Kirk’s Blog

Granted, 6 hours of sleep a day is not extreme sleep deprivation, but after not using an alarm for so long, it is a bit unsettling. There have been some very difficult times and some super wonderful times. Certainly sleep deprivation would contribute to more extreme mood swings, and the pendulum swang pretty hard this time.

The first day, Tuesday, I woke up groggy, picked up some energy mid-day, and then became depressed in the evening. The annoying thing about depressive moods is that one starts to think about giving up, saying things like “What’s the point?” Then I found Steve’s blog entry and that cheered me up for the rest of the night.

The next day I popped out of bed fully alert and had a productive, energized morning. I was feeling great about the time and energy I had and confident to engage in whatever was presented to me during the day. Then, during the evening, I got another bout of depression, and it was painful at times. I wanted to just sleep it off, but I couldn’t. Not sleeping whenever I want is something I need to get used to again, but the rewards are worth it.

Thursday and Friday were less memorable, but the pattern was roughly the same: more alert during the day, less alert at night. It was all-round less extreme though. I was “just” alert during the day, not super wonderful, and I was kinda spaced out in the evenings, not depressed. All in all, things seem to be progressing smoothly. My naps are OK. I’ve been taking them on time and falling asleep with relative ease if not immediately. I wake up feeling somewhat disoriented and with a mild sense of panic thinking that I have something to do. I wake up automatically for most of them, right before the alarm goes off. When I use Placebo’s Sleep Track, it may be the end of the white noise that wakes me up, who knows.

Today I wrote my first blog entry about gearing up for round 3 of my polyphasic sleep adjustment, and in the very same day, Steve Pavlina published a blog entry about his interest in possibly going back to polyphasic sleep intermittently after a year away from it. This is no coincidence since I know that both of our explorations into polyphasic sleep are closely related to the eclipses of 2005, 2006, and the most recent eclipses that passed just this month.

Cue the eerie sci-fi music.

Eclipses are associated with periods of dynamic change. They present an opportunity to clear out old, stagnant energy from one’s life and embark on fresh new directions. It’s not unusual for people to make major breaks with the past, especially if the eclipse touches one’s own natal chart closely. Since the eclipse is usually accompanied by strong emotions, it may be wise to objectively consider one’s actions before making rash decisions. Endeavors started during an eclipse period take on the same dynamic energy and for that reason, they may be unstable. I don’t think that we should necessarily judge an event that takes place along with an eclipse as good or bad, right or wrong, because it’s impossible for us to know or really appreciate the long term consequences of our actions. The important thing is trust one’s intuition and make the decision that feels right. Sometimes our immediate goals are merely stepping stones to something ultimately more rewarding in life, something that we couldn’t have possibly planned for in any conscious way.

In preparation for my next round of uberman sleeping, I’m beginning a reduced sleep schedule that includes a nightly slumber from midnight to 6am and a power nap at 3:30pm. Getting in the habit of napping before engaging in full-on uberman makes the transition so much easier. It’s the same schedule I maintained for the 5 months or so between my first attempt and the second attempt. Along with regular exercise, I felt relatively high vitality for the whole experience.

I’m a bit sleepy today because I still haven’t adjusted to the schedule (it’s the first day), so I’m eagerly waiting for my 3:30pm nap. The couple hours of afternoon slump just before that are always a pain, but if I take the nap earlier than the 3pm hour block, I know from experience that I wake up feeling groggy. So either I take a nap before noon or I wait till 3:30pm.

Depending on how things go with this schedule, I tentatively plan to start uberman in a couple weeks. My roommate is very interested in doing it with me, and I would like to syncronize with him so we can help keep each other awake at night, but he’s still having problems finding a place to nap at work, and he’s concerned that his somewhat unpredictable work environment may not be conducive for napping at set times every day.

Whatever happens, riding the eclipse is never dull.

What else can be so ugly yet so so beautiful but procrastination? Although I’ve failed to get much school work done of late and have successfully avoided any confrontation about it, I did manage to make some wonderful raw recipes for the first time and get some great pictures of them.