Claire's Random Thoughts

I will treat my Everyman sleep posts as a series, only kind of in reverse order. Instead of having an index before the posts, I will make this final post on the topic the index.

Previous Posts:
1. My Polyphasic Sleep Experiment
2. Day 1
3. Days 2-3
4. Off, Then Back on Everyman
5. REM Naps Yet?
6. To Stick to Everyman or Not to?
7. My Life Now Vs. Last Year

I just realized that I never reported about what happened to my Everyman sleep experiment.

To make a long story short, I quit after about a little over a month after I began. To sum it up:

I can report that Everyman does not cause the increased alertness and energy the way people who have tried the Uberman schedule have reported. Unfortunately, since it’s a hybrid  between regular cycles and REM cycles, it does not appear to be extreme enough for the brain to produce this extra alertness. I wouldn’t try Uberman either, for reasons I have previously described. It does, however, allow one to have a few extra hours per day without feeling significantly more tired than he/she would feel after the traditional full night monophasic sleep schedule.

Reasons I quit:
I just want to enjoy being 21 years old. For this schedule to be effective, alcohol is forbidden.
Even towards the end, I had a little trouble controlling my diet. In the long run, this kind of schedule will probably cause someone like me to gain weight.
Some people I knew seriously thought I was insane, clinically insane (or on drugs).
I either have to sacrifice the schedule or a normal daily life (it was annoying when any event conflicted with nap time)

Switching back to monophasic sleep was definitely easier than the adaptation period from monophasic to Everyman. For the first few days, I often woke up after a few hours in the middle of the night. I then had to force myself not to take a nap during the day so I could sleep longer the next night. However, the switch back to monophasic sleep only took about four days to get on schedule and a week not to feel tired anymore.

If the Everyman schedule fits your lifestyle, then I would say, go for it! As for me? This was quite an experience. If my schedule permits, maybe I can go back to this in the future! Or more likely, I might experiment with biphasic sleep sometime. Keep posted for updates!

Wow, my life is so different right now compared to how it was just a year ago. If I didn’t transfer to NYU from SJU, I would probably still be on my old lifestyle.

By the way, I did go back to the Everyman Sleep Schedule. There’s just no way I can get everything done otherwise, especially with my daily commute time from Greenwich Hotel.

For starters, last year, I would probably be either watching a movie or TV or just chatting with Sarah, Athena, Clare, David, and Jeffrey. O’Connor Hall Suite 306 nightly after TV/movie gathering! Or, during the most productive days, we might have a “homework party” which was really just chatting.

Now, I’m reading ahead so I can be prepared for tomorrow’s Financial Statement Analysis lecture. That’s right, I’m reading ahead, something I would have never even considered considering just a year ago.

Just a year ago, I never opened a textbook. Now I’m electing to preview the material before class (for classes I like).
Just a year ago, I slept about 9 hours per night. Now, I’m on the Everyman sleep schedule.
Just a year ago, I thought my 9:10 am class twice per week was ridiculously early, and I often missed it when I couldn’t get up. Now I have no trouble making it to 8:00 am classes Monday through Thursday and 9:30 on Friday.
Just a year ago, virtually all time outside of class became free time. Now it’s networking, presentation, seminar, or group project time.
Just a year ago, I would hang out at Montgoris Dining Hall for hours with friends. Then, we would go back to the dorms and continue. Now, I grab something to go and eat while working on group projects.

Finally, just a year ago I had fun…now…

Well, it’s safe to say that I’m adapting to the typical life of an NYU Stern student. Sometimes I still miss my old laid back life with actuarial science major classes as the only thing requiring work. I just couldn’t keep it simple, continue with my full scholarship, and be an actuary, could I? Well, I value prestige, so I guess it’s prestige I’m getting and working for. I also have the reputation of making everything more complicated than necessary, and that’s definitely what I’m doing now.

I got 7 hours of sleep last night, and I was more tired today than ever. For the first time since I started this schedule, I had eye bags. Yes, that’s correct. I never once had eye bags in my adaptation phase. Then, I went and slept 7 hours and got eye bags.

Huh?
Well, they weren’t 7 quality hours, and everyman emphasizes getting quality sleep. The stupid Benadryl from the stupid allergic reaction acted as a sleeping pill and ruined the quality of my sleep. I doubt I even got a single second of stage 4 or REM sleep in those 7 hours.

Now I just want to oversleep because I’m so tired…
Nooooo…must stay up until scheduled sleep time…

By the way, on a side note, I think I’m switching over to the 4.5 hour core plus two naps for a little more flexibility. I simply can’t find fixed times i my schedule every day to take three 20 minute naps.

Lesson learned: Drugs that knock you out seriously screw up this schedule. However, I might still have to make an exception for my 21st birthday…

Hmm…my naps have been becoming weird. It appears as though my muscles fall asleep before my brain does. I could be thinking similarly to they way I do when awake, listening to what is going on around me, and dreaming simultaneously with my brain, but I will be unable to move my muscles. Are these REM cycles yet? But I heard that REM cycles were just supposed to consist of vivid dreams, which is not exactly what I’ve been getting.

To make a long story short, I’m on round two of the Everyman schedule. I’m thinking about giving it one more try, but I will probably only stick to it if I can turn the extra waking hours into productive time.

So, last weekend I decided I would sleep like a “normal” person again. This was due to the inconvenience of needing naps when I was around other people and the problem of not being allowed to have caffeine or alcohol. That’s right, no caffeine or alcohol allowed for Everyman sleepers, as those interfere with the quality of sleep.

Then, I had that 5 page paper due on Monday morning. I was supposed to be working on it while I was on Everyman sleep lol. That was part of the point of getting less sleep. So anyway, Sunday night/Monday morning got me back on the schedule involuntarily. Then, I couldn’t fall asleep again last night due to excessive noise. Now I remember another reason I started the Everyman schedule. I can’t go to sleep early anyway while everyone else in my suite is awake. Then, I have 8:00 am classes every morning while everyone else gets to sleep in. Since I can’t get more than 6 hours of sleep normally anyway, I might as well cut it down to three quality hours.