Day 3
Day 3 started with a TOTAL fail. I was completely prepared to take my 12-12:20 am nap, 2 alarms set and all. Then I woke up at 6 am. My phone had died and I dont know what happened to my computer alarm. SHIT! (excuse the language) but thats how I felt! A 20 minute nap had turned into the biggest don't in every Ubermans list of things not to do: oversleep. I quickly contemplated if this is something I really want to do. I was so down on myself, I had gotten so far and was on the easy street to Uberman euphoria and felt this would seriously set me back.
But, I decided to not let myself get discouraged. A lot of people have set backs during the adaptation phase so my failure doesn't mean that I cant do this, it means im just human and make mistakes.
I quickly faced a dilemma. Should I deprive myself of sleep and not sleep for the entire day and get my deprivation/adaptation "zombeh" swagger back on or should I continue with 20 min naps every four hours, despite the fact that it might lead me to feel more rested.
I elected to do the latter because it would mean that I stuck to the schedule, and even though the naps werent fantastic and I didn't really feel like I needed them, I think it was a good choice to help continue to develop my new circadian rhythm.
Out of this, I was ironically rewarded with some tiredness at the end of the day and I "think" have had my best two naps between 12-12:20 and 4-4:20 this morning (the fourth day).
Something very odd and peculiar happened on both of these naps hence the "think they were good". On both of them I set up my alarms and very clearly remember myself falling asleep. However the odd part is that it SEEMS as if I only slept for maybe 5 minutes and then woke up and got back on the computer which Is actually highly plausible BUT considering how I approach my naps (closing my eyes for 20 mins even if I don't sleep) this is rather inconsistent.
An alternative explanation makes more sense to me. Perhaps I fell asleep, and was able to activate REM sleep which ran its course. After waking up I just got on the computer naturally. This would indicate that my program is being implemented very well.
But this is where the really weird part comes into play. In both scenarios, I hadn't realized I had awaken until my alarms went off. Its as if I had woken up but was still in a dream. Surely, if I was conscious, I would have realized that I hadn't slept the full 20 minutes and would have gone back to sleep or at LEAST cancelled the alarms so they wouldn't bother my roommate. But, I can't remember!
I'm going to try to see what happens in future naps, and I will post about it
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Day 2:
Oh yeah, now its starting to get difficult. The first 4 or 5 naps I took went relatively smoothly. But now I am really feeling tired before my 6th. I feel in a little bit of a haze, and my eyes feel strained. I am really hoping it doesn't get too much worse or I am really going to be a Zombeh!
Indeed the hardest was last night from 12-4 and even more so from 4-8. I was really afraid of dosing off, so I put in headphones and listened to half of an Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, tried playing pokemon silver on my computer but just found it boring (im a bit old for that now unfortunately), I did as much as I could to keep my mind stimulated so that I wouldn't dose off, even with headphones in it still felt like I might have. Something that I actually found that helped a lot was comedy skits on YouTube. They really made me take my mind of my tiredness and it made the time go by faster.
Both the 4am and 8am naps were just ok, Im not quite knocked out cold sleep yet, but maybe a 33%-40% of the way there
Another tip that I must share If you plan on doing this is to drink a TON of water. It promotes health and helps keep me from feeling sluggish. This morning Im drinking both Gatorade and Water
Oh yeah, now its starting to get difficult. The first 4 or 5 naps I took went relatively smoothly. But now I am really feeling tired before my 6th. I feel in a little bit of a haze, and my eyes feel strained. I am really hoping it doesn't get too much worse or I am really going to be a Zombeh!
Indeed the hardest was last night from 12-4 and even more so from 4-8. I was really afraid of dosing off, so I put in headphones and listened to half of an Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, tried playing pokemon silver on my computer but just found it boring (im a bit old for that now unfortunately), I did as much as I could to keep my mind stimulated so that I wouldn't dose off, even with headphones in it still felt like I might have. Something that I actually found that helped a lot was comedy skits on YouTube. They really made me take my mind of my tiredness and it made the time go by faster.
Both the 4am and 8am naps were just ok, Im not quite knocked out cold sleep yet, but maybe a 33%-40% of the way there
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| 3 Liters for Breakfast in=3 Liters for Lunch Out |
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Day 1
Day 1:
So there really isn't much information about Uberman on the internet, or at least much firsrt hand information (other than the blog by Steve Pavlina that everyone talks about) so I thought with all this extra time I have perhaps I can give another account of the Uberman Cycle's effects, and process.
