Claire's Random Thoughts

I continued my everyman sleep schedule for a couple more days, but I have to admit, I definitely cheated a little bit, especially with my 5-6 hour core sleep session last night. Oh well, as I read online, you can gradually adapt to this schedule, unlike the Uberman schedule which is all or nothing. The reason for this is that the core sleep in the everyman schedule is what keeps you sane and out of the zombie state, which adapting to the uberman schedule causes.

Day 2:
Waking up from the core sleep this day was especially difficult. So, I cheated a little and I took my first nap approximately an hour after I woke up from the 3 hour core. I have to say, I was still rather disoriented after this nap. However, it did allow me time to get ready for class, so now I can dress well for my early morning class and look more awake, despite how I’m feeling. You know what the say, it’s better to look good than to feel good.

I walked outside in the cold, and that temporarily woke me up. So, I made it to my my Con West class on time and actually looked decent for once. I found it funny how I could never get a seat the first week, and now only about 60% of the seats are occupied. I guess that’s what happens in an 8am class with over 100 people where they don’t take attendance. I sat towards the back, because unfortunately, my normal scheduled nap time is currently the end of that class (hmm I might to amend the schedule if this poses as a problem later), so I got my 9am nap in! This one was far more effective than the first.

In my next class, Financial Statement Analysis, I was fully awake, functional, and participating! W00t! In fact, I felt better than I normally do in that class.

Then came the EGB (Economics of Global Business) test. Overall a somewhat difficult test, but I feel as if I were still mentally alert enough to get most of the heavy reasoning questions. There were a few mishaps on some conceptual questions, but if I had not been up late studying due to my new sleep schedule, I probably would have missed even more.

After EGB? Nap time again. Then, a couple hours of stress-free free time, then off to the gym. Dinner, shower, then nap. I felt like I need some stage 4 sleep to heal my muscles after the workout, so I decided to cheat an take a 90 minute siesta instead of a 20 minute nap. Then, my suite mate started shouting in the common room while I was in stage 4 sleep. GRRRR! I woke up groggy. Consequently, the rest of the evening was rather unproductive, and I went to bed again early enough to get over 5 hours of sleep. Yes, I cheated big time this day.

physical energy/fatigue – wasn’t so bad until I went to the gym and my exercise high wore off
memory and concentration – maybe my concentration and analytical ability went down slightly, but it should be alright. I was still able to reason through the EGB test…as far as I’m concerned
redness of eyes – not a problem yet
appetite/weight gain – smaller appetite than the first day, but still larger than normal

Day 3:
Oddly enough, I got more sleep the previous night yet this was my most tired day. Woke up tired, went to the first class tired, went to MCD tired, didn’t get my nap, and went to work. From now on, I’m going to take a nap somewhere in Tisch Hall before I go to work, since I’m always early for work anyway. Another reason I didn’t take a nap might have been that I already cheated during the core sleep. One thing I noticed was that sleep deprivation actually made me more interactive with the kids at work. In a way, my current sleep situation sometimes also causes a feeling of euphoria, although it’s not supposed to do that once I fully adapt.

After work, grocery shopping, corporate finance problem set (that I almost forgot about), then corporate finance. Then, Pricewaterhouse Coopers presentation. Energy level was lower than usual but bearable. Remember, at this point, still no nap. Maybe this day was a little too much of a deviation from the schedule due to the long core sleep cycle. But it’s alright, I’m adapting slowly.

After the presentation, first and only nap. This nap was surprisingly magically refreshing. I literally felt fully awake after that, and I still am now! Amazing! I did work on my essay for a while (which I still barely have anything written down for). Now, this update

So, it is clear that I have had fewer productive hours, but I also get to go to the gym and school events now without worrying about not having enough homework time.

Today’s variable monitoring:
physical energy/fatigue – less energy, but no fatigue. This could also be because I didn’t go to the gym.
redness of eyes – my eyes have definitely been a little more irritated today, especially during my finance class and the PwC presentation
appetite/weight gain – smaller appetite today too

Yes, I did officially complete the first day of my Everyman sleep schedule experiment. Now I’m going to take a study break and do an update on the experiment.

