The end of my polyphasic sleep experiment

July 8, 2012 //

I stopped my polyphasic sleep experiment. After running my half-marathon 2 weeks ago I had troubles adapting to Everyman again. The week before, shortly after switching von Uberman to Everyman was pretty productive – the last two weeks weren’t.

I oversept several times, moved naps around a few times as they didn’t fit into my “social schedule” and couldn’t really recover during the naps. Sometimes I didn’t even fall asleep at all. Besides being more tired and less concentrated I felt my body more and more fighting against it.

A few days ago I got sick and still am. I switched to a healthy normal monophasic 8-10 hour sickness sleep. And right now I’m looking forward to stay on that schedule without switching back again.

Last week I held a small presentation at the Quantified Self Meetup in Munich. Florian, the organizer, is developing and testing products for self-tracking. He’s on Twitter and writing a blog about the topic.

Experiencing Polyphasic Sleep from Benjamin Bolland

My first polyphasic half marathon

June 29, 2012 //

I did it!

I ran my first half marathon the 24th of June 2012. While sleeping polyphasic 4 hours a day. And it felt good!!

Polyphasic sleeping and running

As I mentioned in a post in May, a friend asked me to join him running at the Sportscheck Munich City Run. By then I already knew that I wanted to switch to polyphasic sleep but haven’t had a plan yet. So of course I ended up running the marathon directly during the time I was trying out polyphasic sleep.
You would probably think, if you sleep 4 hours a day, how would you also train for a halb marathon at the same time. Surprisingly I somehow even needed the workout during that time. I never ran that often in my life than during that period. Not particularly because I wanted to train for the half marathon but because I was highly motivated and felt like it.

The run

The run went actually pretty smooth. I didn’t have time (how ironic ) the two weeks before to go running very often so I didn’t really felt prepared but as my aim was only to reach the goal no matter what time, I wanted to try it anyway. The half marathon starts in Munich’s city center and crosses the “Englischer Garten” (english garden – a huge park) several times. Of course I forgot my chip to attach at my show laces at home, but I used runtastic to track the run.
The first kilometers went really nicely. A lot of people watching and a huge crowd (I think several thousand people were running) which gives you a huge motivation boost.

I was happy when I crossed the 8 km mark (my longest run so far ) still feeling good. From km 14 to 18 was the hardest part. Feet start hurting, there are less people around you “cheering you up” and you see the first people stopping or lying in the grass aside. Hint: Never build you opinion upon equipment other people use or wear. Just because the people look like super fancy marathon runners (with water bottle belts etc. ) they might still just drop out after a few km
In the end I ran 21,09 km in 2 hours 23 minutes and 53 seconds with an average speed of 8,8 km/h (surprisingly high considering that I had to run so slow a few times that I felt like walking backwards) and a pace of 6:49 min/km. I know that time would be considered not even good by a lot of people, but as I am not a runner-type (too heavy, too many joint and bone problems when I was younger) I felt actually proud when I arrived after 21 km and had at least 10 bottles of juice water and wheat beer (although without alcohol, one of the most tastiest (alcohol free) beers I ever had). And hey, according to runtastic I burned 2060 kcal – that’s like a Big Mac.

After the run…

…I felt pretty exhausted and not like continue to sleep polyphasic. My body needed a rest so I decided to sleep a whole day on normal schedule to switch back to Everyman the day later.

Polyphasic Sleep Log – Everyman and half-marathon

June 24, 2012 //

Tomorrow will be day 8 since I switched to Everyman and I’m running a half-marathon.

The last week I was feeling a lot better than the two weeks before sleeping the uberman rhythm. I’m now having a core sleep between 4:30 and 7:30am and than 3 times 20 minute naps every 5 hours during the day (12:30-12:50, 17:50-18:10, 23:10-23:30)

Things that changed so far during Everyman

Feeling of yesterday/tomorrow

I got back the feeling of “yesterday and tomorrow” which I totally lost during Uberman. Sleeping in 20 minute naps does feel very long sometimes. However I didn’t have a nap where I went to sleep while it was dark outside and woke up after sunrise. Sleeping from 4:30 to 7:30 in my core sleep right now changes that. I wake up and it feels like a new day.

