Day 0
The big day is here. I've been "test napping" for about a week now and the last few days I've tried to take as many naps at my scheduled times as possible to get my body on schedule. I already feel tired at the appropriate times now, so tonight will be my first night of just naps.
My times are as follows:
12:30 am/pm
4:30 am/pm
8:30 am/pm
I'm napping for 21 minutes, with a backup alarm at 26 minutes. I found a nice kitchen timer that has a warning chirp 5 minutes before the timer runs out, and a continuous beep when time runs out (plus it starts counting up at that point). I've conditioned myself to get up after the chirp but it's nice to have a backup alarm just in case. Using the count-up function I'll be able to track any oversleeps.
Speaking of conditioning. I've always had a problem with alarm clocks. I hate them. But after reading Steve Pavlina's polyphasic blog entries (and the two about how to become an early riser) I decided it was time to work on my discipline muscle :-) After about 2 weeks of practice I now wake up (even after a full night sleep) to the single chirp of the kitchen timer. Quite amazing really.
Why 21 minutes? Most of the records I've found of people who have started this crazy schedule have started with 30 minutes (some even longer) and end up going shorter and shorter. I figure why not just start out at 21 minutes, which seems to be a pretty common end point for those who are successful at the adaptation. Heck, it might actually make the transition EASIER since I won't be slipping past REM sleep into something deeper.
Unfortunately, the last 2 naps I've tried to take have not gone terribly well. I can usually fall asleep in a matter of minutes. For the last 2 naps, I ended up getting up after 10-15 minutes when I couldn't fall asleep. I'm guessing it's the excitement about switching to the schedule today. Kind of ironic actually :-)
Anyway, my next nap is 12:30 so we'll see how that one goes. I typically get quite tired at this time of day anyway so hopefully I'll slip right into the schedule without incident. Even if I don't fall asleep I'm not going to get up early.
That's about it for now. I'm planning to log something here each day at least, if not more often. We have company this weekend though so I might end up writing mostly at night after everyone is asleep.
My times are as follows:
12:30 am/pm
4:30 am/pm
8:30 am/pm
I'm napping for 21 minutes, with a backup alarm at 26 minutes. I found a nice kitchen timer that has a warning chirp 5 minutes before the timer runs out, and a continuous beep when time runs out (plus it starts counting up at that point). I've conditioned myself to get up after the chirp but it's nice to have a backup alarm just in case. Using the count-up function I'll be able to track any oversleeps.
Speaking of conditioning. I've always had a problem with alarm clocks. I hate them. But after reading Steve Pavlina's polyphasic blog entries (and the two about how to become an early riser) I decided it was time to work on my discipline muscle :-) After about 2 weeks of practice I now wake up (even after a full night sleep) to the single chirp of the kitchen timer. Quite amazing really.
Why 21 minutes? Most of the records I've found of people who have started this crazy schedule have started with 30 minutes (some even longer) and end up going shorter and shorter. I figure why not just start out at 21 minutes, which seems to be a pretty common end point for those who are successful at the adaptation. Heck, it might actually make the transition EASIER since I won't be slipping past REM sleep into something deeper.
Unfortunately, the last 2 naps I've tried to take have not gone terribly well. I can usually fall asleep in a matter of minutes. For the last 2 naps, I ended up getting up after 10-15 minutes when I couldn't fall asleep. I'm guessing it's the excitement about switching to the schedule today. Kind of ironic actually :-)
Anyway, my next nap is 12:30 so we'll see how that one goes. I typically get quite tired at this time of day anyway so hopefully I'll slip right into the schedule without incident. Even if I don't fall asleep I'm not going to get up early.
That's about it for now. I'm planning to log something here each day at least, if not more often. We have company this weekend though so I might end up writing mostly at night after everyone is asleep.
posted by Jeremy | 9:32:00 AM
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