So far, I have noticed that the most difficult part is timing the naps so that they are exactly 20 minutes. Although this sleep schedule is practically a cure for insomnia due to exhaustion, it’s still difficult for me to estimate how long it will take to fall asleep so that I can set the alarm clock accordingly. Once, I also tried using the Placebo’s Sleep Track with Bose QuietComfort 3 noise cancelling headphones so that I would not be disturbed by awake (and normal) room/suite mates. If I can start falling asleep more easily, then the Placebo’s Sleep Track with Bose QC3 headphones would be ideal due to its perfect timing and noise reduction.

I have definitely noticed the significant increase in useful time. Four hours per day of useful time should be considered as follows:
In a typical day for the typical human being, 8 hours are spent sleeping.
Approximately 1 hour spent maintaining personal hygiene and otherwise preparing oneself for public appearance.
Let’s say that for a college student, approximately 4 hours a day, on average, are spent in class or en route to class.
Approximately two hours are spent eating, cooking, grocery shopping, or otherwise on food.
Nobody is completely efficient during transition time. So let’s allow 1 hour for dissipated transition time.
Therefore, 24-8-1-4-2-1 = 8 hours of useful time in a day
Thus, I am increasing my useful time by 50% with the four hours of sleep I am saving each day.

I fell asleep almost right away when I went to bed. After all, it was 3 am, and I was tired enough to crash.
I got up around my alarm set at 6 am and had a light breakfast consisting mostly of yogurt, fruit, and juice. After that, I began some productive work, and of course, still wasted a little time browsing the web, facebooking, chatting, etc.

I took my first nap around 10 am. Unfortunately, I found it a little difficult to fall asleep right away and get out of bed right away from this nap and spent about an extra 15 minutes lying in bed. With some more training, as I stated earlier, this should be less of a problem in the future.
After waking up from this first nap, I ate a second breakfast, with more substance, this time eggs and potato pancakes. Some more light productive work followed this, similar to the earlier morning productive work.
In the early afternoon, I was getting bored, so I decided to take a break and hit the gym. I ate another piece of fruit before going, so it would take me longer to get hungry during the workout. Due to the negative effects on the immune system sleep deprivation has, I have to eat healthier to compensate.

Wow, running hurts when you haven’t had enough sleep. This might be an issue later, which is why I’m monitoring fatigue. My heart rate was slightly higher than normal but I was still able to fit in a decent length workout.

Following my workout, I replenished with a 35g protein shake from Trader Joe’s. Those are awesome. I also bought healthy foods accompanied by some cookies. When I finally made it back to my room, I was pretty tired already, so I just took my shower, treated myself to a couple cookies and nuts, and my second nap.

After my second nap, I did a little more productive work, completing the first of two essays I have due soon. Since I was hungry again and it was not quite time for dinner, I ate a single slice of whole wheat bread with a little peanut butter, then killed a little time.

Then, dinner with Katie. Hey, I deserve some fun sometimes. Of course I discussed my current sleep schedule at the dinner table. After dinner? Nap time, again. Then, more cookies.

After the third nap? Studying for the EGB (Economics of Global Business) test. I still had quite a bit of reading left. Pomegranate juice on the side. I am writing this blog post to take a break from that.

Variables I am monitoring:
physical energy – I was no more tired than I am on a typical school day with 8 am classes
fatigue – well, my thigh is still sore now. Maybe this sleep system wasn’t designed for the physically active. I will address this issue again later as I continue my experiment.
memory and concentration – again, not any worse than a typical school day with 8 am classes
redness of eyes – should be ok if I’m not constantly wearing my contact lenses. I can just take them out and wear glasses when I’m sitting in my room sometimes

I am adding one more variable, appetite/weight gain:
I seem to be eating more than I normally do with frequent snacks, no surprise here. When doing my research, this was one of the potential problems listed. Ideally, the additional waking hours and healthier diet should balance it out, but I will have to wait at least a few days to see.

Ok, back to studying. The plan is to study until my core sleep time at 3 am, then write a rough draft for the Con West paper so I can submit something. Good thing the final draft isn’t due tomorrow, so I don’t have to stress over it yet.

