep opportunity..... If you miss it, you crash and burn!!!). So I am doing my own variation of the Everyman........but not. I will be doing the following.
Morning Nap at 5:30 till 7:00 AM
Daily Nap around 1:30 till 3:00 PM
Evening Nap at 9:30 till 11:00 PM
and an additional graveyard nap at 1:30-3:00 AM
Excluding the graveyard nap, I will be taking a nap starting 8 hours apart (really 6.5 hours from wake till next nap) The graveyard nap is in-between my evening naps and is kind of like a booster nap. This will give me the extra Cycle I need to Run at 4 sleep cycles a day. That is 6 hours total..... Most people can functionally do that. They have to catch up on weekends, but it is possible (speaking of my age group....As you age, that becomes normal or even a good night for some people). But my trick is that I will be spreading my sleep out over the day. This should make those 4 cycles count for their max restoration. But for me, I remember having felt so good on uberman... minus the fog of disclarity from lack of REM.... Doing this experiment.... I should have extra DEEP sleep (due to multiple times falling asleep (since I always tend to hit my DEEP sleep first)) and the REM that I get (I am supposing around 1.1 hours initially) will be enough to keep me focused and give me my memory function until my body adjusts for more REM down the line. This will give me my REM and hopefully it will spread out better over my day.
Now, if this doesn't work (It clearly may not), I will attempt to do a 3.5 hour graveyard section, a 90 min nap and two 30 min naps. The problem is....with school, getting naps in is difficult with my schedule and job. So I am hoping that this system works. Anyway, that is my attempt.
You may be wondering why I am even attempting this if it inhibits me. ANSWER: my body naturally gets really tired during the day and naturally gets over active during the day. This really is upsetting when I am sleeping normal and still have to fight off the dosing that I naturally do. When I am on these systems, that problem goes away...... I just have to make sure that my body is taken care of. SO in all failure, I will have to drop to the Bi-phasic system and repeat last semester (which in all honesty, was a great improvement being biphasic. I slept 6 hours a night.......... and napped for 90 min. 7.5 hours....)
So for those out there that have sleeping discomforts, issues, or fatigue..... I am doing this for myself and hopefully you are picking up thoughts about how this could work in your life.... I will be that guinea pig. Like I said, this system I am doing has never been done as a normal system. This is just a experiment with my knowledge of theoretical sleep with actually body compliance.......
Lastly, I am afraid to say that my ZEO power cord was damaged. It fried. So I will be doing this experiment without my ZEO to guide me. I am saddened by this, but if this works, I will get to see the finished product when i receive the replacement in 2 weeks. :) It is different not knowing how you slept.... I guess I am just going to have to be normal like everyone else. :)
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Day 4......
Good morning everyone! Today has been an all over day. And here, I will document it for you as best as I can with new things that I have learned. For one, I truly believed that this morning that I was on top of this thing. But this is what I have noticed. It is easier to be up in the day light time. This allows me the ease of moving in the morning with no issues. On the other hand, it does not matter how much I have rested that day; the night is still tough in the 12-4 range and even the beginning of the 4-8 region the next day. The ease and burden "polar opposites" have begun to even out a bit so that the evening was not that difficult and the day was not that easy. In other words.... it is beginning to work. :) But the day/night still remains.
This morning was a normal morning. I was feeling overconfident as normal with the morning boost that I get at my 9 am wake up. This is due to the light from outside, previous experience, and lastly (I believe) my medication. I take Synthroid each day due to my thyroid. Understanding that synthroid gives my body extra thryroxin {metabolism and energy} that it is missing, I am wondering if this is also contributing to my insane boost of energy at that time period. Because I take my synthroid an hour before I nap in that time frame. I am just wondering if that medication gives me an unfair temporary jumpstart each morning. Either way, it is a thought that I have been considering. I did not do anything too crazy this morning. I simply at my breakfast and headed to my church for play practice from 11:30 to 1:00. I had been slowly stretching my sleep schedule so that I would be able to make it back home and collapse for my slightly overdue nap. But this is what happened. I had a parent show up 25 minutes late to get their kids. Now I was understanding, but I was also very upset inside. I ended up getting home an hour overdue for my nap! I functioned fine since I was in my boost, but I knew that this would have terrible consequences. This is why (back-track, then I will pick up from here): I believe I failed to mention last night in my my post that I had taken an extra nap to pass the time by. Due to the whole 20 minute nap verses 30 minute nap situation, I needed rest and I took a nap exactly half way between naps. this is a quick nap only meant to pass the time by. Sleep by definition of REM or DEEP is almost null! But I was so exhausted when I got up. Even more so than I was previously. My body was used to a pattern of Up Down Up Down Up Down. By throwing in a little double time, my body was not in the right spot to get my rest. This was recovered for by my nap (original time again), but I learned that not only are you tired in cycles, but your rythyms need to be in line with your naps.
So back to the story, I got back an hour late for my nap. I had to have it. My heart had begun pumping harder and my mind was tired and ready to pass out. It took me a very long time to fall asleep. I could feel my body working overdrive trying to keep me functional while I was attempting to relax so it could rest. I could hear my heart beat in my ears, I could feel it on my skin (and face against pillow). It kept me up even as I tried to rest. So this is what happened........
Mind you, it could have been worse. I ended up worrying if I would get any sleep because of my burdened vitals. Well, the Lord was gracious and I fell asleep. In this moment. It was a DEEP sleep. The orange bars that overlap the 2PM mark were my nap. Well, I ended up waking up with the alarm and shutting it off. But I slept terrible and I (apparently) fell back to sleep immediately after I turned the alarms off (3 total alarms during the process {1 normal and 2 backups}) . Well, luckily I didn't take off my headband, so my zeo just kept recording. I ended up sleeping an additional bit with a total of 45 minutes of LIGHT, 12 minutes of REM (most I had these last days at a shot), and 27 minutes of Deep. With all of that sleep, you would assume that my body would be rejoicing!!!! It wasn't. The timing was wrong, the amount of sleep was not patterned in 20-30 minutes of time, and I was super groggy! My normal nap time was just an hour and 48 minutes away (108 like LOST (which is why I remember that detail) ). here I got 10 minutes of REM and 20 minutes of LIGHT. I felt much better after this, even though I knew the next naps would have to compensate for this outrage. :) They did. My next naps were REM filled. The first was 9 min REM to 2 min DEEP and the second was 16 min REM with 2 min DEEP. But I have slid back on track again with my high DEEP and low REM again. last nap was 12 DEEP and 6 REM.
So in a concluding thought on this subject before I talk about caffeine and REM, I want to show you just how important these naps are. When they are off balance, it literally will ruin your day/ ruin the entire cycle you have begun. (I AM VERY LUCKY) that my body aborted early on that long nap. If it had been another 2 hours, I would have had to start back on day 2 again with getting a cycle down pat and re-working my entire experiment. Thank the Lord, this did not happen. Otherwise, my nap would have had even more light sleep, and I would have been like a normal person running on 2 hours of sleep in finals week of college. A normal person in a normal monophasic state cannot function on 2 hours of sleep a day for an entire week. You will either, pass out, get very sick by exhaustion, or even die! On to better thoughts for Polyphasic sleepers.
I have really attempted to be very good during this experiment with drinking water. I have attempted (and done well) to drink at least one glass of water in each cycle. And only water. The only exception to this is the occassional milk in cereal, or decaffeiNATEd sweet tea. Because I am stressing my body, I want it to have what it needs physically and water is the way to go. I get electrolytes from the foot I eat! Anyway, I am not drinking any caffeine during this experiement. And I know this from personal experience in my 2 month backlog of a baseline. When you drink caffeine, your body is affected during sleep. You are simply too active due to the drug being in your system. You will start a normal (big block) of REM and abort it early. In fact, you will see dramatic cut back in your REM lengths. You are literally "too hyper" for REM and you are sent back to the principles office in LIGHT of your activities. HAHA you get what I am saying? Any caffeine is running a risk of that happening. And on the amount of REM that I am getting, I cannot sacrifice any of it!
Closing thought for the day. This is why caffeine is so bad for you. I will explain in a roundabout way, but it will help you to understand. Here comes the biology, but it will be in laymans terms. trust me, you will get it from this:
Our body likes equilibrium. (a balance). It desires to be in a mixed/balanced state and never at the extremes. And here i will explain a situation. Hang with me. When you see a person who likes another person (call it American teenage love), biologically, they are pleased with the other person and their body shares in the pleasure by releasing dopamine. (in other words, brain candy). When you make a shot in basketball, achieve something great, or are happy because of something; it is a dopamine release. It is a wonderful little drug. So when a person likes someone, they are selfishly liking the way they feel when they are around them. due to the drug, they are happy. Well, just like with any drug, we need bigger accomplisments, more time with a special someone, to keep the current feeling going over time. this is due to our body fighting the increase in dopamine levels.... it wants to get back to a balanced situation. So you want more of the happy feeling, while your body is fighting to stay normal. Hence, in love, you feel lost when they are not around. you are a downer. that is because, when you first met them, they increase you from 50% to around 80%..... Over time, your body adjusts for the fact that the person is going to be around and releases less dopamine on its own (maybe 35%). It is accounting for the surplus that it will get from the person (15% from seeing the person). (so when you are not around them, you are running at 35%....... This makes you sad. This is also why people who break up (sadly) have a rebound person to just "MAKE ME FEEL BETTER". Over time, your body will adjust, but a rebound is so much faster. This is also what happens in marriages. Infatuation love brings you together, your body adjusts for them being there, and then you wind up at 50%. No more lovey dovey.....
