Thread: Starting the Dymaxion Sleep Schedule

Thursday, 6-4-09
2:00-2:30
Possibly had dreams during this nap. It's really hard to keep my eyes open...I'll add an extra nap at 4:00.

4:00-4:30
I needed this extra nap badly, but I was just as tired when I woke up. After a while, I took a shower, and that helped; my eyes can focus better.

6:00-6:30
Not quite as tired after this nap, but I'm still going to need an extra nap at 8:00. (Also, for some reason my right eye is tired but my left eye isn't?)

8:00-8:30
I can say with certainty now that I've had dreams! At first I thought I couldn't remember anything from the nap, then I realized that a particular recent memory didn't actually happen. It was a very clear and vivid dream which partly consisted of me passing by my friend V. about five times and thinking it was kind of funny (something similar happened in waking life). Maybe not the most interesting dream, but it means I'm on the right track for adjusting As far as how I felt after the nap: about the same amount of awake...ness as before the nap. I was getting a little cold earlier, since the heater isn't on at night, so I bundled up in warm clothes (usually I don't get cold easily, but being sick or tired lowers my cold resistance).

10:00-10:30
Back to almost falling asleep if I close my eyes for a split second. Had lunch. Unfortunately I timed it wrong and I'll wind up sleeping right after eating because I'm taking yet another extra nap.

12:00-12:30
Still tired, but getting better at dealing with it by finding things to do which can hold my attention without taking too much concentration. Pacing around the house like a zombie in the hopes that I won't fall asleep while walking can get old quickly.

14:00-14:30
I think I had dreams again, but I forgot them. I finally feel awake enough to not need an extra nap. This time at least. I managed to finish reading a book; my reading ability has been coming and going, depending on how tired I am. Makes me think that things are going to be a lot different once I'm well adjusted: right now my choices of things to do are a lot more limited.

18:00-18:30
Feeling pretty normal. I should be able to make it to the 22:00 nap without any trouble.

Thursday, 6-4-09
22:00-22:30
Didn't fall asleep too well, but surprisingly I wasn't tired after waking up.

Friday, 6-5-09
2:00-2:30
Still clear headed and awake feeling. I spent just about all the time between 2:30 and 6 working on a 3D puzzle.

6:00-6:30
I had a strong urge to go back to sleep, but I mentally battled reasoned it out and made myself get up. Now I feel only slightly less awake than I did after my previous two naps.

10:00-10:30
Starting to get tired again, reading ability fading.

12:00-12:30
Took extra nap, but reading ability is still gone. I played some of my piano compositions for almost an hour to stay awake; it doesn't require my eyes open all the time, but still takes concentration.

14:00-14:30
Reading ability back almost completely. Started in on a new sci-fi book.

18:00-18:30
As awake as the previous cycle. My plan regarding extra naps: I'll only take at most a couple this next 24 hour period, and one the 24 hour period after that. It occurred to me that although they help me stay awake, I'll probably adjust faster without them.

What is the purpose of this schedule, more chances to LD? If I understand correctly, you're going to sleep only 4 hours per day eventually, that sounds dangerous for your health.

Friday, 6-5-09 (continued)
10:00-10:30
Still at about the same level of awakeness (I know it's not a word) as the last two cycles.

Saturday, 6-6-09
2:00-2:30
Feeling great! I finished the 3D puzzle (it's missing three pieces, actually) and read for a bit (reading ability is still "normal"). I'm starting to really love this time period.

6:00...
I'm really not happy to report this...I overslept. A lot. As far as I can tell, I either slept through my alarm or forgot to press the button on my watch to start the countdown timer. When I woke up, I turned over and saw the clock reading 11:04 I'm worried that oversleeping like that might confuse my body (which was starting to adjust) into thinking that it doesn't need to go directly into REM every nap...That could make the adjustment period take longer, which I don't want to happen.

I have three options that I can think of:
1)I could sleep for a long time, catch up on regular monophasic sleep, then start again from scratch. Unfortunately I can't do that because I don't have time to start from scratch. At least, not enough for me to be comfortable trying.
2)I could give up and try again in the 18 days between the end of summer classes and the beginning of the fall semester.
3)I could try to continue with my naps as if it didn't happen.

