Polyphasic Sleep - Introspection

Yesterday evening, I wrote a post that was pretty much pep talk in order to convince myself to continue on the uberman polyphasic sleep schedule. I have tried to be honest with what I felt.

Yesterday evening, I had a conversation with my sister on facebook, and went to bed for my 22:00 nap. My plans for the night were to increase my work on this blog, continue a program for my web site, and go for a nightly run at around 00:30-01:00. I woke up at 05:00.

This isn't me. I think I can count on my ten fingers how many times in the past I have really overslept like that. Even though I woke up great as usual, I was disappointed. The experiment had started so perfectly, and had gone downhill - should I say free-fallen? - near the end of my first week. I was not mad, just very disappointed that I had been so careless in the first place to let that happen.

I now need to rethink my motives, rethink what this sleep schedule means to me. Why am I doing this?

This is one of these occasions when you need to build a list of pros and cons, even though you have already made your mind. Because that's what these lists are for - you already know, perhaps subconsciously, what your decision will be. Making such a list is only a medium to objectively see your thoughts on paper.

Here it goes, the pros and cons of the uberman polyphasic sleep schedule, as I see (and experienced) it. Also included are how important the point is to me, on a scale from one to ten.


Pro - Increase in Free Time (10/10)
This point is off the chart. As I said in the past, I can't even begin to express myself on how five more hours of free time a day felt to me. On monday morning, after my first week end, I felt like it was a whole week that had gone by. I felt like I had been on vacation. With five hours a day, the amount of things you can actually do is incredible, and this was exactly what was missing for someone like me - time for my projects. Now that I have lived it, I feel like I can't allow myself to go back. Without polyphasism, I will have to put my projects in a list, ordered by importance, and most will never be born.

For example, practicing on the piano has no real benefit in the long-term for me, compared to, say, reading a theoretical physics book. My reasons are that I probably never will play in front of others - my piano sessions will be for my ears only, and even though just playing the piano is fun and relaxing, learning things by reading increases my awareness of what is around me, and makes me a more knowledgeable person.

You can add the fact that I was starting to be interested in evening courses. I was starting to look for swing sessions, woodworking classes, and Toastmasters meetings. Having time during the night to do my personal projects left my evenings free to do different things.

Actually, ranting about my projects is worthy of a post by itself, so let me carry on with the list.


Pro - Increase in Attention (3/10)
Being different itself has pros and cons. For someone like me who is virtually invisible, having a conversation about polyphasism, even when more critical than constructive, is welcome.

Also, it makes me look like a geek, or at least like someone who is able to tweak his own life.


Con - Being Sleepy (4/10)
I'll be honest - my initial phase is not even over, but I have substantial reasons to believe that the worse I would have is that drowsy feeling behind the eyes.

There is also the matter of actually succeeding in getting up with the alarm. Whether what happened last night was an isolated incident or not, I don't know. What I know is that it very rarely happens to me because I'm a very light sleeper, and if I have to start struggling, using two different alarms, and a backup, and finding ways to make sure I get up, well I won't be enjoying the experience as much.

The fact that I overslept like this last night leads me to believe that my body was actively fighting something, not just passively fighting it.


Con - Lack of Deep Sleep, and Sleep Debt (7/10)
If the studies I read are true, I should give this point 10/10, since it's about my health. If it's true that Steve Pavlina did the uberman for 5.5 months without any side effect, should we understand that he is a special case, or is deep sleep overrated? Because that's what it boils down to - polyphasism gives the body REM sleep, but removes the other sleep phases. Do we believe blindly in such studies that say that deep sleep is as important to the body and mind as REM sleep?

What about sleep debt? They say that if you get less than eight hours of sleep per night, the missing hours will have to be slept sooner or later. People like me, who slept 6.5 to 7 hours for years, have a sleep debt of thousands of hours, which will never be repaid. Honestly, a sleep debt is easily believable in the short-term, but when you look at the long-term consequences, am I to believe that I am doomed to a higher risk of heart problems and other such western disease that is normally (and rightly) attributed solely to nutrition?

I felt fine with 6.5 to 7 hours of sleep everyday, and will not try going out of my way (read: hibernating) in order to pay the concept of a debt that may or may not turn out to be true.

I believe more in the implications concerning a lack of deep sleep. It sounds more right. Using a product like the Zeo Sleep Manager, I'll have a better view of what's happening to me when I sleep.


Con - Temporary Project Status (2/10)
I knew from the start that this was not something I would keep doing for a long time. Sure, if everything went incredibly well, I would consider sleeping like that for a long time, but I was not expecting it. It was merely an intellectual curiosity, but the knowledge that all this wonderful free time would disappear sometime soon was disconcerting.

Since I know I'll stop in a few weeks, why not stop right now? What's the difference, except having 30 more hours of time every week, when you calculate in the long term?


Con - Napping Outside (4/10)
I wasn't forced to take a nap outside my home yet, except at work. I could sleep in the server room, and had to put a jacket on because of the cold. I was slowly getting used to sleep there.

Sooner or later, though, I would have to take a nap somewhere else. For example, at my sister's place, in my car, or on a park bench. This can be irritating when you know you can't get back home before you really need your nap. Also, not being able to sleep anywhere can be tricky - if you have to take the car, it's a bad thing to drive while feeling sleepy. Just trust me on that one.

Anyway, there's a lot of planning necessary when you stray away from the day-to-day routine, and this would become burdensome quickly.


Con? - Strict Diet (1/10)
I don't know if it's a con or a pro, but being on an extreme sleep schedule like that, you need to really watch what you eat. It's like when you practice for a marathon. Any excess or indulgence can lead to lower results, or in this case, tougher nights.

I generally have a very good diet, but there were a lot of times when I would have liked a cup of coffee, a glass of Bailey's, a bottle of beer, or a few cookies. I am convinced that being vegan has greatly helped me with polyphasism. If anything, this whole experience helped me level-up concerning my ability to refuse unhealthy food.

Being on a polyphasism is a great incentive to eat as healthy as you can, because if you don't it's not just your weight that will rise - you will lack sleep and disturb several of the following naps, which will cause you to oversleep.


Con - Marathon and Gym Training (2/10)
I am subscribed to a local gym near where I live. During the week, it's open from 06:00 to 22:00. This left me in a tight spot, because I love going to the gym in the morning. Opening at 06:00, this would push my last nap to around 08:00, which would push my work schedule. This was possible, of course, but I started going to the gym during the evenings, which was also difficult to fit in with a dinner and two evening naps. The best would be to find a 24/7 gym.


Actually seeing this list makes me realize that my decision is not that surprising. but there is an additional point that is worth mentioning.


Con of Cancelling my Sleep Schedule and Looking like a Quitter (8/10)
I have to make something clear: I am not a quitter. Some times, because of work, I may have to cancel things and look like a quitter, but that's merely responsibility towards my boss. Being a quitter is more like starting a project with someone and leaving in the middle, or becoming vegan and switching back after only two weeks just because you tired of it. If I was a quitter, I wouldn't have gone through four years of army training.

But sometimes, a personal project is compromised by new information. That's when I have to think hard about why I'm doing it, what my goals are, and what I expect from this. Are the gains better than what I'm willing to pay for?

Right now, I'm looking at the list above, and see the the gains are mostly egocentrical. If you add the potential of health problems, even if there is no conclusive research that the body absolutely needs deep sleep in order to function perfectly, it might be a show-stopper for me.


By now, my decision is pretty much clear. I will stop this, for my future health, just in case. I will go back to a less complicated life, with less time on my hands. I go back to the stability and comfort of a day-to-day routine.

But I fear some people will see this forfeit, and think I'm just a quitter. Seriously, who likes a quitter? Who trusts a quitter? If I can't even go through this for myself, how can I go through something hard (like a marriage) for someone else?

It's not just a matter of going through - it's more like finding the strength to keep on. I had that strength, until everything went tumbling down, and I was about to go back up, proud, stronger, before I paused and really looked at what I was doing.

It is with heartfelt regret that I must put a stop to this. This has been an awesome experience that I wish I would have continued, but I know when I am beaten. My primary goal is, and should be, my health, both right now and when I'll be 80 years old. What I regret most is that I'll be part of the majority who failed this extreme schedule within two weeks. I started good, went downhill, and decided to stay there. It never was that I "couldn't handle it", but nonetheless, the outcome is that I failed.

One other thing. As I talked to people about this, I noticed I had a certain reluctance to express this decision. I was almost ashamed to admit defeat. I had the exact same feeling when I had to tell people that I was switching to being vegan. Why should I be ashamed of my own decisions? It's not as if they were not based on solid studies.

It's like religion. People usually don't like to change, and when someone talks to them about another way, they feel threatened.


Biphasism?
Will I really be interested in sleeping biphasically?

I could take a nap at noon, and sleep six hours at night. Let's be realistic, it's not for me. Even if I try really hard, I never was able to sleep during the day after I had a good night's sleep. I would have to slightly sleep-deprive myself, and right there, I would miss the point.

I could also tweak my sleep schedule and aim for REM and deep sleep. I could have a 1.5 hours sleep at the beginning of the night, and later have a longer 4.5 hours sleep. But, all that trouble to have an extra hour of free time? What about a nap at noon, and a night of 1.5h and 3.5h. That gives almost 5 hours of sleep. Is it really worth it, or is it just a toned-down version of what I've been doing for the pas week, that will become too much trouble for too little gain?


For now, I'll switch back to being monophasic, and aim for better sleep quality.