Polyphasic Sleep Journal #3
I gave up:(
On the morning of day #9 after 9 nights and 8 days of 3-hour, 3 20-minute nap sleep, we gave up on our routine.
Why??
I like to think that I’m someone that isn’t lazy and doesn’t give up easily. That being said, I’m also realistic and think about things economically. So on Friday morning I realized the following:
I was super super tired. Like to the point where I really couldn’t do anything except for sit there. This was the most tired I had been since I had started. And the mornings had generally been difficult, but the way I felt Friday was a bit different.
It wasn’t that super level of tiredness that did me in as much as a mismatch of my expectations.
Going in, I was told (from Ben, who I did it with, and from what we read) that the first week was the hardest and that after that it started to get easier. The issue was that it was getting harder.
I believe what happened was that my body had all this excess energy in storage to throw at myself, which prevented week 1 from being extremely difficult. It definitely wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t too bad. I believe at the end of around the first week, my body’s excess gave way and I became super tired.
That was the tired that I think people who do this experience during their difficult transition phase.
So the fact that this hit me after a week was a big shocker. I also had a pretty unproductive week in class, and given the business of my schedule and responsibilities that I have, I decided that it didn’t make very much sense to sacrifice more time and lack of output in favor of this sleep thing that I wasn’t sure how it’d turn out.
I think if I had stuck with it, there’s a decent chance we would have adjusted, but I realized that it wasn’t something I was ready to take on at this point.
Recap
All of that said, I’m extremely glad that I did this for a few reasons
I had a good time going through and struggling with this with Ben
I have a much better perspective of what it really means to be tired
Going 9 days without any caffeine and as little sleep as I had was probably the most sleep deprived I’ve ever been. Before that, I would consider myself tired after a night where I got 6.5 hours of sleep. Understanding the way my body works and what I can handle has been super rewarding
Polyphasic sleep still can work!
The model I was using to sleep isn’t something I’m going to abandon. For now, I think I’m going to be sleeping 6 hours a night with one 20-minute nap. That’s by no means comparable to four hours total each day, but it’s still less than the 8 hours I am used to getting. I think I’ll be able to function super highly under those criteria. And who knows, I might end up jumping back into a more regimented and strict polyphasic routine at some point
More emphasis on understanding sleep
This one is big. Most people sleep for about a third of their lives. So why not do what we can do maximize that time, make it more efficient and understand it better. That’s an entire door that was opened for me that will be in the back of my mind moving forward.
Sort of fun to talk about
Great conversation starter.
Overall, I’d recommend everyone try something like this. I don’t love giving advice, but pushing yourself to a physical limit teaches you about how your body works and understanding sleep better has got to be super valuable.
Maybe I’ll create a fourth journal entry if I ever learn more about this stuff.
It was good while it lasted:
