Third Polyphasic Sleep Attempt (Everyman)

**nautilus** · 08-08-2010 04:43 PM

Below is my first week (plus a bit more) of statistics and sleep log. First day with naps added was 8-7-10.

Spoiler for Week 1:

**LucidSleeperCel** · 08-09-2010 06:08 AM

Great stats, keep up the good work!
It seems like your body is adjusting to it rather well.

**Jakro** · 08-16-2010 10:59 PM

Good stuff! I've been adjusting to Uberman during last six days and it seems I'm finally going to pull it off. I've noticed that I lose weight very easily while polyphasical (even when eating a ton) and what's best it's mostly fat that is lost. I did some random blood pressure monitoring in my previous attempt during July, but haven't been keeping log about it. I didn't notice anything out-of-ordinary though. My pulse was at times really low before sleep, around 40, but that's about it and I think that it might've been around that even if were monophasical.

**nautilus** · 08-17-2010 09:19 AM

The bad news is that I started to get a cold on Thursday, the 12th and this is impacting my sleep schedule. The good news is that I'm currently over the sore throat phase and on the road to recovery, and I've been keeping the naps whenever I can (though not necessarily falling asleep for them). I tend to have a lot of trouble falling asleep when I have a cold, so for my core and in the mornings, I haven't been waking up at 7:00 for the past few days. The reason is that whenever I do finally manage to fall asleep, I don't want to wake up any sooner than I have to, not to mention that I don't want to push myself too hard when my body's immune system is messed up.

In theory, at least, I think this gradual approach to a polyphasic sleep schedule could allow for sicknesses and exhaustion; the core is designed such that the body knows when it's supposed to wake up, so if there's any extra stress on the body, you could go to sleep as early as needed to allow for that. However in practice, at least for me personally, I have to be practically ready to collapse before I'm tired enough to overcome the pain and stress of being sick and fall asleep.

All that said, here's the second week's log:

Spoiler for Week 2:

**LucidSleeperCel** · 08-20-2010 03:36 PM

Sorry to hear about the cold, I can imagine that being sick while attempting to adjust to a polyphasic sleep schedule would make it incredibly difficult :/

**Raspberry** · 08-29-2010 09:23 PM

I want to start the Uberman sleep schedual. But I'm still living with my dad (can't move out yet -_-) so it's not like I can treat night as day. If he gets up to go to the toilet and finds my bedroom light on, i'm in for it. So my options are limited. I could keep this time for reading, school homework/studying and just playing around on the internet, but I'll probably get sick of it eventually.

I don't mind about sleeping for 20 minutes at lunch at school. I can nip into a practice (music) room.

So... I think I'll try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work out it doesn't work out right?

**nautilus** · 08-29-2010 11:31 PM

The good news is my cold is gone and I seem to be back to where I was before it hit. Here are the logs for weeks 3 and 4.

Spoiler for Week 3:

Spoiler for Week 4:

**nautilus** · 08-30-2010 12:04 AM

Originally Posted by Raspberry

I want to start the Uberman sleep schedual. But I'm still living with my dad (can't move out yet -_-) so it's not like I can treat night as day. If he gets up to go to the toilet and finds my bedroom light on, i'm in for it. So my options are limited. I could keep this time for reading, school homework/studying and just playing around on the internet, but I'll probably get sick of it eventually.

I don't mind about sleeping for 20 minutes at lunch at school. I can nip into a practice (music) room.

So... I think I'll try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work out it doesn't work out right?

It sounds like it might be hard for you if you're dad's not on board... It's a fairly big lifestyle change, especially for Uberman, and I know from experience that the support or at least neutrality of the people you're around every day makes a big difference as far as your chance of success. For example, if you can't miss a nap and a family member doesn't like your sleep schedule or doesn't know about it, you could wind up with some event scheduled smack dab in the middle of your nap time. On the other hand, a supportive family member that's informed about polyphasic sleep knows to check with you first, and compromises can be planned ahead of time where you shift the nap within the limits of the schedule. It's kind of like taking public transit; you have to plan ahead a bit more than driving a car, but it has it's advantages too.

See if you can explain to your dad what you're doing and/or get at least one person that sees you often in the know (it helps, because the first two weeks of adjusting are really tough). Alternatively, you could try a polyphasic sleep schedule that's more flexible and closer to monophasic, such as biphasic or even Everyman. That might help with the "keeping odd hours" problem, while still giving you some extra awake time.

Good luck, and I hope you find something that works for you!

**LucidSleeperCel** · 08-31-2010 12:40 AM

I noticed you've lost weight from week one to week four, do you think this directly linked to your polyphasic sleep schedule? Or perhaps some other life style change?
Also your reaction time seems to have become quicker whenever you get used to the schedule; but then when you slept in, it dropped back down. It's strange but I think that when adjusted to a polyphasic schedule, you might be more functional then if you were to be adjusted to a monophasic schedule. I'd like to know if you agree, seeing as how you're the one actually on the schedule.

**nautilus** · 08-31-2010 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by LucidSleeperCel

I noticed you've lost weight from week one to week four, do you think this directly linked to your polyphasic sleep schedule? Or perhaps some other life style change?
Also your reaction time seems to have become quicker whenever you get used to the schedule; but then when you slept in, it dropped back down. It's strange but I think that when adjusted to a polyphasic schedule, you might be more functional then if you were to be adjusted to a monophasic schedule. I'd like to know if you agree, seeing as how you're the one actually on the schedule.

The only change I've made to my diet is to cut out fast food permanently (basically just eliminating the worst of what I eat). I believe I made that change in the end of June. That's close enough to when I started taking stats that it could have been a factor in the weight loss (not sure how much of an effect or how gradual an effect that particular change would have on its own). My level of exercise has stayed basically the same for many months, so I don't think that's much of a factor.

Personally, I think the sleep schedule is playing at least some part in the weight loss, maybe because I'm awake longer, so eating more frequently and also in smaller portions at a time. The stats from my last Everyman attempt showed my weight going generally up (which may have been because of adjusting issues or may have been because I was eating worse), but in any case I think my weight tended to go up a bit more whenever I was having more issues with oversleeping. This time around, the adjusting is going pretty smoothly, at least for the most part.

Also, the reaction time for both attempts went generally down. That part doesn't surprise me, actually. It lines up with what I've read from many other logs; people say they tend to find an increase in alertness, which they notice even more when on Uberman than on Everyman. I haven't noticed a ton of difference consciously, so far, except for some days when I'm doing particularly well with getting to sleep for naps and waking up on time and I have an unusual amount of energy throughout the day. Maybe the stats can capture the more subtle or gradual changes as far as alertness goes. The blood pressure stats are a little harder to analyse, but I'd like to look at specific correlations between the events in my logs and the data at some point.

**Neo Neo** · 09-11-2010 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by nautilus

Well, first you'll want to make sure you choose a version of Everyman that will work with your schedule when you're back in school (once adjusted, you can move the naps around by as much as an hour without a problem, or even 2 hours I've heard, so long as the other naps around it are on schedule). The different versions of Everyman I've heard of are: three 20-minute naps + 3-hour core (the one I've tried), four or five 20-minute naps + 1.5-hour core, and two 20-minute naps + 4.5-hour core. Ideally, keep the naps pretty evenly spaced.

If you're adjusting to Everyman the way most people do, that is by taking on the new schedule all at once, you'll need to mostly clear your schedule (of things like work or other things you need to be productive for) for the first couple of weeks and at least keep it light for the first month. You won't be as much of a zombie as if you were adjusting to Uberman, but it won't easy, either.

Alternatively, you could try the gradual approach I'm taking for my current attempt (described in this thread). In that case, you won't need to clear your schedule for the adjustment, you'll just have to be willing to go to bed early when you're just starting to get tired, at least for the initial stage, and wait quite a bit longer before you're actually on the schedule you're aiming for. Keep in mind that this is still an untested approach, so I don't know yet how well it will work.

If you decide to go with the all-at-once approach, I can give you tips on how to stay awake.

Thats interesting, I hadn't thought of that idea of slowly adjusting your body to a polysphasic schedule. It seems like cites usually imply that you have to change instantly to it, or that most people just choose to change their sleep schedule abruptly. Right now I'm starting my second attempt at everyman (3 hr core + 3 20-minute naps) and I didn't do any sleep preparations beforehand. It makes sense; assuming that I can adjust to everyman this semester I'll definitely use your way of gradually changing to polysphasic sleep because during the summer I might have to go back to monophasic. Other than oversleeping on a nap this morning (luckily it wasn't during any obligations) I havn't really been all that tired from how I am on monophasic.