More time between naps

Instead of the 3h 40mins I now have complete 5 hours between my naps during the day. This “extra” 1h 20mins make the time incredibly more relaxing and enjoyable for me. 5 hours is enough to meet friends, go out, watch soccer (the UEFA European Football Championship is on – during uberman I had to skip public viewing a couple of times as it overlapped with my naps)

Being productive at night

Since day 2 or so I am quite productive at night. I do tend to fall asleep/sit with closed eyes at the table or in front of my computer at 3 am but I can more easily wake me up and concentrate on work. I wasn’t really disciplined with holding my naps during the last week and rescheduled some of them. I think thats the reason for being tired during the night, as It merely happens the night after I reschedule.

Awakeness during the day

I feel a lot more awake during the day. Ok, I haven’t been adapted completely to Uberman so I can’t say how I would’ve felt. Anywho…it’s a lot more relaxing right now as I can actually get concentrated on my work and get things done. During Uberman I felt like being drunk or groggy all the time, sometimes even falling asleep on my desk. On Everyman, I am looking forward to my naps and really enjoy them but my ground level of “awakeness” is somewhat higher.

Less motivation to do sports

I kept training for the half-marathon happening tomorrow during Uberman and Everyman. During Uberman I was training and I was feeling great, even during and after sports. Right now I can’t really motivate myself to leave the house to go running/climbing.

Less enjoyable naps

There is a downside. Since switching to Everyman I dont enjoy my naps like before. On Uberman I just fell asleep within seconds and woke up 20 minutes later feeling like I had slept for 5 hours. I had a lot of dreams (unfortunately no lucid ones), which I still get during my core sleep but hardy during my naps.

Feeling normal

I’m feeling normal. Normal monophasic. Everyman actually doesn’t feel polyphasic. It’s way less intense, of course. But something also changed in my mind. I’m still only sleeping 4 hours a day but it feels like monophasic. I even forget about my naps all the time (luckily my mobile reminds me kindly – I hate that thing by now). I also feel like having a lot less time than on Uberman, although its only 1 hour less. Considering the time for transportation before and after a nap I have probably even more time as I now only have 3 naps instead of 6 during Uberman. However the time between 23:30 and 4:30 passes really quickly. Although staying awake at that time during Uberman was a pain and I couldn’t do anything productive at all, it now feels somewhat shorter…

Tonight will be the first night where I reschedule my core nap due to the half-marathon tomorrow morning at 8am. Not sure if that was a good idea as I rescheduled naps last night and today to be able to see friends…

More about the Everyman tomorrow, now I have to prepare mentally for the half-marathon (34. Münchner Stadtlauf) tomorrow – and eventually get some sleep (it’s 3 am).

Polyphasic Sleep Log – Everyman Day 1

June 17, 2012 //

Switching from Uberman to Everyman was a good idea. I feel way better today. Although I’m not adopted to Everyman yet and in the end I sleep just 2 hours more, I feel somewhat more awake and present. The 5 hour gaps between the naps are a huge advantage compared to the 3h 40mins from Uberman where you can hardly do anything useful outside your house. If you wanted to see friends or go out you would have to do it immediately after getting up, to be on time for you next nap.

My new schedule – the Everyman 3 – looks like the following:

Core sleep: 4:30 – 7:30
Nap 1: 12:30 – 12:50
Nap 2: 17:50 – 18:10
Nap 3: 23:10 – 23:30
Total time sleeping: 4 hours
Total time awake: 20 hours

The times are pretty odd but for me it makes perfectly sense: At 7:30 in the morning I can get up with my gf, napping around 12:30 fits well just before lunch, 17:50 is when normal people and friends go home from work and then I can go out or do stuff until 23:10. Apparently you can – once adopted – shift naps within a few hours, so in emergency I could spontaneously reschedule the naps to have even more time.

Polyphasic Sleep Log – Switching to Everyman after 16 Days of Uberman

June 15, 2012 //

I decided to switch from Uberman to Everyman tonight. There are several reasons why I finally decided to do so:

Focus:

Right now I don’t have enough focus to adapt to Uberman. I’m working full time on my startup, have to write my Bachelor thesis in the meantime and – by the way – try to adopt to a 2 hour/day sleep rhythm that totally fucks up my body right now. Not that I didn’t know that, it’s just taking way longer than expected. I was taking the “7-10 days for adoption” as granted and relied on that. After having overslept for the first time, I got literally reseted back to zero. 8 days later – yesterday – I overslept again. Not as badly as the first time (3 instead of 8 hours) but still.
So my plan to adopt in 5-7 days and than start working on my thesis at night is kind of vanished. So far I “lost” (losing is actually not the right word as I did a lot during night time – just other things) 10 days already and would probably still need another 7-14 days to adopt completely. And even during and after that time you have to stay really focused and disciplined with your nap times. Right now I just don’t feel like I want to focus that much on an additional topic….
Joy:

Being really focused on work, sleep, napping and my thesis, the last two weeks weren’t really full of enjoyable moments. Of course, I learned a lot about my body, archived great goals so far, but I’m really missing the fun parts right now. Marcel described it pretty good before. He said, he want to be uberman to live but not life to be an uberman. Thats describing my situation right now pretty good. I’m just really focused and stressed to become an uberman instead of using the uberman to enjoy all the positive things. Of course, I’m still adapting. That would probably change after adaption – but right now I just don’t want to live that way.
Missing spontaneity:

I’m normally not the planner kind of guy. I love to be spontaneous, push decisions until the last moment and be flexible in the things I do. The last 14 days made me realize that I could never life like that during uberman. I was aware before, that the schedule is not helpful for going out at night or doing things spontaneously, but I underestimated it a little. When you do 6 naps, 20 mins each, it means that you actually have only 3h 40mins between each nap. That’s not a lot considering that you have to travel from and to you bed in that time as well. So realistically, that leaves you 3 hours 20 minutes to actually do stuff. So if you want to see friends you normally have to leave immediately after getting up, otherwise its not worth it. There are a lot of work arounds (last night I just had my nap at a friends house… no problem at all) but you always have to plan in advance.

To sum it up: Uberman is awesome, it has a lot of advantages but also disadvantages. Right now, the (mainly temporal) disadvantages don’t allow me to try it out. I’m not quitting polyphasic sleep completely, just changing to Everyman, which fits better right now and could even fit to my daily life in the long run…

More infos about the Everyman tomorrow – it’s 4:30am need to get my core sleep now

Happy napping

Polyphasic Sleep Log – Day 14

June 12, 2012 //

This morning was another Zombie-time.
Between 4am and 8am I felt so incredibly tired that I fell asleep even whilst walking. Marcel and I went to the Olympiapark to see the sunset over Munich and to wake up after our 4am naps. Even after climbing that small hill we were just standing next to each other with our eyes closed – sleeping. On the way down it happened 4 times or so that one of us would fall asleep while walking and than ask the other person something weird from is dream not realizing that he had dreamed. Funny stuff but really intense!

I went home from the “nightliner” (Marcel’s and Andy’s appartment) to have my 8am nap at home and glamorously overslept for one hour or so. Although I have the craziest alarm clock ever I still oversleep. This morning I must have woken up, snoozed my big alarm clock, solved my 3 mathematical problems (Smartphone alarm app) and just went straight back to sleep again. Apparently…. I actually don’t remember a thing.

Yesterday on the other hand went totally perfect. I got sleepy only around 7:30 am in the morning. Until then I was awake and able to do semi-focused work without even getting tired. Ups and downs….

So today is day 14 into uberman. Me 8 hours oversleeping last Tuesday probably pushed me back close to zero. So I’m actually on day 7 – which sucks, having in mind that its only day 7-10 that you feel first signs of adaption. So another 3 days to go with as less oversleeping as possible. Not sure how much today pushed me back though…
I set myself a ultimatum to Sunday, which is another 5 days. Assumed, that todays oversleeping pushed me back a little I should definitely feel the adaption by then. If I dont get ANY sings of adaption until Friday I will probably switch to Everyman. That’s definitely not the best option but considering that I have a “tight” schedule to meet doesn’t allow me to lose more time trying to adapt. Everyman3 is working very well for Andy and he is quite productive during the nights – which is exactly what I need.

Stay tuned (and awake)

Polyphasic Sleep Log – Uberman Day 12

June 10, 2012 //

I’m a zombie!
At least I feel like one (and maybe look like one as well). Yesterday and today have been really hard. No matter if night or day [short pass out]I’m just incredible tired and sleepy. Right now I can’t even sit straight nor can I work on my thesis because my eyes close inevitably every few minutes for a few seconds. My mind immediately drifts up into a half-day-half-sleep-dream. When I’m kicked [short pass out] back awake a few seconds later I’m not sure, what happened in reality and what in dream. [short pass out]

I noticed, that I just continue the dream once awake. A few minutes ago I shut my eyes for a few seconds and stated mixing up my dream with my work afterwards. I realised a few moments later, when [short pass out] I re-read the sentence and it made no sense at all.

