How to Fall Asleep Immediately
Since my first polyphasic attempt approximately 6 months ago, I’ve been having an afternoon nap pretty consistently, so I’ve had time to figure out the ideal conditions necessary to fall asleep as quickly as possible. Currently, under quasi-monophasic conditions, I’m able to fall asleep in about 2 minutes, and this is how I do it.
Feel safe. I’ve found that if I think there’s a strong chance that someone is going to wake me up, I’m less invested in getting to sleep quickly. At work, I sleep in a closet that is never used, and I wear ear plugs so the noises outside the closet don’t wake me up. It’s perfectly dark and private. I may not be able to use ear plugs when I transition to full uberman, but I’ll be at home then anyway.
Find the right position. It has taken some tweaking over the months, but I believe I’ve found the perfect position that helps me to fall sleep instantly. I lie down on my back with my hands behind my head, and each hand is touching the elbo of the opposite arm. I snuggle my head between my arms and tilt it to the right slightly. My feet are flat on the floor so that my knees are in the air (I lean my legs against the wall or some boxes). When I settle in for a night’s rest, I love to sleep on my side in the fetus position, but when it comes to falling asleep quickly for naps, nothing beats my above approach.
Don’t get too comfortable. This might be more for waking up than it is for falling asleep, but it’s part of the process I use for falling asleep too. I sleep on a relatively hard floor with minimal padding beneath me. I think this is part of the system of mental queues letting my brain know that it’s nap time, not bed time.
Nap at the right time. This one will take some time to get it right. Through experimenting with my nap times and observing my daily down times, I’ve found consistently that the best time for me to take an afternoon nap is at around 3:30 PM. If I do it before 3:00 PM, then it’s harder for me to wake up, and if I do it after 4:00 PM, it’s harder for me to fall asleep. If I feel that I need to take a nap earlier in the day, I try to do it at around 11:30 AM, before the afternoon.
Tame your thoughts. This is probably the most important and most difficult obstacle to overcome, since a nagging thought can grow and consume the mind, never giving it a chance to fall asleep. By the time I’m ready for my afternoon nap, I’ve already had a day packed full of work, interactions with other people, and all sorts of experiences that are collecting in my mind and chillin in my semi-consciousness. When I finally lie down for the nap, everything that I’ve done throughout the day comes washing over me - all the stressful things, all the exciting things, and all the things that can potentially keep me awake. This is natural. Don’t fight it! This will only make the thoughts stronger!
The mind cycles though thoughts in order to relieve tension. All the thoughts of the day remain in the conscious mind all day, but they are hidden somewhere between full consciousness and the subconscious - an area I’ll call semi-consciousness. They fester here, and contribute to a build up of stress and tension throughout the day. The way to get rid of them is by allowing them to enter the mind. If fact, you should encourage them to come out into the open because by hiding in the semi-conscious, they elude your control. The trick is to not latch on to the thoughts. Acknowledge them for what they are: tension relievers. As each one bubbles up to surface, allow it to float away without engaging it. Eventually there will no more remaining, and you’ll be left with a mind like a placid pond. In the meantime, other less conscious thoughts will begin to swim around. These more dream-like thoughts are a good sign. It means you’re falling asleep!
Use music strategically. I totally forgot to add this one in my first rendition of this post because I don’t need to use this while I’m quasi-monophasic, but many people (including myself) have found this single technique to be the make-or-break solution to successful naps during a pure polyphasic schedule. I used my own music on my iPod. The track was about 7 minutes or so, and I was always asleep by the time it finished, and then the alarm would sound after a period of silence. This guy has been experimenting with polyphasic sleep for a long time, and he made a sound track, downloadable from his website, for getting to sleep, and it is very popular. I think I’ll try it when I go polyphasic for my second round.
When I lay down to take my nap, I set my alarm, put in my ear plugs, lie back and get into my nap position. At that point, my heart rate will raise because of changing positions. I take two deep breaths and sink deeper into nap land. The thoughts pour down over me like an avalanche and pass through me. I’m asleep in ~2 minutes.