Now caffeine works the same way. This is what it does. When you are in a scary situation, you release epinephrine/adrenaline (fight or flight). Ready to punch or run for your life. this goes to a cell and induces cAMP to be formed in the cell. YAY.... This will give us the energy to run or fight! cAMP is broken down by another enzyme (i believe it is phosphodiesterase). Anyway, caffeine is a tricky little drug and inhibits cAMP from being broken down. This causes high cAMP in our cells, thus a booster of energy!!! YEA!!!! We are doing nothing of super importance, and have the fight or flight system running to keep us going (as if our life depended on the situation). Well, our body likes equilibrium.... when you normally take in caffeine, your body will start making more phosphodiesterase to break down the excess cAMP in your cell. So after a while, you become addicted to caffeine..... you need it to get moving in the morning. Because otherwise, any little cAMP you make is immediately cleaved because of extra phosphodiesterases. Your body is used to having caffeine induce more cAMP. so without it, you cannot even do anything. You are a zombie... Now, if you were to go without for a week or two, your body would begin to adjust to get you to 50% on your own.... But we just do the quick fix. we take in caffeine. So people that always have caffeine, and people that don't; the ones that don't normally have it will be more affected by caffeine..... or a bear that charges into your work place. theoretically, the person with no caffeine will probably be better reacted to the fight or flight, since his/hers is not already in effect.
And just to sum this up to my simple point..... FIGHT or FLIGHT means a monster is chasing you..... you aren't supposed to sleep when that happens..... So now your body is ready to go........ but you are just laying there..... REM is interupted... and you probably won't sleep well overall either! ... if you do, imagine how well you would sleep without the caffeine....
Sorry for the light-hearted, oversimplified biology lesson. I guess I just wanted to talk about it! :)
This morning was a normal morning. I was feeling overconfident as normal with the morning boost that I get at my 9 am wake up. This is due to the light from outside, previous experience, and lastly (I believe) my medication. I take Synthroid each day due to my thyroid. Understanding that synthroid gives my body extra thryroxin {metabolism and energy} that it is missing, I am wondering if this is also contributing to my insane boost of energy at that time period. Because I take my synthroid an hour before I nap in that time frame. I am just wondering if that medication gives me an unfair temporary jumpstart each morning. Either way, it is a thought that I have been considering. I did not do anything too crazy this morning. I simply at my breakfast and headed to my church for play practice from 11:30 to 1:00. I had been slowly stretching my sleep schedule so that I would be able to make it back home and collapse for my slightly overdue nap. But this is what happened. I had a parent show up 25 minutes late to get their kids. Now I was understanding, but I was also very upset inside. I ended up getting home an hour overdue for my nap! I functioned fine since I was in my boost, but I knew that this would have terrible consequences. This is why (back-track, then I will pick up from here): I believe I failed to mention last night in my my post that I had taken an extra nap to pass the time by. Due to the whole 20 minute nap verses 30 minute nap situation, I needed rest and I took a nap exactly half way between naps. this is a quick nap only meant to pass the time by. Sleep by definition of REM or DEEP is almost null! But I was so exhausted when I got up. Even more so than I was previously. My body was used to a pattern of Up Down Up Down Up Down. By throwing in a little double time, my body was not in the right spot to get my rest. This was recovered for by my nap (original time again), but I learned that not only are you tired in cycles, but your rythyms need to be in line with your naps.
So back to the story, I got back an hour late for my nap. I had to have it. My heart had begun pumping harder and my mind was tired and ready to pass out. It took me a very long time to fall asleep. I could feel my body working overdrive trying to keep me functional while I was attempting to relax so it could rest. I could hear my heart beat in my ears, I could feel it on my skin (and face against pillow). It kept me up even as I tried to rest. So this is what happened........
Mind you, it could have been worse. I ended up worrying if I would get any sleep because of my burdened vitals. Well, the Lord was gracious and I fell asleep. In this moment. It was a DEEP sleep. The orange bars that overlap the 2PM mark were my nap. Well, I ended up waking up with the alarm and shutting it off. But I slept terrible and I (apparently) fell back to sleep immediately after I turned the alarms off (3 total alarms during the process {1 normal and 2 backups}) . Well, luckily I didn't take off my headband, so my zeo just kept recording. I ended up sleeping an additional bit with a total of 45 minutes of LIGHT, 12 minutes of REM (most I had these last days at a shot), and 27 minutes of Deep. With all of that sleep, you would assume that my body would be rejoicing!!!! It wasn't. The timing was wrong, the amount of sleep was not patterned in 20-30 minutes of time, and I was super groggy! My normal nap time was just an hour and 48 minutes away (108 like LOST (which is why I remember that detail) ). here I got 10 minutes of REM and 20 minutes of LIGHT. I felt much better after this, even though I knew the next naps would have to compensate for this outrage. :) They did. My next naps were REM filled. The first was 9 min REM to 2 min DEEP and the second was 16 min REM with 2 min DEEP. But I have slid back on track again with my high DEEP and low REM again. last nap was 12 DEEP and 6 REM.