**nautilus** · 09-30-2010 09:55 AM

I haven't been as detailed with the log this month, but I've been keeping up with the stats, at least. Also, I've been keeping track of the bedtime for core, since that's the only thing really changing. Generally, the naps are starting to be very similar now; I fall asleep for almost all of them and will have dreams a little more than half the time. Usually vague dreams, but occasionally some extremely clear ones. It always amazes me that these can take place in just 20 minutes! I just about always have dreams during core sleep.

I haven't had any trouble falling asleep for core this past month, and most days I seem to be pretty energized; I'm starting to get the hang of knowing when to go to sleep for core such that I won't be tired in the morning, although sometimes I'll make the mistake of staying up "just a little bit longer" because I'm studying or getting involved in some project. Every once in a while I'll push the core bedtime a little later on purpose. That takes two or three days of adjusting, but only to the extent that I'm slightly sleepy in the early morning (after which, I gain a significant amount of energy from my first two naps and am back to normal for the rest of the day).

As far as alarms go, anything from the loud screeching one to the vibrate-mode alarm on my cell phone will usually work for waking up from naps. For core wake-up, I've gotten into the habit of setting my cell-phone alarm for 6:45 then putting the loud screeching one on the floor, set to go off a couple minutes later. I don't really need both, but it's a lot nicer to wake up to a gentle noise and it gives me a little more time for my brain to finish turning on before the "serious" alarm starts sounding. Sometimes I'll go for the gradual wake up, and other times I'm on my feet immediately after the first one goes off. Either way, having the loud one on the floor is a good way to get me moving in the morning. In addition, I've noticed several times that I've woken up 30 seconds to a minute before the first alarm goes off.

For this past month, I've had four or five oversleeping incidents; only one of them was a nap (overslept by an hour), the others were core-sleep on days when I didn't have to be anywhere in the early morning (overslept by 1/2 hour to 3 hours).

Note: for weeks 5-8, I didn't write down the nap times (just core bedtime), but 95% of them have been within an hour of the goal times.

Spoiler for Week 5:

Spoiler for Week 6:

Spoiler for Week 7:

Spoiler for Week 8:

Questions? Comments? I'll post some visual representations of the data soon, just to give an idea of the general trends so far.

**Raspberry** · 10-02-2010 12:03 PM

That's really good!

Is it possible to WILD during these naps?

**Trevorm7** · 10-02-2010 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by Raspberry

That's really good!

Is it possible to WILD during these naps?

You're practically guaranteed a WILD or some kind of lucidity weather you try or not, at least from my limited experience. I don't know if things settle down when you've adapted more though.

**LucidSleeperCel** · 10-04-2010 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by Trevorm7

You're practically guaranteed a WILD or some kind of lucidity weather you try or not, at least from my limited experience. I don't know if things settle down when you've adapted more though.

From what I've gathered from research is that dreams get more vivid the more you adapt to the schedule. Because with less sleep, your body cuts out the unneeded unconscious parts of sleep (well not entirely but almost) and skips straight to REM sleep. Because your body doesn't pass through the unconscious state, you're less groggy in the dream world (equivalent to how you feel when awakened in the real world from deep sleep); and because you're less groggy in the dream world, you are almost guaranteed a lucid due to sheer vividness of the dreams alone. This doesn't include the use of induction techniques either, with a polyphasic sleep schedule your chances of having a lucid dream at raised to about (and this is a guesstimation) 70-80%. Also having tried a polyphasic schedule for a bit myself, I noticed my LD count increase ten fold (that's where I got the approximate percentages

).

**nautilus** · 12-18-2010 12:34 AM

Sorry for the delay in posting stats. I just finished finals, and came off of Everyman yesterday (stopped taking stats the beginning of December). I'll be on a Biphasic sleep schedule probably starting tomorrow, since Everyman wouldn't work with my schedule next semester.

Overall, I think this sleep schedule worked out really well for me this semester. My bedtime didn't have much chance to stabilize (except towards the beginning of the experiment), because every time I had a lot of homework to finish I'd wind up staying up later than I would if I'd been listening to my body the way I had planned. I did have a few oversleeps, but compared to the other times I've tried polyphaic sleeping patterns, those oversleeps weren't as bad or as often and didn't throw me off nearly as much. Maybe it was because my bedtime was so variable that on days when I didn't have too much going on, I could go to sleep earlier. For example, if I stayed up until 3:30 one night and had a hard time with my naps the next day (or even missed one), I'd feel tired earlier and, if I paid attention, I'd go to sleep an hour or two early and feel normal the next morning.

