Polyphasic Sleep Experiment.

This is the official blog which will follow the experiences, lessons learned, and ultimately the success or failure of my experiment with Polyphasic Sleep.

So you may ask "What is Polyphasic Sleep Rich??". Well, basically it is taking little naps throughout the day instead of the traditional long, wasteful 6-12 hours that we may sleep at night. In fact according to Wikipedia it is just that: "the practice of sleeping multiple times in a 24-hour period". Sounds crazy right? Maybe not...

This past weekend I was sitting there thinking about all the things I had accomplished on Saturday, and then was upset that I had come to the realization Sunday would NOT be enough time to complete the rest of the tasks. I thought "how cool would it be if I could just pull an all-nighter on Saturday nights and give myself an extra 8-10 hours to accomplish tasks??"

Well, that unfortunately may never work. The reason is simple: our Circadian Rhythm. We are unable to change this natural cycle... and therefore we can not just force a 48 hour weekend to accomplish more tasks.

Being the stubborn person I am, I refused to stop reading. I knew that SOMEONE had to have succeeded in finding a way to extend their weekend. Then I stumbled on the goldmine. POLYPHASIC SLEEP! :) It does not give me a 48 hour weekend, but it DOES give me a 22 hour day!! (which is a 44 hour weekend... NOT BAD!!)

I won't get into the details of the way it works (you don't want my two-bit analysis of scientific research, TRUST ME), but I will post some of the best links I came across through my hours of research on the subject for your reading. Also I feel the need to note: that this is NOT "unsafe", or stupid. Crazy perhaps, but still safe. There has been research on the subject done in Harvard, as well as hundreds of people that I have found on the internet that have succeeded at changing their sleep patterns. I will however lay out the details of my plan. The plan which I start at noon on Wednesday!

The first step:

Starting Wednesday at noon I will fast for 16 hours.

This decision was made based on some other studies that were done claiming to help you "reset" your sleep clock by fasting for 12-16 hours.

http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-naturally-reset-your-sleep-cycle-overnight

This will put my new "breakfast" time at 4am starting Thursday.

Step two:

Thursday will begin the new sleep schedule. Note: I will NOT be pushing myself to the limit of the process (2 hours of REM sleep per day made up of 6 20 minute naps).

My planned sleep schedule is as follows:

Wake up & breakfast: 4am

First nap: 6:30am

Second nap & lunch: 12pm

Third nap: 8pm

Fourth nap: 12am

Actual sleep time: 2:30am

(4 20 min naps per day, 1 sleep period, total sleep time: 2.8 hours/day)

Third step:

I will assess my exhaustion levels after day one. If I am functioning (even tired) I will continue the experiment. If I am having issues behind the wheel (after all I have an hour commute) I will start moving my naps to DIRECTLY before I get on the road so I am the most rested just before driving.

Step four:

After week 1 has been completed successfully I will take another assessment of how my body is responding, and my energy levels and if appropriate I will start developing a workout schedule (simple things like the treadmill and small weights) to take up 1 of the extra 5 hours a day I will gain from the experiment.

Step five:

Laugh at the naysayers!

I will continue to track my progress through this blog as the time goes on, so if you are intrigued, or just think I am insane: STAY TUNED! :) All I know is that if I succeed, I will have a 22 hour day!! Eat that!

As promised here are some of the best links to read up the specifics on the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep-log-a-wifes-perspective/ <-- This one was really interesting! :)

http://howto.lifehack.org/wiki/Polyphasic_Sleep

http://dustincurtis.com/sleep.html