So in a concluding thought on this subject before I talk about caffeine and REM, I want to show you just how important these naps are. When they are off balance, it literally will ruin your day/ ruin the entire cycle you have begun. (I AM VERY LUCKY) that my body aborted early on that long nap. If it had been another 2 hours, I would have had to start back on day 2 again with getting a cycle down pat and re-working my entire experiment. Thank the Lord, this did not happen. Otherwise, my nap would have had even more light sleep, and I would have been like a normal person running on 2 hours of sleep in finals week of college. A normal person in a normal monophasic state cannot function on 2 hours of sleep a day for an entire week. You will either, pass out, get very sick by exhaustion, or even die! On to better thoughts for Polyphasic sleepers.
I have really attempted to be very good during this experiment with drinking water. I have attempted (and done well) to drink at least one glass of water in each cycle. And only water. The only exception to this is the occassional milk in cereal, or decaffeiNATEd sweet tea. Because I am stressing my body, I want it to have what it needs physically and water is the way to go. I get electrolytes from the foot I eat! Anyway, I am not drinking any caffeine during this experiement. And I know this from personal experience in my 2 month backlog of a baseline. When you drink caffeine, your body is affected during sleep. You are simply too active due to the drug being in your system. You will start a normal (big block) of REM and abort it early. In fact, you will see dramatic cut back in your REM lengths. You are literally "too hyper" for REM and you are sent back to the principles office in LIGHT of your activities. HAHA you get what I am saying? Any caffeine is running a risk of that happening. And on the amount of REM that I am getting, I cannot sacrifice any of it!
Closing thought for the day. This is why caffeine is so bad for you. I will explain in a roundabout way, but it will help you to understand. Here comes the biology, but it will be in laymans terms. trust me, you will get it from this:
Our body likes equilibrium. (a balance). It desires to be in a mixed/balanced state and never at the extremes. And here i will explain a situation. Hang with me. When you see a person who likes another person (call it American teenage love), biologically, they are pleased with the other person and their body shares in the pleasure by releasing dopamine. (in other words, brain candy). When you make a shot in basketball, achieve something great, or are happy because of something; it is a dopamine release. It is a wonderful little drug. So when a person likes someone, they are selfishly liking the way they feel when they are around them. due to the drug, they are happy. Well, just like with any drug, we need bigger accomplisments, more time with a special someone, to keep the current feeling going over time. this is due to our body fighting the increase in dopamine levels.... it wants to get back to a balanced situation. So you want more of the happy feeling, while your body is fighting to stay normal. Hence, in love, you feel lost when they are not around. you are a downer. that is because, when you first met them, they increase you from 50% to around 80%..... Over time, your body adjusts for the fact that the person is going to be around and releases less dopamine on its own (maybe 35%). It is accounting for the surplus that it will get from the person (15% from seeing the person). (so when you are not around them, you are running at 35%....... This makes you sad. This is also why people who break up (sadly) have a rebound person to just "MAKE ME FEEL BETTER". Over time, your body will adjust, but a rebound is so much faster. This is also what happens in marriages. Infatuation love brings you together, your body adjusts for them being there, and then you wind up at 50%. No more lovey dovey.....
Now caffeine works the same way. This is what it does. When you are in a scary situation, you release epinephrine/adrenaline (fight or flight). Ready to punch or run for your life. this goes to a cell and induces cAMP to be formed in the cell. YAY.... This will give us the energy to run or fight! cAMP is broken down by another enzyme (i believe it is phosphodiesterase). Anyway, caffeine is a tricky little drug and inhibits cAMP from being broken down. This causes high cAMP in our cells, thus a booster of energy!!! YEA!!!! We are doing nothing of super importance, and have the fight or flight system running to keep us going (as if our life depended on the situation). Well, our body likes equilibrium.... when you normally take in caffeine, your body will start making more phosphodiesterase to break down the excess cAMP in your cell. So after a while, you become addicted to caffeine..... you need it to get moving in the morning. Because otherwise, any little cAMP you make is immediately cleaved because of extra phosphodiesterases. Your body is used to having caffeine induce more cAMP. so without it, you cannot even do anything. You are a zombie... Now, if you were to go without for a week or two, your body would begin to adjust to get you to 50% on your own.... But we just do the quick fix. we take in caffeine. So people that always have caffeine, and people that don't; the ones that don't normally have it will be more affected by caffeine..... or a bear that charges into your work place. theoretically, the person with no caffeine will probably be better reacted to the fight or flight, since his/hers is not already in effect.
And just to sum this up to my simple point..... FIGHT or FLIGHT means a monster is chasing you..... you aren't supposed to sleep when that happens..... So now your body is ready to go........ but you are just laying there..... REM is interupted... and you probably won't sleep well overall either! ... if you do, imagine how well you would sleep without the caffeine....