After a lot of thought, I'm going for the third option. I looked at examples of other people who've overslept for a long time and a lot of them were successful if they were really consistent with their naps after that. They did say that when they overslept they tended to be really tired and groggy for the next couple of naps. I lucked out on that point; I seem to have the same amount of energy as my previous naps. From what I can gather, oversleeping once doesn't necessarily mean that all the naps before it were for nothing...even so, I'm going to watch myself even more closely. If I oversleep again like that, or if I feel more tired than what I've already experienced (that is to say more sleep deprived), I may have to stop and try again after summer classes.


14:00-14:30
Still plenty of energy. My new rule: the instant the alarm goes off I'm going to get on my feet ASAP. No matter how tired I feel at first. Getting up and moving around always helps to wake up.

18:00-18:30
Barely fell asleep this time. Maybe after the next nap I'll get back into the swing of things.

Originally Posted by Arutad

What is the purpose of this schedule, more chances to LD? If I understand correctly, you're going to sleep only 4 hours per day eventually, that sounds dangerous for your health.

Thanks for posting Unfortunately I have a tendency to give long answers to simple questions. Here it goes anyways.

It'll be two hours a day, actually, if you add up the naps for a 24 hour period. With monophasic sleep (one chunk of sleep every 24 hours), how awake you are during the day depends mostly on the quantity of sleep you get each night plus maybe where you are in the sleep cycle when you wake up.

For sleep schedules like Uberman and Dymaxion: The adjustment period is really hard because for each nap, the body starts going through the other phases of sleep but never gets to REM because the naps aren't long enough for that. Eventually, the body adapts and starts skipping the other phases of sleep and going into REM right away. So basically, once adjusted, the body gets a chunk of REM, goes for several hours, gets another chunk of REM, etc. Whereas with monophasic sleep, it goes through more phases of sleep before getting to REM, then repeats the pattern until you wake up.

Most people that have successfully adjusted to polyphasic sleep (more than one chunk of sleep in 24 hours) say they actually have more energy than before. It makes sense if you think about it. I sometimes think of sleep as a leaky battery; you can't sleep for two or three days straight and then expect to stay awake all that much longer than usual. So going the other way, getting sleep more frequently, is more efficient. Not only are you getting a concentration of REM without the other phases of sleep, but you're also spending less time awake before you "recharge".

As far as health concerns go: The adjustment period is definitely an issue. It's essentially sleep deprivation until the body adapts. That's why it's good to get through the adjustment period as quickly as possible. Some people who try adjusting will continuously miss naps or oversleep but they keep going. They often wind up not adapting, staying in sleep deprivation for a long time, and eventually giving up. (That's why I'm paying close attention to my recent oversleeping incident.)

Once the adaption period is over, however, it's a whole new ballgame. There isn't much known about the long term effects of polyphasic sleep vs. monophasic. Only a few people attempt (or even know about) sleep schedules like Uberman and Dymaxion, and even fewer get through the adjustment period. I've seen a few examples of people who have been succesfully adjusted for several months or even a couple years, and they tend to end up stopping because of scheduling issues, not observable health issues. If there are long term health effects, it's hard to know because there isn't much scientific research that's been done on the subject.

My reasons for attempting Dymaxion:
-It's strange, it's different, it's interesting and I'm curious. As I mentioned, not much official research has been done and I'd love to get some firsthand experience and contribute to people's knowledge about the topic.
-22 hours of waking time and more energy. How's that for a good deal? I can get a bit more work done than usual and also have more free time.
-Yes, it increases the chance of lucid dreams because you're going directly into REM sleep which is when dreaming happens. Plus with monophasic, only the dreams from the last REM cycle gets remembered (unless you wake up between each cycle).

Saturday, 6-6-09 (cont.)
22:00-22:30
Didn't get to sleep right away, again. I'm probably going to be seeing the effects of the oversleeping incident soon. First I'll be too awake to fall asleep, later I'll be too tired to stay awake (easily).

Sunday, 6-7-09
2:00-2:30
Still having difficulty getting to sleep.

6:00-6:30
Slept without much trouble this time. Really tired though. It's not so much that I can't keep my eyes open, just that I can't seem to open them in the first place. May or may not have had dreams, can't recall.

8:00-8:30
Decided I really needed an extra nap, which was fine since I haven't had one for a while now. Woke in about the same condition as I fell asleep. I was playing piano to stay awake when I remembered that I'd had a dream during the 8:00 nap!

