Since I overslept Monday morning from 1:30 to 6:30 am, I’m considering this day 1, though I’ve technically been doing this for 5 days (I started on Friday).
Aside from the late night spans, I haven’t been all that tired between naps, and I’ve actually felt pretty normal. Though I find myself starting to get tired 60 – 30 minutes before my scheduled naps.
When I missed one nap, I didn’t feel too bad, but it threw everything else out of whack. Sleeping in made it much worse, and I was so exhausted that everyone thought I was sick.
The only other major change I’m noticing is in my appetite, and how often I’m going to the bathroom. I may be getting a slight stomach bug, or it might be due to the adjustment, I’m not sure. But as of this morning I’m being more careful about regulating my meals, and making sure I eat well.
One of the things I’ve read that helps is good diet, and also lower exposure to man-made lighting is supposed to help you sleep not only less, but higher quality – which is what this experiment is all about achieving in the utmost.
I’ve heard that days 3 – 10 are supposed to be the worst part of the roughly 2 week adjustment phase, but so far I haven’t had any adverse affects as long as I stick to the schedule, and I really haven’t been as tired as I would have expected. And I should know – I’ve spent plenty of nights where I slept only a few hours, if at all, and I had fully expected to be much more tired.
As for the effects on athletics, I’ve hit the gym twice now, and both times felt great once I got going. The first time was rough, because it was right after I had slept in. But even then I felt great once I started moving.
I’ve found that, for the later hours especially, I need to keep busy with physically engaging tasks. So I’ve been cleaning and organizing like crazy, which helps because a clean, tidy home reduces stress (for me anyway). I tried reading and doing stuff on the computer (even games) and my eyelids kept drooping.
However, the extra free time has been so great, and I’ve been able to accomplish much more than I normally do, which has made me feel really good. Plus I can do work for my job during the hours that my wife is working on her school work, and also while she’s asleep, leaving my daylight hours open for daytime activities. It also leaves me free from distractions of the canine variety, which helps.
All in all, things are going smoothly. We’ll see what happens over the next few days, but I definitely don’t feel like I’m only getting 2 or 3 hours of sleep at night. I feel about the same as I usually do, and I haven’t fully adjusted yet, so I’m feeling pretty optimistic about what’s to come.