Sorry for the light-hearted, oversimplified biology lesson. I guess I just wanted to talk about it! :)
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Day 3 In and Out of Phase
Hello again. :) I am amazed that I am actually doing this blog. But that is what happens when you have some free time. Ok. Again, bare with my mind.
Today was really great. Overall, I would put it as my best. As far as productivity is concerned, however, I am afraid that video games got the best of me. So lets jump into the ins and outs. Especially because I have come up with a great observation that is necessary to clarify.
Once I got around to my shower in the first cycle of the day (around 9 am), I found that I was able to play video games and not have that tired pressure on me. My eyes were doing fine and could concentrate on the reading that was involved as well. This is an improvement from my previous conditions where I had to adjust myself and time spent on activities to compensate for eye tiredness. I also found that I would drift off in thought easily. This is interesting, because these thoughts are really concentrated ideas that I will tangent off of and focus on. Ability to multitask (while difficult for me already) is almost impossible. I have been writing down ideas and such on my expo board to be reminders of day to day activities. Note-taking has become part of my nature. I am also very creative in my approaches to thoughts and problems and their "scenic route" solutions I come up with. Not the typical me. My appetite still consists of three meals in a 24 hour period so I am positively concluding that my metabolism has slowed to an altered hybrid state. I should be eating more food, but I am just not hungry for it. So breakfast, is around 9 am. Lunch around 5 pm and dinner around 11 pm. Everything has spaced and my stomach reminds me at these times that I should eat.
Also before my "great observation" I need to state a few more side effects. My cough is holding fine. Not bothersome, just a reminder. My temperature (as discussed before) is warmer during the nighttime (dark) and colder during the day (light). My memory is hit and miss on different things. For instance, I cannot tell you when I had my pizza. I know I had left-overs today of the remaining 4 pieces, and I had risen from bed and it was still on the stove, but I cannot conclude when I cooked it. A normal person would say that they left it on the stove and went to bed and it was there in the morning. I go to bed 6 times a day. So I cannot recall. This may seem trivial to you, but it has shown me that my days are no longer days anymore. I am seeing things as cycles and something 3-4 cycles ago is literally like thinking 3-4 days ago. It also does help with my REM, but that topic is coming up and I will discuss it there. I was just thinking about the Youth party, and realized that it was only this last night. I had to think hard to remember that. (again, discuss with REM below). Day and Night are relative terms. I understand the AM and PM I have written on the board, but I don't have activities timestamped in my mind. Like, eg., (I called Wilson around 10 am). that time is a complete guess because I have no idea (Again with REM below). And lastly in my side effects, my mind is so ADHD!!!! I have so many thoughts that go through it at a time. It is completely un-filtered. I have to re-read my blog to try to make the ideas flow from one to another smoothly. I already did this in the past when I talk to people, but it is almost a bad joke how much this characteristic has manifested in my day to day activities now.
OK, for what you all have been waiting for (well, what I have been waiting to write). I realized something today. within the last 3 cycles. I am getting more deep sleep than a normal person of my age group. My age group is supposed to get over 2 hours of REM and a little over 1 hour of DEEP sleep each day. Well, I have been taking (over the last 12 cycles) close to 25-30 minute naps instead of 20. This I concluded as a mistake 4 cycles ago, but realized that I will be sticking with this. Here is two samples I have pasted together of my two 8:45 naps (one AM, one PM today).
Today was really great. Overall, I would put it as my best. As far as productivity is concerned, however, I am afraid that video games got the best of me. So lets jump into the ins and outs. Especially because I have come up with a great observation that is necessary to clarify.
Once I got around to my shower in the first cycle of the day (around 9 am), I found that I was able to play video games and not have that tired pressure on me. My eyes were doing fine and could concentrate on the reading that was involved as well. This is an improvement from my previous conditions where I had to adjust myself and time spent on activities to compensate for eye tiredness. I also found that I would drift off in thought easily. This is interesting, because these thoughts are really concentrated ideas that I will tangent off of and focus on. Ability to multitask (while difficult for me already) is almost impossible. I have been writing down ideas and such on my expo board to be reminders of day to day activities. Note-taking has become part of my nature. I am also very creative in my approaches to thoughts and problems and their "scenic route" solutions I come up with. Not the typical me. My appetite still consists of three meals in a 24 hour period so I am positively concluding that my metabolism has slowed to an altered hybrid state. I should be eating more food, but I am just not hungry for it. So breakfast, is around 9 am. Lunch around 5 pm and dinner around 11 pm. Everything has spaced and my stomach reminds me at these times that I should eat.