10:00-10:30
The good news is, I had another dream! Several fragments, actually. I could remember right when I woke up. The other good news is that I'm almost back to the level of awakeness that I was at before the oversleeping incident. I guess REM vs non-REM really does make a big difference.

14:00-14:30
At first it was hard to wake up after this nap, but I managed. Since about half an hour after waking up, I've felt as awake as any average monophasic day when I got enough sleep... actually getting enough sleep wasn't the average. On monophasic, if I get less than 10 hours of sleep I'll feel at least slightly tired continuously. I'm looking forward to seeing what Dymaxion is like after the difficult first few weeks.

17:45-18:15
Took the nap 15 minutes earlier so my mom and I could go swimming (didn't feel like sleeping in the car and had to leave because the pool closes earlier on the weekends). Most awake I've been since starting the adjustment to polyphasic.

22:00-22:30
Almost awake as last cycle. Didn't have trouble waking up, for once.

Monday, 6-8-09
2:00-2:30
Slightly tired at times, but still able to read and keep my eyes open. Did a lot of drawing (started drawing a picture from a scene in one of my dreams).

6:00-6:30
One of those naps that feels like they're several hours long when they're not. I don't think I can keep myself awake until 10:00, even with all the tricks I've used...so an extra nap at 8:00 sounds good. It'll be at the same time as yesterday, maybe that's a good sign. Before, my energy level throughout the day was mostly unpredictable.

8:00-8:30
Definitely had dreams (remembered them when I first woke up, but they're gone now). I'm at about the same energy level as before the nap. Looking back, it's the same for almost every other extra nap I've taken: the energy level is the same as before the extra, but I might feel more awake after the next normal nap.

10:00-10:30
Feeling mostly normal after I had something to eat.

14:00-14:30
Feeling awake I hope my luck holds and I start getting REM even more often.

18:20-18:50
Got distracted and wound up taking my nap a bit later than I planned First time that's happened. I guess it's good though that I was awake enough that I wasn't waiting impatiently for the next nap time, for once.

22:00-22:30
Seemed like I only went into a light sleep, this time. At least for the most part. It still felt restful though, and I still have plenty of energy.

This sounds kind of cool actually. With my busy schedule, I wouldn't be able to pull this off, but I'm very interested to see the results of this, and how it effects your lucid dreaming. Keep on posting!

Tricks which have helped so far. (A lot of it's already scattered throughout my log, but I wanted to summarize it all in one place.)

Countdown timer on my watch: I have a countdown timer set to 30 minutes. Very useful. I got used to waking up to my watch's alarm a week or two before starting polyphasic.

Extra naps: Limited to 30 minutes and used only when necessary. Necessary meaning I could potentially fall asleep without meaning to if I tried to stay awake until the next scheduled nap, risking the whole endeavor. I try not to take too many extra naps anymore because their effects ripple through several cycles (I'll get more energy from an extra nap later on, then have trouble falling asleep for a nap or three, then get really tired and feel like I need another extra nap...)

Eating food: Provides another source of energy. I like to eat a small meal just after waking up (to avoid having to digest during a nap). Usually during the middle of the night, I'll just have some fruit and yogurt, then the usual meals during the day. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I seem to be craving healthier foods more often...

Drinking lots of water: Not sure exactly how it might help with polyphasic in particular, but it's just a good idea in general. I figure the whole “8 glasses of water a day” is a lot easier to remember when the day is divided into six equal parts; at least one glass of water every cycle and I'm almost there!

Standing/walking/moving around: When I'm in one of those states where I'm literally starting to nod off every five seconds, sitting still just isn't an option. Sometimes I'll feel a bit wobbly or zombie-like when I stand up, but if I do something like straighten up my room, it keeps my mind occupied. Unlike wandering around aimlessly.

Taking a shower: If my eyes are blurry or if I just can't keep them open (or get them open at all), I'll take a warm shower. It lets me close my eyes and relax, but since I'm standing up or focusing on washing my hair, I don't have to worry about the usual risk of falling asleep if I close my eyes. (Note: I suppose if I was even more desperate to stay awake, I could take an ice cold shower )

Playing an instrument: I sometimes play pieces I have memorized so that I don't have to try to read music with blurry vision, but I pick pieces that are somewhat more challenging and not particularly slow (best not to go for the lullabies).

Reading: I love reading. If my vision is clear enough, I can easily pass hours at a time with a good book.

