This is the last you’ll hear from me on this subject, promise!

So I feel I may have been too hasty in summing up the polyphasic sleep experiment experience.  Now that I’ve had a few days back on "normal" sleep, I can make a much better comparisson.

First of all – in conclusion I believe that this sleep pattern is NOT something anyone can make into a lifestyle.  It is, however, useful for brief periods of time where one needs to be awake almost constantly.

On the topic of exercise and muscle recovery…  I figured the uberman sleep would not be sufficient to regenerate muscle tissue, and that I would be constantly sore.  To test this, I worked out twice per day (sometimes thrice).  My shoulders would get sore, but I would recover.  And that recovery seemed fairly quick.  Additionally I felt I was more flexible.  However, looking back now, I can see that my starting flexibility was indeed greater, but my elasticity suffered.  So I was like an old rubber band – stretched out to the max, but unable to go farther.  I felt I needed less time to warm up and that I had more energy, but this was an illusion created by the fact that my muscles never "unstretched", and the extra energy was from the frequent naps.  The same kind of energy and alertness can be gained by napping with a regular sleep schedule (though I admit you need less time if you nap regularly).

Now on a biphasic sleep schedule (I have also eliminated my alarm clock – since that’s the worst thing for you!) I have noticed that my flexibility is not that great to start, but I can stretch it easier.

My back pain, however, is significantly worse.  But it was worse as I changed back, so I’m guessing a similar situation to flexibility, where it wasn’t hurting, but it was not in a healthy state and now that it has the time to heal at night, I feel it.  I have decided to go back to other methods of fixing the pain, such as core strengthening and stretching (I was doing these during uberman, too).

The Uberman schedule constantly recharges you with naps, however, considering the "Clock and Hourglass" model (Explained at supermemo’s website, along with a strong arguement against this type of sleep pattern, you can see how this is only a temporary fix.  The body eventually forces you to sleep (thus my increasing oversleeping)

It is said that you will suffer creative and memory… reduction.  However, I noticed neither.  Of course, when I was intensely sleepy, I wasn’t remembering or creating anything.  Oftentimes my only thoughts were that next nap.  But that would be due to preoccupation, not some physical change.  But aside from continuing my Polish lessons, I did not test this.  My Polish did not suffer as a result, though this was hardly a quantitative test.

The added freetime was also a bit of an illusion.  Technically, I had created a 21 hour day (I slept 30 minutes every 4 hours, which is a total of 3 hours asleep).  However, this day was broken into very small chunks, often too small to be useful.  My schedule worked very well, however, in that I was doing things in roughly 3-4 hour blocks.  So I would finish and rush back for that nap.  But sometimes I spent the 30 minutes before and after in a daze, and sometimes an entire block was rendered useless.  Other times, I was severely limited in what I could do during my block of time.

So, though I had created more hours, they were less productive and less useful.  I was only able to do slightly more, instead of the mountains of time I had believed I would create.  In conclusion, it would be better to be on a monophasic or biphasic sleep schedule, and just spend my time more productively.  I figure if I have the willpower to try uberman, I can make myself do my chores in a timely manner, and pay attention to work better.

From all of the research I read, and my own experimentation, I would say that Uberman is a great temporary fix.  But it is like walking the edge of a knife.  It’s a delicate balance, that can have disasterous consequences.  Instead, it would be better to sleep on a biphasic schedule (sleep a large chunk at night, then have a brief nap the next afternoon), since this lines up with human physiology better. 

I’m not sure what the long-term effects of a polyphasic schedule would be.  The effects of sleep deprivation in the short term (5 weeks for me) were nearly eliminated, so there is some merit to it.

Being a dreamer, and a martial artist, I firmly believe in the power of the body to adapt, and the mind to overcome.  I have seen people do things that others would say are impossible.  So I still maintain that it might be possible to adapt so something like this.  However, it would take the right alignment of personal physiology, discipline, and environment, though.  And even then, who knows.

Jess’ school is holding a triathlon this spring, and we’ve decided to enter and give it a shot.

Only this past week have I really started giving thought to the training.  The event is May 1st, and will consist of:

500 m swim in the ASW pool
14 km bike ride from school to Wilanów
3 km run

My training so far is:

Monday & Thursday mornings – swim before teaching TKD
Bike in to school and home whenever I go in (4 days/week currently) (I live in Wilanów, so this is perfect practice)
Running with Greta.  Which is usually just a few small sprints, or a jog around the block, but it’s helping.

The biking is pretty straightforward, and I’ve been getting more used to this since we moved to Poland.

Running I can do, but I need to do a little training, but mostly I need to focus on core and back strengthening, because running causes my back to hurt a lot, and causes some of my back muscles to cramp up really badly.   Diet will help me out here, too.