Also before my "great observation" I need to state a few more side effects. My cough is holding fine. Not bothersome, just a reminder. My temperature (as discussed before) is warmer during the nighttime (dark) and colder during the day (light). My memory is hit and miss on different things. For instance, I cannot tell you when I had my pizza. I know I had left-overs today of the remaining 4 pieces, and I had risen from bed and it was still on the stove, but I cannot conclude when I cooked it. A normal person would say that they left it on the stove and went to bed and it was there in the morning. I go to bed 6 times a day. So I cannot recall. This may seem trivial to you, but it has shown me that my days are no longer days anymore. I am seeing things as cycles and something 3-4 cycles ago is literally like thinking 3-4 days ago. It also does help with my REM, but that topic is coming up and I will discuss it there. I was just thinking about the Youth party, and realized that it was only this last night. I had to think hard to remember that. (again, discuss with REM below). Day and Night are relative terms. I understand the AM and PM I have written on the board, but I don't have activities timestamped in my mind. Like, eg., (I called Wilson around 10 am). that time is a complete guess because I have no idea (Again with REM below). And lastly in my side effects, my mind is so ADHD!!!! I have so many thoughts that go through it at a time. It is completely un-filtered. I have to re-read my blog to try to make the ideas flow from one to another smoothly. I already did this in the past when I talk to people, but it is almost a bad joke how much this characteristic has manifested in my day to day activities now.
OK, for what you all have been waiting for (well, what I have been waiting to write). I realized something today. within the last 3 cycles. I am getting more deep sleep than a normal person of my age group. My age group is supposed to get over 2 hours of REM and a little over 1 hour of DEEP sleep each day. Well, I have been taking (over the last 12 cycles) close to 25-30 minute naps instead of 20. This I concluded as a mistake 4 cycles ago, but realized that I will be sticking with this. Here is two samples I have pasted together of my two 8:45 naps (one AM, one PM today).
Anyway, so I know my previous post of my original sleep cycles doesn't have the key fact I am about to discuss, but I want to point out that when I normally fall asleep, i always jump to REM briefly before I get to LIGHT sleep and finally to DEEP. In fact, both of these graphs look like they were chopped right off of my initial sleep graphs from November-December. Which brings up an interesting point. My body is not adjusting properly. I took this as I needed to get 20 exact minutes of sleep (when I did that tonight, I got more REM). But I felt drastically more tired. Then it hit me. That is why this transition has been so easy for me. I am getting around 8-15 minutes of DEEP each nap. multiply that by 6 and you get a range of 48-90 minutes. That is in range (90 beyond it) of normal sleep. that is why my body has been fine while my mind is in chaos. My body is actually improving in the amounts or restorative rest for cells and muscles. Which brings me to the next fact. I am only getting 4-8 minutes of REM each cycle. Averaging this out to about 35 minutes of REM a day, I am in 25% of the range I should be at. This explains so much more of my lack of multitasking. I can concentrate, but only on one thing. My mind blurs easier together in cycles and some details just don't make it. That is why my memory has been so shot. My body is not getting to file my thoughts and make those connections of "who/what" "when" "where" "why" and "how" I really have to think hard and try to piece these together myself. Sometimes I can, other times (like the pizza) are left to the Lord to know. So my memories are not filed in an organized file system. I just found this interesting. Instead of getting my REM and REM only sleep in this process, I am actually getting my DEEP sleep and very little REM. This really amazes me! I am so glad I am experimenting with this!!! So much fun to learn things like this. This hopefully will change when i "adapt" but to be honest. These are the naps I am looking for. When I change to the EVERYMAN 3, I want naps that cover all bases lightly while my main core sleep of 3.5 hours gets the big stuff.
I am just amazed that I can function on little REM though. This is very vital to a person and my side effects are probably only the beginning. I had already researched some of this. So I am being keen to write down things that happen to track them. If I start halluciNATEing, I know that I need to abort the project. When you don't get REM (like in war forms of torture) you cannot handle stress. That is step one.... Two, you will give up just about anything you know (hardened people even struggle to hold on) and finally, if a person is not allowed to sleep (get their REM) they will start dreaming with their eyes open. This is when you are in trouble. So far, stress is still good, but I am looking for these other side effects too! The only thing I know about in this area of struggle is that I get a headache approximately 35 minutes before each nap time now. It is a subtle reminder that I am approaching that time. Also, i like this. Since I have a headache, I know that I will fall asleep when I hit the bed. When I fail to have this, I normally take longer to fall asleep. These have subtly gotten better today. I think it is because my body is in an equilibrium state between happy and HELP ME. :)
In closing for today. I just want to state that I feel like I am in time dilation I just finished exams Wednesday. But it feels like more than 3 days ago. For me, it actually has been over 4 days. Let me explain. a normal person has approx 16-18 hour days (using 6-8 hours of sleep). So, adding up hours, you readers should have spent about 3 days worth WED-FRI (as a whole). That is 48 hours for you (using 16 hour days). I on the other hand am getting 21-22 hours of day. So I am at (using 21.5 hours) 64.5 hours. This means that I have had an additional day to your 3. 64.5 minus 48 equals 16.5 hours extra! Just a tidbit I thought I would share! :D Until next time......