I hope this is a sign, that I [short pass out] adopt pretty soon[short pass out]

Uff… 40 minutes to go to the next nap. I’ll do something action-ish in the meantime.

**UPDATE**
It’s two hours later and I’m feeling way better. Crazy – I can hardly remember how I wrote the stuff above..
I didn’t explain it in the text above: Wherever the text “[short pass out]” appears, I “passed out” (i.e. my eyes just closed) for a few seconds writing the post.

Polyphasic Sleep Log – Uberman Day 10

June 9, 2012 //

Ups and downs today. The day was pretty good although I got really tired towards my nap times – maybe a good sign of adoption

Today during my 12pm nap I had my first dream since sleeping polyphasic. It was really amazing. Although I can’t remember everything I realized that the in-dream-time was at least 1 week. So I napped for 20 minutes and dreamed for over a week. Can’t wait to have my first luicid dream. Apparently being on uberman rhythm there are good chances you dream luicid.

Somehow I feel like eating the whole day. Every time I get up after a nap feels like a new day and I want to start it with breakfast, although I just had half a kilo of pasta an hour before So during the next days I want to make a diet plan to define when and what I will be eating. One apple a “day” keeps the doctor away….

I went running yesterday afternoon in respect to my half-marathon training which right now I’m not sure how to takle on uberman rhythm. Not only the training but especially the event itself. Maybe I just have to run really fast . Anyway, I ran almost 10km and felt great afterwards. I thought about going running now between my 4am and 8am naps – the hardest time to stay awake. I’ll try it tonight if the rain stops.

After posting about this blog today I got massive response from friends (both positive and negative ). Funny to see how many people actually have informed themselves about polyphasic sleep. Definitely more than I thought!

Its 2:22 am and I’m changing between awake and half-asleep. Need to get going and kill my stay-awake-todo-list:

go running
paint the kitchen
clean bike
paint climbing board

It’s raining outside, so no running. Let’s make focaccia and save the rest for later

Stay awake!

Polyphasic Sleep Log – Uberman Day 9

June 8, 2012 //

Tonight is the tenth night, since I switched to uberman schedule last Tuesday. Strange somehow as it doesn’t feel like nine or ten days but more like one month. The first days I totally lost feeling for time, by now I recovered that, but the days still feel way longer than before.

Considering how much (or less) sleep I got during that 10 days, I’m incredibly awake and aware of all my physical and mental body functions: During 10 days I got in 2 hours sleep a day (and overslept once for 8 hours).

That means I was awake 212 hours and slept 28 hours.

Amazing I cant wait to be fully adopted in order to acutally use that time to get stuff done. Right now at daytime it’s perfectly fine (I sometimes feel a bit sleepy), but at night, especially between 4am and 8 am, it’s still really hard to stay awake.
I regularly make an hour walk through the city or a nearby park (which as well is amazing when you see the city “waking up“)

How to stay awake

June 6, 2012 //

During my polyphasic sleep experiment I created a list of things to do as an emergency as you get really really tired and can’t fight the sleep anymore. Most of the things are from Marcel though – I added a few things that worked for me.

Listen to music – get a iPod/mp3 player with headphones and try to always listen to “active”-music that makes to happy and awake.
Sing – it really helps me when I listen to music I know the lyrics. Additionally it makes the brain act and not just listen.
Eat icecubes – makes your mind clear immediately. Not for long but still.
Clean everything – the first nights I just kept cleaning and rearanging my room and apartment. It’s a really suitable task as you dont have to use your brain intensively but it keeps you moving.
Action games – if your into computer games: Get a ego shooter or another action game. Don’t start with a 4 hour strategic game. Even role play games like Diablo or Warcraft should be hard as you have a lot of action-less “walking time”.
Work out – worked pretty well for me. The moment you get tired, do 30 sit ups or any other art of work out. Makes you awake and makes you look good
Keep standing – My third and fourth night into uberman I just kept standing and walking around. It keeps you awake but gives you back problems after a few hours.
Cook amazing food – Perfect for people that like to cook and try new things like me . I made a strawberry cake the other night which worked out pretty good. This way you pass time quickly and even have amazing food the next day . Just be sure to not forget something in the oven. You should NEVER leave food the oven turned on while you nap. No matter how adapted you feel already.