The swimming is the hardest part.  I’ve never done lane-style swimming.  Just freeform in the pond type swimming.  So I’m learning better form, and breathing…  my God the breathing is the hardest part!  If I’m not sucking in water from the pool, I’m getting it as it streams down my face.  It’s frustrating, and I’ve also been breathing too shallow up in my chest.  So I’m working on this, and I’m also putting more focus on breathing again in my taekwondo training.

I’m hoping to find a taekwondo school, maybe this week.  It will make the training I’m doing even harder, but that’s ok!

With all the training I’ve been doing, I’m starting to notice that I’m getting in better shape again.  Muscles are getting more defined, sleep and apetite have been really good.  And I’ve just been feeling really great.  Though my back is killing me these past few days, I blame my sleep shift, and the fact that I’ve just started riding the bike again – which hurts my back, but not as much as running.

I might try to get the clip pedals and shoes for the bike, because that makes it much better.  I never realized why before, until someone explained that you pull on the up-stroke, as well as pushing down, so the force is doubled, but the energy is more or less the same.  Plus it’s more of a constant pressure, which reduces the resistance and shock.  We’ve got a great (if expensive) bike shop a block away, so I’ll probably go see what he’s got. 

I’ve been watching what I eat, too, though not quite for the training.  I’ve been having a lot of fruits and vegetables, plus a fair bit of carbs and starches.  Probably too much of the latter, but as I start to do more, it will balance out.

So after just over 5 weeks on the Uberman schedule, I’ve decided to end it.

The main reason was that this past week, I continually overslept, making each day progressively worse and undoing more and more of what I had accomplished.  I got fed up with fighting sleep each night, and ran out of active activities.

Some of the underlying problems for me are that most of what I like to do are very sedentary activities: Reading, working on the computer, playing games on the computer (or other video games), and other things like that.  I wasn’t able to keep myself busy enough with chores and things like cooking during the night, and eventually succumbed to the boredom and wanted to sleep through the time.

On the other side, being on the Uberman schedule was great.  I felt amazing most of the time.  My back hurt much less, and my flexibility was increased.  I had noticed the "heightened awareness" that some people reported, but not to the degree they’ve described.  Most of it was because of the refreshed feeling of the power-nap.  But my favorite benefit was that I felt light.  Light and springy.  I just felt healthy and alive.  Not that I didn’t normally, but this was much moreso. 

The extra time was great, but not as noticeable, since it was frequently broken up, and some days I’d wake up at just the wrong moment and be groggy until the next nap.

I still don’t think I ever managed to completely adjust.  I had only had a few times where I woke up before the alarm, and I was only remembering dreams about 1/4 of the time.  But I was close.

Anyways, the main purpose of this little experiment was to prove that it could be done, and that I could do it.  My main goal is to adopt this schedule for the month of July (at least) when I am home, so I can maximize my visitation time with friends and family, and make my work and exercise as transparent as possible.  Of course, this means I have to adhere to the very strict schedule (as do my friends and family), but in the end I think it would be very much worthwhile.

But for now, I’m going back to a more "normal" sleep schedule.  I’m not sure I can handle 100% monophasic, but I’m thinking to adopt either the Siesta schedule, or the more flexible Everyman schedule, which is about a 3 hour core sleep, with a few 20-minute naps sprinkled around.  I have to play with it and decide.

There are a few things I learned from this experiment that I will be carrying over into any and all sleep from here on out.  One is that I want to keep a regular schedule every day – even weekends.  This keeps my body on a rhythm and makes sleep much more effective.  Most people don’t realize it, but they hurt themselves every time they change their sleep schedules – even daylight savings time.  Nothing permanent of course, but enough to throw you off for a day or two.

The second thing I’ll be doing is watching my diet.  Having gone almost completely veggie has been great.  Difficult, but good.  I’ve also cut out most dairy and gluten, which I feel may be helping my digestion.  I still need to cut back on artificial sugars, though.

Lastly, I’d like (as a result of keeping to a steady schedule) to be able to eliminate the need for an alarm clock.  If you need an alarm clock to wake you, then it’s probably shaking you from the middle of a sleep phase, which can leave you feeling groggy or worse.  Waking naturally, at the end of the cycle, is much better for you.  However, your body needs to know when you’ll be getting up!  So a regular schedule (and some mental training) is a must.

I don’t want to give up on polyphasic sleep all together, however the social limitations of the Uberman schedule were difficult even for me, who works from home.  I may try a different schedule, but for the next few days I’m just going to sleep when I’m tired, and enjoy the freedom of sleeping whenever the heck I want to!

If anyone asks my favorite season, I always say Fall (or Autumn, if that’s your thing).  Though I’m not the kind of person to have a "favorite" anything.  In fact, I like all of the seasons pretty much equally.

However, when I really think about it, it’s Winter that I like the best.