Friday, December 14, 2012
Day 2
Well to start off..... I have mixed feelings about Day 2. This is due in part to the very different nature of the day at its different times. More on that in a few minutes, but first I have to explain my mindset and how it shifted all day. (DISCLAIMER: my mind is very REM deprived currently, so I forgive my spelling and sentence structure).
So yesterday, I finished typing my blog around 5:45 ish. After that time, I simply watched an episode of a tv series and finally got to the nap. Upon waking from the nap, I was decently awake. This would have been around 9ish and I believe that my normal circadian rythym was taking hold and giving me an insane second wind. I felt very good! In fact, I felt insanely pumped up till 4 in the afternoon. I remember specifically looking at a good friend that had stayed the night and slept on the couch. He had stayed up with me till around 4AM and ended up not getting up till around 1:50 PM. He was that tired. My excited mind was literally saying things like, "look at the waste of time laying there!" "Typical Monophasic Sleeper". ha ha I just continued to function while he slept for most of the time. I did all kinds of things to pass the time by, and really enjoyed it too! Something was wrong...... This is too easy! way too easy!!! I am not having any issues doing this. I have been up for multiple cycles and I am feeling just fine. [This sums up my day thoughts] Here is a snapshot of my sleep cycle statistics for my day. This is practically the same for each nap.
As you can see, we have a few issues from both sides of the spectrum. (1. I am getting REM like I normally do when I first fall asleep. It is not much, but it is REM. This is not allowing me to starve from withdrawal from REM as simply as it should be.... More on that in a second. (2. My sleep cycle has not adjusted from its normal function. I am getting DEEP sleep (the beginning of a sleep cycle [90 min]). This is actually a two fold problem that I am dealing with now.
I still have too much REM in my system. My body is not compensating yet, but seems to have a good, plentiful reserve (in viewing REM like a rechargeable battery). Also, I am getting little chunks of REM to add to that reserve. This is allowing me to feel on top of the world, and yet not accomplish anything. This also leads to the problem that happened earlier this morning. :( Feeling on top of my game, I visited a friend's house to chill with the guys, say hi, and shoot a music video. I allocated the nap for their house and had a room set up with the qualifications for me to sleep there. DARK, QUIET, secluded. etc. I allocated time to unwind, but my mind was not settling down. I was not tired. I was feeling good. So, when I took my nap, I never fell asleep. Yes, it could have been the strange room, or the excitement of friends, but I truly believe that it was also the fact that I was not tired. I was even bragging about it! So, though I rested for that nap, I got no sleep at all. This drug me down for the next cycle.
The next cycle was horribly wrong. I had issues making it to the checkpoint. I made it there, but it took all of my will to keep from drifting. I was exhausted and my mind was ready for rest. This was good for the project, but bad for my body and will. I had to battle getting up to do this blog. My mind was elusive and I had to take in the situation before I realized that I had woken up and needed to kill the alarm and turn on my BRIGHT LIGHT to shock my eyes into realization of wake time.... (this also helps your circadium rythyms to set by using light to be your "I'm awake, or I'm asleep stages" The Pineal gland is involved with this as it is involved with sensing light and therefore influencing melatonin. I am feeling better as I type this blog now, but I am afraid that my sleepiness will return with a vengeance if i do not get straight REM sometime soon. My will is strong, but even that is masked by fatigue and the onset of mental opaqueness! I have started a video game, but believe that I may have to put that aside since it does not have enough physical interaction to keep me busy. Or maybe that was just the missed nap issue!
PHYSICAL AND HEALTH ISSUES:
I have finally developed a cough. With my body, I seldom get sick due to a auto-immune disease that I have. Since my body is always on high alert, most intruders get killed in the crossfire of immune response. When I don't sleep properly, my immune system suffers greatly and I get coughs and other symptoms of sickness. And if not corrected, I will have bacteria cultures in my body's "normal flora" (normal bacteria groups, in check with each other, that normally live in me) that may overtake an opportunistic infection in my weakness. I only have the cough now and hopefully this will be the final extent (Lord willing) though I know that I am susceptible right now for just about anything.
Lastly on my rant tonight, I have noticed that my metabolism has slowed down to compensate for the overall function of my body over the new 22 hour period day. This is evident in my lack of hunger and my bodies colder temperature (to me) (this could be actual colder temp of my body or higher temp of my body so I feel the outside air as cold). I have had to use blankets and coats to keep myself warm. And as anyone that knows me understands, I NEVER WEAR COATS OR BLANKETS! I am the type of guy who wears shorts and a T-shirt year round with little issue. It is odd to have to have things warm me. I feel like a normal, weak human being (just kidding people). Between getting sickly and getting cold, I am experiencing a lot of things that I am not used to.
