Kirk’s Blog

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update to the polyphasic experiment, partly because I was undecided on how to proceed with it for while.  Exactly 2 weeks ago, approximately on day 24 of the adjustment, I still had not fully converted to the strict Uberman’s Sleep Schedule.  For about half of my waking hours I was alert and able to concentrate, and for the other half I was in lala land.  Whenever I maintained the schedule well, I didn’t have the mental clarity to focus on my school work during the hours that I was available to do it, and when I overslept, I became obsessed with the fact that I veered off schedule and so couldn’t focus on my school work anyway.  It seemed like my progress in adjusting to polyphasic sleep had reached a plateau, and meanwhile I wasn’t getting work done because of it.  Something had to give. (more…)

• SSS: 1.5

I just slept for 5 hours. Talk about a whining, half-naked toddler! I found that the headphones had been removed from my head and placed on the pillows next to me. When I examined the iPod, it was clear that I had not stopped it when the alarm(s) went off, so that means I must have taken the headphones off while I was unconscious. Despite all this, it’s interesting to note how much of it was within my control. (more…)

• SSS: 3

It’s still very weird to wake up from the naps. It feels like I blinked. It’s only after lying down for a while conscious do I realize that I had a vivid dream, and sometimes I can remember it. I had a dream that went something like this: (more…)

• SSS: 3

It’s been a few days since I updated.  On the night of Day 16, I overslept by about 5 hours.  I felt extremely groggy and disoriented after waking up from my 1.5 hour core, which was displaced by about 30 minutes because I got home late from watching a movie.  So I stupidly crawled back up into my loft bed and slept for another 3 hours or so.

For most of the next day, I felt let down and discouraged.  The blog, once my life-saving outlet for such feelings, had turned into a nuissance, and blogging about another major setback would just increase the frustration I was feeling at the time and draw out the painfully slow conversion process even more.  By the end of the day, however, I felt a renewed optimism and commitment to move forward, and I developed a new action plan. (more…)

• SSS: 4

I’m starting to feel sleepy again now, but I felt quite refreshed after my afternoon nap, which I woke up from automatically after about 10 minutes. Waking up was really weird. I didn’t even know I was sleeping, and I was about to roll over and go back to sleep when I realized that I wasn’t conscious the entire time. Then this vivid dream started to come back to me (more…)

• SSS: 1

Well I finally feel good again. I had not planned on doing core sleep at all, but I’m glad that my spirits are up again. I have to admit that things weren’t completely smooth on the morning watch. (more…)

• SSS: 2

So far it seems that the core sleep is working out. I feel awake and alert after my 3 hours, and I had the second vividly memorable dream since the transition: (more…)

• SSS: 3

Last night was a failure, a really strange one. I already decided on the rigid nap schedule, yet for some reason, when the alarm went off at 12:30 AM, I decided that I hadn’t slept so I reset the alarm for 12:50 AM I think, and then went back to get some ZZZs. I don’t know how I slept till 1:50 AM, but the button on the alarm was already pressed, which means that I either forgot to turn it on or I turned it off and went back to sleep. At this point, I just can’t remember. After that, somehow I fell asleep again and woke up at 5:20 AM feeling disoriented. I’m still confused at how that could have happened. For some reason, it was really hard to get up.

Clearly I’m dealing with a completely new set of circumstances, which present a new set of obstacles. (more…)