Why Winter?  It’s not the grey skies, or the bitter cold, that’s for sure.  And I do love the look of a fresh frosting of snow, and the silence of a winter morning.  Swirling flakes calm the soul, and a sleigh ride, snowball fight, or any other snow-filled romp refreshes the spirit.

However, what gives Winter the edge over other seasons, is that it makes the other seasons better. 

Just before springtime you can feel the tension of life, just below the surface, waiting for the opportunity to burst out.  And when that happens, it’s impossible not to take notice and revel in the joy and beauty of it all.  So much color after a season of only shades of grey.

On the other end, Fall prepares us for the coming Winter like a child’s lullaby.  A second stirring of color, dancing on a crisp breeze.  The colder days and longer nights draw us closer together; for warmth and for comfort.  Harvest time brings a celebration of plenty, in preparation for the coming barren months.

I was reflecting on all of this, since we had such nice weather this weekend, and was out enjoying as much of it as possible.  It made me realize that it wasn’t so much the weather now that I liked as it was the contrast to the weather we’d had previously.  At least, that’s what made it stand out so much.

So it turns out, after a little thought, that it isn’t so much that Spring and Fall that are so great, as it is that the difference between them and the Winter is great.  This holds true to many other things in life, too.  Sure, the things are great on their own, but that’s not what makes us take notice.  Just like you can’t appreciate (or even define) light without darkness, so can you not have joy without suffering.  Luckily Winter isn’t all suffering (actually, for some the roles are reversed!).

Well, it’s now been 5 weeks since I first adopted the Uberman sleep schedule, and I think I’m still adjusting.  Typically it takes about 2 weeks, during which time about 1 week of that is extreme exhaustion as your body becomes sleep deprived, and eventually adapts.  

In my case, however, I’ve had a problem with oversleeping every few days, typically between the 1:30am and 5:30am naps.  When this happens (as it did this morning) I wake feeling overly tired and bloated.  My limbs feel like lead, and my muscles refuse to respond in a timely fashion.  I also have some joint pain – especially in the back.  If you don’t know, I have a back injury from when I was 14 that still hurts, and causes some mobility problems.  Some times are worse than others, and usually a good twist & pop sets it right for a bit.  Those times, when the pain is gone, I feel like a new person.

On the Uberman sleep, the naps are so short that the body doesn’t get to stiffen up from sleep.  I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not.  At first, I speculated that it would take longer to recover from exercise, but I have found this is not true.  I’ve worked out just as hard – if not harder – and recovered as normal – if not quicker.  It could be perception, but I do feel as if I’ve recovered quicker.  I’ve definitely had less of the "day after" effect, which I attribute to more activity which helps flush the lactic acid out of the system.

I’ve actually been exercising anywhere from 2-3 times per day on this schedule.  Partially out of necessity to stay awake, but also because I want to improve my tae kwon do.

As for some of the other, predicted side effects, I’ve experienced next to none.  I was told this kind of sleep could affect the transition of short-term to long-term memory, but I haven’t seen a noticeable difference.  I’ve continued Polish lessons, as well as other learning, at a normal pace and with no additional difficulties.

I have experienced the extreme sleepiness, where it is next to impossible to stay awake.  Lately I gave in to this, but I have now resolved myself to fight it more effectively.  

I’ve debated whether or not to continue this schedule.  My original plan was to go 1 month, make the adjustment, and decide whether to continue or not – with plans to do it again for the summer if possible.  Especially with an upcoming trip to Egypt planned, I wasn’t sure I’d want to stay up all night with nothing to do.

So far, the biggest causes of unwanted, unscheduled sleep have been boredom, and comfort.  Getting too comfortable and then falling asleep was more a problem of willpower.  Boredom was also partly due to willpower (I had things I could do, but didn’t feel like doing them), and also a lack of creativity and thoughtful planning.

One of the activities I’ve just recently tried to help keep me awake was something I’d forgotten: Learning.  Normally I’ll spend some time each day reading articles, watching videos, or perusing howstuffworks.com.  But I had stopped doing that (until tonight).  It’s a good way to do something low energy, but engaging enough to keep me awake.  Great for those "just before bed" moments, when working out is too much.

To summarize my experience so far – I’d say it’s been more difficult than I first thought, and though I’m pretty sure I’m not fully adapted – the benefits are great.  I feel really great, both physically and mentally.  The extra time didn’t have the effect I first thought, which would be to allow me to do more things I enjoyed.  Rather, it lowered my stress by allowing me to slow down and spread out the things I’m currently doing, with some time for other activities, like bike riding.  I’ve also had more time to finish chores, which also lowers my stress, as I always have food on hand and (usually) have a very clean house.  

These updates have been pretty standard, so you’ll notice I’ve slowed down on them.  I think instead, during the time I would normally report on, or complain about, this sleep schedule, I will work on some creative writing – one of my goals with the sleep has been to write more, and so far I’ve only barely managed that.

Till next time…