I had hoped to reduce the core sleep to three hours, but I was just too sporadic with the bedtimes due to a busy schedule; I didn't have that gradual shortening of the core sleep. The beginning of the experiment seemed to suggest that it would be definitely be possible, however, and the stats at the beginning showed a much more rapid improvement of lowered blood pressure and faster reaction time. In hindsight, I realized that I went to sleep around 2:15-2:45 on average, which puts the core sleep at 4-4.5 hours long. That actually fits one of the Everyman models! So I think I've shown that even with a somewhat unpredictable lifestyle, three naps a day plus gentle nudging towards a shorter core naturally leads to something resembling Everyman.

Below are the rest of the statistics I took.

Spoiler for Week 9:

Spoiler for Week 10:

Spoiler for Week 11:

Spoiler for Week 12:

Spoiler for Week 13:

Spoiler for Week 14:

Spoiler for Week 15:

Spoiler for Week 16:

Spoiler for Week 17:

Spoiler for Week 18:

**nautilus** · 12-18-2010 01:10 AM

Attached (click thumbnails to see larger image) are the graphs for Blood Pressure, Pulse, Weight, Body Fat, and Reaction Time for 7-31-10 through 12-2-10. In the spreadsheet these graphs were created from, I averaged the data for the days when I didn't take the stats (so that there wouldn't be gaps and missing data). This means it's a little less accurate towards the end, where there were more gaps and the lines look more smooth, but the idea is to see the general trend.

BloodPressureChart3.jpg PulseChart3.jpg WeightChart3.jpg BodyFatChart3.jpg ReactionTimeChart3.jpg

**LucidSleeperCel** · 12-21-2010 10:48 PM

Woah, what happened to your body fat and weight in those two spikes where they dropped? That's slightly concerning, and this data seems to show a loss in reaction time as well (a major con in my opinion). Blood pressure seems somewhat stable throughout, which is good. Pulse, seems to correlate with the blood pressure data; which is expected, and a good sign. But again, reaction time seems to be decreased, and those two spikes in your body weight and body fat are pretty concerning.

**Trevorm7** · 12-22-2010 12:10 AM

A loss in reaction time is good, not bad.

**nautilus** · 12-23-2010 02:50 AM

Originally Posted by LucidSleeperCel

Woah, what happened to your body fat and weight in those two spikes where they dropped? That's slightly concerning, and this data seems to show a loss in reaction time as well (a major con in my opinion). Blood pressure seems somewhat stable throughout, which is good. Pulse, seems to correlate with the blood pressure data; which is expected, and a good sign. But again, reaction time seems to be decreased, and those two spikes in your body weight and body fat are pretty concerning.

Yes, as Trevorm said, the dropping reaction time=faster reaction time, which is a good sign, I think. As far as the two drops in weight, it looks like they were 4 to 6 pound drop from the previous days for each reading. I don't know what that was about. Maybe I had an unusually early dinner on those days? I usually eat pretty late. It is kind of weird, though, but I wasn't too worried because the weight went right back to the gradual-trend, rather than a sudden loss in weight/body fat that stayed that way. Maybe this next polyphasic experiment I'll keep better track of when I deviate from my daily habits (when I eat, exercise more, etc.)

**LucidSleeperCel** · 12-23-2010 06:31 AM

Originally Posted by nautilus

Yes, as Trevorm said, the dropping reaction time=faster reaction time, which is a good sign, I think. As far as the two drops in weight, it looks like they were 4 to 6 pound drop from the previous days for each reading. I don't know what that was about. Maybe I had an unusually early dinner on those days? I usually eat pretty late. It is kind of weird, though, but I wasn't too worried because the weight went right back to the gradual-trend, rather than a sudden loss in weight/body fat that stayed that way. Maybe this next polyphasic experiment I'll keep better track of when I deviate from my daily habits (when I eat, exercise more, etc.)

Haha yeah read that wrong, don't know where my head was at

But daily habits would be good, I think a waking journal would be a good way to record this; and help with lucid dreaming too

But I also recommend inviting a close friend or family member in on your next experiment, and have them record the data from a different perspective; specifically, your emotions. As only somebody besides yourself can tell you if you're acting strange or different (an unreasonable man is not reasonable enough to tell he is unreasonable, after all). Just to get the effects that polyphasic sleep has on the mind, and not only the body.

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