Polyphasic Sleep: Day 8
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been having trouble sleeping during the evening, and I think that’s been causing some extra drowsiness during the early morning hours. Today, I intentionally took several short naps, spaced one hour apart, in a failed effort to dissipate this. I eventually decided to nap for over 90 minutes (the exact times are foggy in my mind), which seemed to do the trick. I think part of the reason for my insomnia was that, once I passed the “zombification” period, I just wasn’t tired enough to find the floor comfortable enough to sleep on. It worked well in preventing myself from oversleeping during Days 2 and 3, but during those days, I could have slept just about anywhere. The couch is inviting enough to put me to sleep even when I’m not exhausted, but not so cozy that I sleep through the alarms. So today, I officially upgraded to it, and the three naps I’ve taken since then have been extremely effective.
Unless something significant occurs (or I just feel like blabbing), this is going to be my last polynapping update for at least a few days. I’ll still keep updating the summary page, and I’ll probably write a descriptive summary at the end of each week, but there’s just not enough happening to warrant daily posts on this topic anymore. (Yes, that means you’ll get real content starting tomorrow. ;)) I feel I’m well past the physical adaptation; the next few weeks will be spent just getting used to the idea of actually living like this. I start a full-time job on Monday, so the real test will come then.
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How do you know you’ve adapted? Your blogs report some oversleeps, and you’re still sometimes tired. Do you dream, wake up before the alarm, etc? I’m really just asking becuase I need to know when exactly I’ve adapted as well..
The last unintentional oversleep was two days ago, and it was short enough not to be an issue. The 8-hour hibernation I took on Day 6 would’ve been the worst of it, but I was able to get back on track with the naps quickly enough that I don’t believe it was quite the disaster it seemed to be at first. Every extra nap I’ve taken in the past few days has been primarily to alleviate mid-morning grogginess, and that grogginess always comes following a missed or ineffective 3:30am nap. I’ve been remembering dreams from probably two or three naps each day, but am not yet at the point of consistently waking up before the alarm. There’s no “golden moment” when you know you’ve adapted; it all happens gradually. If you can go 2-3 days without oversleeping or feeling like a zombie, then you’re most likely past the low point.