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!