Picture books: I don't mean kid's pictures books necessarily, just a book where pictures are the main focus. For example, someone recently gave me a book on clouds (literally half the pictures I take are of clouds, that gave them a clue). There are written explanations about the types of clouds, how they form, etc., but the photographs take up the majority of the page. The advantage of this is that I can look at pictures even when I'm too blurry-eyed to do any actual reading.

Keeping warm: Fuzzy socks and pajamas, a sweater, blankets, whatever it takes to stay warm. I wind up getting cold easier due to being tired. Plus the fact that the heater isn't on during the night could be part of the reason.

Getting outside: Walking in the park, going swimming with my mom, meeting a friend for lunch...these types of things are good for when I'm not quite so tired that I'm going to, say, fall asleep with my face in the food.

Tuesday, 6-9-09
2:00-2:30
Shouldn't be too hard to stay awake. It's a little hard to read small print, but I've been reading the "DCs say the darndest things" thread with the browser view zoomed in two or three times

6:00-6:30
Definitely had dreams. Also, I'm at a good energy level.

10:00-10:30
More dreams! But I wasn't quite so awake for the first two and half hours...

13:40-14:10
Took a slightly earlier nap for scheduling (next nap needs to end just before 18:00).

17:25-17:55
Slept in the car. Didn't fall asleep completely, but did better than I did the other two times I tried.

22:00-22:30
Slept well. I just realized, I haven't had to take an extra nap all day today


Wednesday, 6-10-09
2:00-2:30
Had dreams. I'm mostly awake now.

6:00-7:30
Overslept again I vaguely remember waking up at 6:30 as I was supposed to, but after that my mind's completely blank. Then when I looked at the clock again it was 7:30. *sigh* Oh well, at least it wasn't as bad as last time (and I had dreams, which is good)...I'm still going to continue, because I've been adjusting so much better lately. In fact, both times I overslept were when I had plenty of energy whilst awake...maybe I just need to train my brain better. Sometimes when I wake up, the sound of my watch confuses me and I start fumbling around for a snooze button. I'm going to start setting a back up alarm, at least until I have better "waking up" habits.

10:00-10:30
Kind of drowsy until around 12:30. I probably had dreams during the nap, but I can't remember for sure.

Wednesday, 6-10-09 (cont.)
14:00-14:30
Slept pretty well. Not drowsy anymore.

18:00-18:30
Didn't fall asleep right away (can't remember dreams this time).

Wednesday (cont.)
22:00-22:30
Almost as awake as the last cycle.

Thursday 6-11-09
2:00-2:30
Fell asleep quickly and I have plenty of energy now. Probably going to do a bunch of reading and writing until 6.

6:00-6:30
A lot of difficulty staying awake for most of this cycle. Kept spacing out, but I don't think I actually fell asleep.

10:00-10:30
Still spacey, but did quite a bit of reading before deciding I had to move around to avoid drifting off. (By the way, this "spacey" feeling is different from the times I was really tired. It's more like I just might fall asleep if I don't pay attention, but there's no strong message getting sent to my brain saying "SLEEP NOW!")

14:00-14:30
Took a nap in the car. It's still harder to fall asleep in the car than at home, but I think I could get used to it eventually.

18:00-18:30
Finally, something I would call a perfect nap. Fell asleep easily, didn't have a hard time waking up, and a sufficient amount of energy. In fact, to have this much energy when I was monophasic, I would usually have had to get about 10 hours of sleep each night...yeah right.

22:00-22:30
Took a while to fall asleep, but I think I started to have dreams towards the end.

Now for the interesting part: shifting to a true Dymaxion sleep schedule with a nap every six hours (instead of four). I have all the nap times figured out so that I can gradually make the change (several nap times every 4 & 1/2 hours, every 5 hours, every 5 1/2 hours, then finally every 6). My first day of real Dymaxion will be Monday

I have a theory about why, with my current schedule, I alternate between going for several cycles having plenty of energy, then several cycles being tired. Basically, I've been taking half hour naps every 4 hours, which is really close to Uberman, except that Uberman is actually designed for 20 minute naps. Often, people who start out adjusting to Uberman with half hour naps later say that they don't need more than the 20 minutes. So maybe I'm getting the first 20 minutes, which I really do need to stay awake for three and a half hours, plus an extra 10 minutes. I have excess energy, and by the time the next nap comes around, I don't fall asleep very easily. This repeats for a while until the not falling asleep catches up with me and I start to get tired. Then I'm tired for a while until I'm able to fall asleep again and later go back to having energy...and so on. (The extra naps I took at the beginning of the adjustment period caused similar difficulties).

