Day 10 - Daily wrap-up

Today wasn't a perfect day by any means, but considering it was my first day back and work, I had an extra-long waking period, and I over-slept for 90 minutes in a CAR SITTING UP, I think things are going remarkably well.

Personally I find this sleeping schedule a lot more adaptable than my monophasic sleep. While there are more sleep periods per day, there's room for sliding. I can nap early or a little late (and hour and a half late proved too much, but an hour would probably be fine) and I can add naps if things go badly. It doesn't take a day to recover if you add 2 or 3 extra naps to make up for one you missed.

Not to mention how much I can get done in the middle of the night while still being alert during the day.

Thinking back, I'd say most days I've added 1-2 hours of extra naps/over-sleeps each day so far. Some might consider that a failure, but I'm learning something from every "failure". Not to mention the fact that with an average of 4 hours of sleep a day I feel fantastic for all but maybe an hour or two a day now. I felt worse for longer when I woke up from a monophasic night.

More and more my naps are "good" naps. I had 4 good naps today out of 8 and that's a HUGE improvement. I can definitely tell the difference.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that my wife is the one who first suggested videotaping a nap. If you have the means, I'd say anyone switching to this schedule should try it at least once or twice. In my case, instead of frustration when I fail, now I'm actually excited to see what went wrong. Every time something goes wrong I get to see EXACTLY what happened, which allows me to devise a plan to change it in the future.

For those analyzing the quality of a nap, here are a few things I've found:

1. To see if you're in REM don't bother watching the eyes. They're not the best indicator (for me anyway). A better indicator is whether you move or not. During REM sleep your muscles are paralyzed but your brain is active. This prevents you from acting out your dreams (and of course for some people this doesn't happen, leading to things like sleep-walking). During other sleep stages your brain is shut down and your body is just relaxed. This means you twitch, roll over, etc.
   
2. Get an external microphone and put it somewhere close to your face (but not where you'll blow on it). This allows you to hear your breathing. It should be steady and fairly shallow. Most people don't snore during REM so if you're snoring that's a bad sign.
3. See how you react to the alarm. If it's a good quality nap you should start stirring fairly quickly and when you open your eyes you should look somewhat alert and refreshed.
4. Download the movie to your computer if possible. This saves time with the analysis and lets you do some more thorough analysis. Definitely try to get a movie or sound editor that lets you see the wave form of the audio track. This lets you quickly scan the wave form for regular breathing patterns and any abnormalities

There's probably more stuff. I think I'll add something to the wiki (see the links on the left) about it.

Okay, best get some stuff done before work. Good night to all you mono/bi-phasic sleepers out there. Good morning to you polyphasic folks.