Polyphasic Sleep Log

photo credit: |subma®in|

Since I wrote such a long post yesterday about my Perception of Time on a Polyphasic Sleep Schedule, I decided to skip my Day 10 update. So this update will be for days 10 and 11.

While my body and brain seem to adapted to the polyphasic schedule, there are still some weird kinks to work out. I mentioned meals and contact lenses in my post yesterday. There is also the fact that my cats are used to me staying in bed with them for at least a stretch of eight hours each day. They’re not adapting as quickly as I am. When the alarm goes off, they follow me around for a bit, expecting me to get a drink of water or use the bathroom and then go back to bed. Then, for about the next half hour to an hour they run from the living room to the bedroom, letting me know what they would like me to do. It’s actually kind of amusing, but I hope they’ll get used to it soon.

I have found that the hardest stretch of time for me is the time between my 5:30 AM and 9:30 AM naps. When I wake up from the 5:30 nap it’s still dark and I really want to go back to sleep – or not get out of bed at all. Even this morning, I considered taking an extra nap at 7:30, but knew that would just make things worse.

I think this urge has a lot to do with the weather. It’s been gray and either raining or snowing during the entire trial so far. This is not at all unusual for Western Washington – at any time of the year (except the snow) – but usually I can just crawl back into bed if I feel like it. So getting up in those dark, cold hours is definitely still difficult – even if I don’t feel sleepy.

And, the honest truth is, I rarely feel sleepy. And sometimes I don’t even sleep during my naps. This is especially true for my 1:30 PM nap. I just sort of lie there, drifting in a quiet alpha state while the kitties purr happily. When I wake up I feel as though I’ve slept, though.

The only thing I don’t like about this polyphasic sleep schedule is that I haven’t been dreaming much. Or if I have been, I’m not remembering them. I have always had vivid, memorable dreams and I’m starting to miss them a great deal. Hopefully this is just part of the adjustment period and my subconscious will kick back into gear soon.

I have read where some folks – after the initial adaptation period – take a day off every once in awhile and allow themselves a lie-in. I know I couldn’t do that now, but I might look into it at some later date. I really do love sleeping and, though I appreciate the productivity and love my energy level, I am starting to miss the time with my memory foam mattress.

Overall, I’m really glad I’m trying out polyphasic sleeping. I’m not sure how long I will stick with it – at least 30 days because that seems to be the standard for a serious experiment – that depends on how things suss out once I’m fully adapted.