So, hopefully, napping every six hours will actually be easier, because the Dymaxion was designed for half hour naps. Hopefully, my energy level between naps will balance out and I'll be able to fall asleep for each nap consistently.


Friday, 6-12-09
2:30-3:00
Four and a half hours since the start of my last nap, as planned. I fell asleep fairly easily and I'm at a decent energy level now. Next nap will be at 7:00.

(Edited at 5:34): I noticed recently that I'm hyper of all things! I found myself bouncing around the kitchen to get cereal. Now I'm going to go try and spend a bunch of that energy cleaning my room so that I can get to sleep for my next nap

7:00-7:30
Was only spacey until I started moving around. My first day back to work, and feeling almost normal (got as much done as I usually can).

11:30-12:00
Took a nap in the car. It wasn't moving this time, so I fell asleep without trouble. For about twenty minutes before the nap, I'd been starting to nod off from staring at the computer screen for too long without blinking. That happens sometimes normally, just later in the day. Anyways, after the nap I felt wide awake and was much speedier completing tasks.

16:00-16:30
Another nap in the car. Even better than the previous one as far as recharging.

20:30-21:00
Apart from the usual temporary drowsiness when waking up, I'm at a good energy level. My reading ability hasn't failed me for quite a while now, and I can now often close my eyes for short periods of time without having to constantly worry about falling asleep when I'm not supposed to.

Saturday, 6-13-09
1:00-1:30
Made it through the four-and-a-half-hours-between-naps phase without any problems...in fact I'm actually feeling better energy-wise than before. Next nap will be at 6:00.

6:00-8:00
Yet another oversleeping mistake. Always seems to happen at 6:00, doesn't it? This time I'm pretty sure I just slept right through my alarm. Two of them, actually. One of which goes off every five minutes. I'm not letting the oversleeping upset me as much as the first two times; for one thing, I'm feeling a lot more secure that I'm getting closer to being fully adjusted. Although at the moment I'm feeling kind of groggy (probably woke up out of one of the other phases of sleep).

Maybe I should try affirmations before taking a nap...something simple like, "I will wake up 30 minutes from now"? Or maybe the oversleeping will stop naturally...Sometimes I'm only slightly tired, and yet I want nothing more than to just curl up on the couch at random and fall asleep for an indefinite period of time. I'm experiencing less and less of that, though, and occasionally I'll get those great naps where I fall asleep right away, have dreams, wake up easily, and have plenty of energy until the next nap.

11:00-11:30
Slept well but still groggy feeling after waking up. Actually tried reading a few times. It worked for a while, but then the book kept falling out of my hand. I think it took half an hour to read and understand a couple pages, lol. After a while, I grudgingly accepted that I needed to get up and do something else. (Yes, I know, I don't like putting books down )

16:00-16:30
Fell asleep easily and I think I had dreams. I'm almost back to the level of energy I had before the most recent oversleeping incident.

21:00-21:30
Had dreams & fell asleep almost immediately.

Sunday, 6-14-09
2:00-2:30
Slept well but hard to stay awake afterwords. Took a short 15 minute extra nap around 4:00 (I figured keeping it short would help avoid the problem I had before where extra naps would cause unpredictable fluctuations in energy level). I felt good again, after that.

7:30-8:00
One of those times when I'm thinking, "I'm not that tired. I could go for a long time! Hours more awake, no problem. I wonder if I'll even be able to fall asleep this... *head hits pillow* ZZZZZZZZZZZ" I was quite confused upon waking to my alarm(s) going off. Didn't get out of bed right away...luckily I didn't fall completely asleep (at least I hope I didn't), but I was really spacey for about half an hour before I snapped out of it and remembered that I needed to get on my feet.

13:00-13:30
Took a nap during a car ride (I'm getting better at that!) Last ten minutes seemed to stretch out quite a bit.

18:30-19:00
Another good nap, and I'm pretty sure I had dreams. It's 23:30 now (next nap in half an hour) and I'm at just the right energy level; I was awake enough to get a lot done during this cycle, but I'll still be able to fall asleep for my next nap.

