10 Days of Polyphasic Sleep
So far, the transition to the Uberman Sleep Schedule has gone pretty well, and already I’m having vivid dreams for most of the naps, especially the 4am and 8am naps. Despite a few small oversleeps here and there, my progress continues to improve, my alertness gets better, and my sleep gets deeper. I’ve been keeping some video updates of my progress, which I haven’t been keeping perfectly synchronized with my blog. Here they are:
You may also visit my Youtube profile page to see the most recent videos I’ve released. I have reached this stage of intermediate success in some form during both the first and second transition attempts, but I have never surpassed it. From here on out, I’m in uncharted territory. Of course I have other success stories to go by, but now I will finally be able to speak from personal experience. The videos contain much of my new insight and lessons learned this time around.
This transitional experience has not been without oversleeps, but they are so short in duration that I see them as a natural stepping stone rather than a hindrance to adaptation. Just within the first hour of day 11, I had a really strange experience though. I lay down with my iPod and Placebo’s Sleep Track when I noticed that my iPod was very low on battery. I set a back-up alarm (I think) thinking things would be fine. I’m not sure what happened, but the next thing I realized, I was charging my iPod and setting my phone alarm for a nap exactly one hour after the original nap time. I’m not sure what I did in the hour between, but it wasn’t too much time, and I had a really restful, dream-filled nap during the subsequent nap, so I don’t think harm was done.
I think the most important factors that have gotten me this far are the fact that my body is already adjusted to naps and I’ve been able to fall asleep for each and every nap so far. The fact that I maintained the schedule perfectly further offset any negative consequences oversleeping may have had. Some things I’ve had to cope with include dry eyes (I use eye drops) and a bad back (I’m looking into getting an ergonomic chair and stopping the hunch). Uberman here I come.