I have always had a knack, or at least a strong interest in beating standard systems as well as maximizing efficiency. Historically, most of these systems have been related to money, but thanks to Robert (from my Org Comm group), who introduced me to the concept of the Uberman Sleep Schedule, I am tackling sleep, due to my new busy life as a Sternie. Theoretically, polyphasic sleep, allows people who are able to follow specific sleep patterns to maximize waking time with comparable energy.

The schedule that I have decided on, after some research, is the Everyman Sleep Schedule, due to its flexbility.

Monophasic vs. Polyphasic Sleep
First of all, monophasic sleep is the standard 8 hours of sleep at night for typical human beings. Well, sometimes, like this time, I insist on being different.
Polyphasic sleep just means splitting up sleep into multiple sessions in a day rather than the traditional monophasic 8 hours at night. Polyphasic sleep allows for fewer total hours spent asleep if a set schedule is followed properly. The theory is that we have two reserves of energy that sleep restores. The primary is used first and faster to replenish. The secondary, that causes a “second wind” to keep us awake after we are tired, takes much more sleep to replenish. Thus, if we only use the first reserve and sleep afterwards to restore this reserve, we need much fewer hours of aggregate sleep for the same amount of expended energy.
More on Wikipedia

The schedules I was looking at were the Uberman, Dymaxion, and Everyman
Uberman: One 20 minute nap every four hours for a total of two hours per day. No deviations allowed for schedule to be effective.
Unfortunately, this schedule isn’t really practical for me. The first problem is that I have classes for four and a half hours straight, plus transportation time. If I have to take a 20 minute nap every four hours, then that means I wouldn’t be able to do anything for more than 3 hours and 40 minutes straight.

Dymaxion: One 30 minute nap every six hours for a total of two hours per day. No deviations allowed in this one either without averse effects.
Leonardo Da Vinci followed this schedule. This sleep schedule is often also referred to as the Da Vinci Sleep Schedule. This one actually seems pretty awesome. It allows up to five and a half hours between naps which is enough for most of my daily activities. However, my events, especially social events, can’t always be planned around the naps. It seems like following this schedule may require sacrifice of many enjoyable events.

Everyman: One three hour “core sleep” session accompanied by three 20 minute naps. Small deviations are acceptable, according to my research. Four hours per 24 hour day total.
Finally, one that allows for a little flexibility. This one will cost an extra two hours per day, but at least following this schedule may actually be feasible. Basically, you can go to bed late and wake up early at the cost of looking for three 20 minute intervals during the day to rest.

It is evident that the Uberman and Dymaxion schedules, as efficient as they sound, may not be suitable for most people who wish to have some integration with modern society (yes, I do). The days and nights will literally roll on forever, which is almost a scary thought. Furthermore, these schedules have no allowance for deviations making it extremely difficult to plan daily activities around frequently needed naps.

Starting tonight, I will be following the Everyman schedule. I am aware that this schedule takes at least a week to adjust to, so I am prepared for some misery (along with misery of studying and school work) for the next week, if not longer.

My planned sleep times:
3 hour “core” from approximately 3am to 6am
first nap around 10am (I guess I could just nap in my Con West class on Mondays and Wednesdays…I did that when I was on a monophasic schedule anyway)
second nap around 3pm (I’m usually free around this time most days. If not, then slight deviations should be ok)
third nap around 9pm (This might vary slightly too if I’m going out to dinner or after dinner)

I will be monitoring and reporting on a few variables in this blog to see how this adjustment in sleep schedule progresses:
physical energy – can so little sleep really allow for a comparable level of physical energy?
fatigue level – how tired will my body be?
memory and concentration – will I be able to remain mentally functional?
redness of eyes – might be a problem since my contacts often irritate my eyes more when I’m tired

The real reason I’m doing this? Well, I procrastinated and have quite a bit of work to finish by Monday. Therefore, I would have to sleep less anyway to get some work done. Therefore, I might as well try to make my time saving sleep schedule permanent. Wouldn’t it be great if I could have 4 extra hours every day?

Ok, my alarm is set for 6am. I guess I’ll be going to sleep in about 3 hours. Meanwhile, I should get a little work done. I’ll report on how I’m feeling tomorrow.