Monday, 6-15-09
0:00-0:30
Once again confused when waking up. I really need to train myself to jump (or at least stumble) out of bed the instant the first alarm goes off. Instead I keep hearing the back up alarm going off seemingly right after the first one, when in fact I set it for five minutes later... I generally seem to have gone from trying-not-falling-asleep issues to waking up issues

5:30-6:00
It felt like a bit of a stretch to make it to this nap, but when I think about it, it wasn't nearly as hard to stay awake this time as it was during the initial adjusting. I fell asleep right away and had dreams. I was rather spacey for the first two or three hours after waking up.

11:30-12:00
Slept in the car (not while it was moving). Once I got comfortable I fell asleep as easily as when I'm sleeping in my bed (for once). Definitely more energy now than before the nap.

17:30-18:00
Managed to wake up without trouble, and I have a good energy level at the moment.

23:30-0:00
Some trouble falling asleep, but did manage to do more than "just rest". No trouble waking up.

Yay, my first official day on the Dymaxion Sleep Schedule!

You stopped updating us!
You ok, still alive?
Lol or are you sleeping day in day out?

Hang in there, you got far and on the edge of the worst.

Originally Posted by sandstorm140

Lol or are you sleeping day in day out?

Lol I thought the same...

Sorry about the late update; my dad and I are on a trip visiting relatives (which I was going to mention before I left, but then I overslept ). I didn't get around to posting until just now, but I've been keeping a written log so that I don't forget. Yeah, the trip is going to add a bit to the challenge, but I can say this much: I'm doing better now, even with the oversleeping problem, than I did when I was still adjusting to the naps every 4 hours.

Tuesday, 6-16-09
6:00-8:00
A really annoying time to oversleep because I was leaving on a trip today and I wanted to finish packing just a few items...managed to leave on time, but definitely not the most fun way to start the day.

12:15-12:45
Had to make this nap late because of the plane ride (slept right after boarding).

18:00-18:30
Less late nap (off by thirty minutes from my regular schedule) but feeling pretty good and I should be back on time the next nap.

23:30-0:00
Slept really well and woke up perfectly. But then...

Wednesday, 6-17-09
0:01-3:07
Unplanned nap! I grabbed a book and leaned back so I could read under the light. I read all of two sentences when the next thing I know I'm waking up at 3:07! I was very confused, to say the least. Then I found the book on the floor behind the sofa. It must have fallen out of my hand as my head hit the pillow. Note to self: wait more than thirty seconds after waking up before picking up a book.

6:00-6:30
At least this nap time went all right for once. Still rather upset that I overslept twice in twenty four hours, though.

10:00-10:15
Added an extra short nap because I'm feeling so groggy from earlier.

11:30-12:00
Back to a good level of energy now. I found out the nap schedule's probably going to be weird today, but I figure it's not too big of a deal because it's already weird due to the oversleeping.

15:00-15:30
Napped on the train. When I change naps around, I make sure I'm squishing them together or adding extra ones rather than trying to stretch them out. I hear that stretching out the time between naps only works if the very next nap is right on time. In other words, no stretching in the same direction several times in a row!

20:15-20:30
Added an extra short nap because it doesn't look like I'll quite get a nap in at 21:00 (again, better to squish than stretch...I think.)

21:50-22:20
Seemed like a good time to have a full nap. Getting closer to the original schedule. Plus the nap got rid of the very beggining of a headache (I've yet to actually get a real headache during the adjustment, which is somewhat surprising since I used to get them often).

My original plan for this experiment was basically to decide whether to continue or not a couple days before classes start (and only stop sooner if my body really needed it). As I mentioned before, I feel like I'm gradually getting more energy, but at the same time I have to pay attention to the oversleeping which hadn't been a problem at first...In any case I think I'll stick to the original plan and make this Saturday the decision day. That'll give me enough time to return to monophasic sleep if I really have to give up *knocks on wood*.

Thursday, 6-18-09
1:45-2:15
Added a full length extra nap between the last one and the next on-schedule one. That way I won't have to stretch them out too much in order to get back on schedule.

5:30-6:00
One of those perfect naps with the added bonus of my first lucid dream since starting polyphasic! (I'll post it at some point in my dream journal).

7:00-8:00
I'm getting worried about the oversleeping issue, but at least this time it was longer between incidents. Maybe if it keeps happening less frequently I'll be alright. This time I waited longer after waking up before reading, but it still put me to sleep. New idea: just don't read. What a concept. Writing seems to engage my brain more, maybe I should stick to that when I can't think of anything else to do.