In my research, the other factor that could happen would be the metabolism staying the same. This sounds good, but causes the body to actually run normal for longer periods. The side effect to this situation is having to increase your calorie intake to match the new demands on the body. Maybe each body reacts differently and mine chose to slow down. Or maybe, it is still adjusting to this concept, since I am still just getting into the situation. We will find out soon enough. Hope you enjoyed Day 2. Now I just pray that my will for Day 3 is strong enough to get me over the hump of REM rebound! Until Then.
So yesterday, I finished typing my blog around 5:45 ish. After that time, I simply watched an episode of a tv series and finally got to the nap. Upon waking from the nap, I was decently awake. This would have been around 9ish and I believe that my normal circadian rythym was taking hold and giving me an insane second wind. I felt very good! In fact, I felt insanely pumped up till 4 in the afternoon. I remember specifically looking at a good friend that had stayed the night and slept on the couch. He had stayed up with me till around 4AM and ended up not getting up till around 1:50 PM. He was that tired. My excited mind was literally saying things like, "look at the waste of time laying there!" "Typical Monophasic Sleeper". ha ha I just continued to function while he slept for most of the time. I did all kinds of things to pass the time by, and really enjoyed it too! Something was wrong...... This is too easy! way too easy!!! I am not having any issues doing this. I have been up for multiple cycles and I am feeling just fine. [This sums up my day thoughts] Here is a snapshot of my sleep cycle statistics for my day. This is practically the same for each nap.
I still have too much REM in my system. My body is not compensating yet, but seems to have a good, plentiful reserve (in viewing REM like a rechargeable battery). Also, I am getting little chunks of REM to add to that reserve. This is allowing me to feel on top of the world, and yet not accomplish anything. This also leads to the problem that happened earlier this morning. :( Feeling on top of my game, I visited a friend's house to chill with the guys, say hi, and shoot a music video. I allocated the nap for their house and had a room set up with the qualifications for me to sleep there. DARK, QUIET, secluded. etc. I allocated time to unwind, but my mind was not settling down. I was not tired. I was feeling good. So, when I took my nap, I never fell asleep. Yes, it could have been the strange room, or the excitement of friends, but I truly believe that it was also the fact that I was not tired. I was even bragging about it! So, though I rested for that nap, I got no sleep at all. This drug me down for the next cycle.
The next cycle was horribly wrong. I had issues making it to the checkpoint. I made it there, but it took all of my will to keep from drifting. I was exhausted and my mind was ready for rest. This was good for the project, but bad for my body and will. I had to battle getting up to do this blog. My mind was elusive and I had to take in the situation before I realized that I had woken up and needed to kill the alarm and turn on my BRIGHT LIGHT to shock my eyes into realization of wake time.... (this also helps your circadium rythyms to set by using light to be your "I'm awake, or I'm asleep stages" The Pineal gland is involved with this as it is involved with sensing light and therefore influencing melatonin. I am feeling better as I type this blog now, but I am afraid that my sleepiness will return with a vengeance if i do not get straight REM sometime soon. My will is strong, but even that is masked by fatigue and the onset of mental opaqueness! I have started a video game, but believe that I may have to put that aside since it does not have enough physical interaction to keep me busy. Or maybe that was just the missed nap issue!
PHYSICAL AND HEALTH ISSUES:
I have finally developed a cough. With my body, I seldom get sick due to a auto-immune disease that I have. Since my body is always on high alert, most intruders get killed in the crossfire of immune response. When I don't sleep properly, my immune system suffers greatly and I get coughs and other symptoms of sickness. And if not corrected, I will have bacteria cultures in my body's "normal flora" (normal bacteria groups, in check with each other, that normally live in me) that may overtake an opportunistic infection in my weakness. I only have the cough now and hopefully this will be the final extent (Lord willing) though I know that I am susceptible right now for just about anything.
Lastly on my rant tonight, I have noticed that my metabolism has slowed down to compensate for the overall function of my body over the new 22 hour period day. This is evident in my lack of hunger and my bodies colder temperature (to me) (this could be actual colder temp of my body or higher temp of my body so I feel the outside air as cold). I have had to use blankets and coats to keep myself warm. And as anyone that knows me understands, I NEVER WEAR COATS OR BLANKETS! I am the type of guy who wears shorts and a T-shirt year round with little issue. It is odd to have to have things warm me. I feel like a normal, weak human being (just kidding people). Between getting sickly and getting cold, I am experiencing a lot of things that I am not used to.
In my research, the other factor that could happen would be the metabolism staying the same. This sounds good, but causes the body to actually run normal for longer periods. The side effect to this situation is having to increase your calorie intake to match the new demands on the body. Maybe each body reacts differently and mine chose to slow down. Or maybe, it is still adjusting to this concept, since I am still just getting into the situation. We will find out soon enough. Hope you enjoyed Day 2. Now I just pray that my will for Day 3 is strong enough to get me over the hump of REM rebound! Until Then.
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