11:30-12:00
A very refreshing nap; I feel more energized than I have in a while.

17:20-17:50
Took a nap in the car. Didn't get much more than a light sleep. I feel rested at the moment...I'll see how I feel later (maybe add an extra short nap, although I've been trying to avoid doing even that because I'm still not entirely sure about the effects it has on following naps.)

Thursday (cont.)
23:30-0:00
Slept right through people talking without any difficulty. I was confused when waking up, but I managed to stop myself from resetting my alarm for another thirty minutes...made me wonder if I should take an extra nap after all.

Friday, 6-19-09
1:15-1:45
Couldn't wait until the usual halfway point to take an extra nap, but I kept this one short. I had dreams this time, that's for sure. It was hot and stuffy in the room, and that carried over into my dream. When I woke up I was still tired.


Well, after that nap I had to make a hard decision. Whenever I closed my eyes for even just three seconds, I'd hear people I knew saying things to me and giving me moral support or something...I'd see things from a slightly different perspective in the room, too. This would only last for a few seconds until I opened my eyes. Once or twice the sounds/images seemed so real that I was surprised when I opened my eyes and everything was back to normal. It was that feeling of switching between two distinct and equally real realities that I've felt sometimes when I transition between being asleep and awake. Only this time it was within a matter of seconds. It actually took me a while to realize how strange all of this was.

One part of me felt like this was the same as dozing off, the other part of me said that this had never happened before, even towards the beginning of the adjustment period. If it had happened towards the beginning, I would probably have added more extra naps and kept going, but this was two and a half weeks into it. I don't know exactly why I was feeling tired and experiencing this now and not before, but my theory is that each oversleeping incident was destroying what adjustment I'd achieved at the same time as making it nearly impossible for me to judge how well I was doing. Then I finally got a clue.

I debated with myself for a while and decided I should return to monophasic for now and try again later. There were just too many variables stacked against me. I thought I'd feel like I failed, but I don't because I can try again. And even more importantly, I'm leaving information in this log for people (myself included) on what works and what doesn't.

The return to monophasic was incredibly easy. I knew it would be, but it took even less time than I thought. I slept from my decision around 2:30 in the morning until around eight. I got up, had breakfast, then went back to sleep until lunchtime. Other than feeling like the whole day just disappeared, I feel pretty good. (The cynical side of me wonders if maybe I wasn't so sleep deprived after all, but what's done is done.)


Things to do differently:
-Stop if I oversleep more than three times during the adjustment perod (or two times in a row).
-Figure out how to avoid oversleeping in the first place. This part will take a lot more thought and research for me to figure out. I plan on becomeing a total expert on sleep before my next attempt. I've already absorbed a lot of information, and I'm interested enough in the subject to find out more.
-Don't take trips or move the schedule around during the adjustment period. I know I can do it, but I don't want to deal with the stress and uncertainty of not knowing if it will confuse my body even more.
-Keep extra naps short and don't rely on them too much.
-If adjusting to Uberman first, use 20 minute naps, then gradually increase nap time when switching to Dymaxion.
-Reading and other such activities only work when I'm awake enough that I can close my eyes for a minute or two without having to worry about dozing off

One more tip for people attempting polyphasic:
A surprising number of people simply won't be able to grasp the concept of sleeping less and still getting enough energy, let alone getting more energy. If you're anything like me, you'll want to get the support (or at least neutrality) of family members or roomates or anyone you're going to be around constantly during the adjustment period. As for others who might not be willing to listen... just remember you could always wait until after you're completely adjusted to tell them. Trust me, it's a lot less stressful. Personally, during that challenging time period, I want people around me who can understand the pros and cons of polyphasic and who can help me to logically figure out where to draw the line between getting too sleep deprived and getting closer to adjusting.

Some benifits I've experienced (even without ever really adjusting):
-More hours of waking time. It felt like two or three days in one.
-I did have dreams, one of which was lucid.
-Got to be awake during the really cool time period of 2-6 in the morning (nice and quiet around that time, plus I've always been a night owl).
-Going to sleep more often, so it sometimes felt like I was getting more sleep than usual.
-I used to have a lot of neck pain from sleeping on it funny, but with polyphasic I wasn't sleeping on it for long periods of time and it felt a lot better. Plus I could switch which side I was sleeping on each nap, so I wasn't bent in one direction more than another.
-I wound up drinking more water and eating more often (but slightly smaller portions of food) since everything was divided up into six and later four cycles of awake time. Also, for some reason, I had cravings for healthier types of food...or maybe it was more like an adversion to greasy stuff.
-I started out with some interest in watching tv or playing games on the computer, but I seemed to satisfy that "need" pretty quickly and I soon lost interest and wanted to do more creative activities.
-I got to experiment and contribute to a subject which I find very interesting.


Well, that's all I can think of to say at the moment, but I'm sure there's more. I'm sorry I didn't get adjusted this time, but I haven't given up in the long run. If anyone has questions (about any aspect of the attempt or Dymaxion in general), feel free to ask.

Thanks for keeping this log, I've always been interesting in Dymaxion. I've also never heard of anybody successfully adjusting to it

What is your reason for doing Dymaxion as opposed to Uberman or Everyman?


I find that the best method for timing naps is noise canceling headphones and an mp3 (I have one if you're interested, 20 minutes of white noise followed by progressively louder sounds to wake you up... usually not needed, I usually wake up easily when the white noise fades out).

If you must use an alarm, put it on the other side of the room so you need to get up to turn it off.

Originally Posted by jombo22

Thanks for keeping this log, I've always been interesting in Dymaxion. I've also never heard of anybody successfully adjusting to it

What is your reason for doing Dymaxion as opposed to Uberman or Everyman?


I find that the best method for timing naps is noise canceling headphones and an mp3 (I have one if you're interested, 20 minutes of white noise followed by progressively louder sounds to wake you up... usually not needed, I usually wake up easily when the white noise fades out).

If you must use an alarm, put it on the other side of the room so you need to get up to turn it off.

Thanks for the tips Yeah, people have adjusted to Dymaxion before, just not many.

Initially I wanted to do Uberman, but I couldn't get a schedule that would work with it. Dymaxion seemed like the next best thing, though I'd heard it was harder to adjust to initially. I'm actually considering trying Everyman next time (I need to do more research before deciding for sure). I've read that it takes longer to adjust to than Uberman or Dymaxion, but I'll have 4-5 weeks free to adjust for my next attempt, whereas before I only had 2 and a half weeks (I'm starting again around mid-December, by the way).

Hi, just stumbled upon this thread from Google.

I've just started the everyman schedule, 4.5 hours at night and 2x20 minute naps. A few things I thought I'd mention:

-From what I've read about PPS, 20 minute naps, once adapted to, are as effective, if not more effective than 30 minute naps.
-The body takes around 21 days to adapt to a new habit, whether it be a drug dependence, or sleeping pattern, or whatever.
-A combination of nap scheduling (to get the body used to sleeping at that time) and sleep deprivation enables one to achieve true PPS napping, i.e. don't make up for naps/sleeps where you "didnt fall asleep".

Thanks for the read, 'twas interesting!

Originally Posted by dat

Hi, just stumbled upon this thread from Google.

I've just started the everyman schedule, 4.5 hours at night and 2x20 minute naps. A few things I thought I'd mention:

-From what I've read about PPS, 20 minute naps, once adapted to, are as effective, if not more effective than 30 minute naps.
-The body takes around 21 days to adapt to a new habit, whether it be a drug dependence, or sleeping pattern, or whatever.
-A combination of nap scheduling (to get the body used to sleeping at that time) and sleep deprivation enables one to achieve true PPS napping, i.e. don't make up for naps/sleeps where you "didnt fall asleep".

Thanks for the read, 'twas interesting!

Hi, thanks for posting!

As I found out, 20 minute naps definitely work better than 30, at least for Uberman. The reason I tried 30 minutes in the first place was because I was starting with closer together naps (every 4 hours) then gradually stretching them out to be a true Dymaxion sleep schedule (every 6 hours) and I thought it would be easier for the body to adjust if I kept the amount of time for each nap consistent.

I think you're right about the scheduling itself being important to get the body adjusted. Probably the biggest mistake I made was all the extra naps I added. The opposite of the carefully avoided mistake of missing naps The oversleeping was the other problem...but that's a little harder to figure out. It seems more like an indicator of how well the body is adjusting than something which can be controlled directly. (Although as jombo22 and others have mentioned, there are ways to make it easier to wake up).

Good luck with the Everyman schedule!