I decided to do this rather impulsively actually. After a couple of days of pulling all nighters and my sleep schedule getting messed up I decided that perhaps now would be an easy time to adapt. Since I was already sleep deprived and because my mind wasn't as used to sleeping the traditional 8 hours at the same time every night perhaps I the process will go by quicker than 10-14 days. Im actually banking on this because that's about the time when midterms are and I need to study. Did I mention, that this really is not the right time to be doing this?
Anyway, my first nap was not a nap. I just lay down with my eyes closed for 20 minutes, it was actually difficult to fight the urge to open them even though I knew I was not going to fall asleep. I ended up checking my watch just as the alarm went off. The next four hours felt as if I had pulled an all nighter,which I had :) they started out great but I really started to fade at the end.
My second nap at 8 am, was a little more fruitful. I got into that nice trance like state, where the lines between conscious, irrational thought and nonsensical imagination are slightly blurred. I was enjoying it, but then the alarm went off before I thought it would! This is a good benchmark as it means that I fell into deeper sleep and that my perception of time changed. When I awoke I felt somewhat rested and still do...I anticipate this to fade as the next four hours pass
The biggest noticeable and obvious challenge now is finding things to do. Like I said I came into this with absolutely no plan. I spend most of my time on the computer, so I'm hoping that the gamma rays from my screen can keep me from passing out while I adapt, but if I run out of things do to on the net (god forbid) I will be at a loss. Perhaps studying might be something to try out. Something that I will be working on is both this blog and my video blog for studying abroad.
Here is Steve Pavlina's Blog:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/
So there really isn't much information about Uberman on the internet, or at least much firsrt hand information (other than the blog by Steve Pavlina that everyone talks about) so I thought with all this extra time I have perhaps I can give another account of the Uberman Cycle's effects, and process.
I decided to do this rather impulsively actually. After a couple of days of pulling all nighters and my sleep schedule getting messed up I decided that perhaps now would be an easy time to adapt. Since I was already sleep deprived and because my mind wasn't as used to sleeping the traditional 8 hours at the same time every night perhaps I the process will go by quicker than 10-14 days. Im actually banking on this because that's about the time when midterms are and I need to study. Did I mention, that this really is not the right time to be doing this?
Anyway, my first nap was not a nap. I just lay down with my eyes closed for 20 minutes, it was actually difficult to fight the urge to open them even though I knew I was not going to fall asleep. I ended up checking my watch just as the alarm went off. The next four hours felt as if I had pulled an all nighter,which I had :) they started out great but I really started to fade at the end.
My second nap at 8 am, was a little more fruitful. I got into that nice trance like state, where the lines between conscious, irrational thought and nonsensical imagination are slightly blurred. I was enjoying it, but then the alarm went off before I thought it would! This is a good benchmark as it means that I fell into deeper sleep and that my perception of time changed. When I awoke I felt somewhat rested and still do...I anticipate this to fade as the next four hours pass
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| Here is my Facade 8 hours in |
Here is Steve Pavlina's Blog:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/
Uberman Sleep Cycle
As of 5 hours ago I've decided to implement the Uberman Sleep Cycle as part of my sleeping routine.
Uberman Sleep Cycle consists of taking 20-30 minute naps every 4 hours, so 6 naps the end result=2-3 hours of sleep every day.
Through research on several Uberman Sleep Cycle blogs, as well as Yahoo Answers, Here's what I know about the Uberman Sleep Cycle:
1. The adaptation process is implemented exactly how the end result is: naps every 4 hours. One starts immediately.
2. Because of this, the adaptation period is infamous for being a very difficult process because the mind has to go through sleep deprivation before it can adapt and change its patterns.
3. Once adapted, it is most likely that an individual will actually experience more energy in their daily life
4. Becoming adapted, however doesn't seem to gurantee this as I've read accounts that it didn't work for some people
5. Obviously, this will lead to much more time on a persons hands...sometimes more than they know to do with.
6. This kind of sleep cycle is suited for people who can create their own schedules and have time for naps.
7. This is actually how animals and babies sleep
8. Many famous people like Leonardo Divinci, Napoleon, and Thomas Jefferson are believed to have implemented Uberman Sleep Cycles
9. You don't want to fall off schedule...ever.
So how exactly does this work?
Well, in typical 8 hour sleep, the mind goes through a process of becoming submersed in deeper and deeper sleep.
There are 5 stages of this, the 1st stage is basically full consciousness and the 5th stage is full on Rapid Eye Movement (or REM) sleep. Everything else falls somewhere in between.
The process flucuates between deeper and deeper sleep happens in two cycles of 4 hour stages with the second being more dramatic than the first. This is why, people sometimes wake up in the middle of the night feeling fully rested, and sometimes people only get 4 hours and feel fully rested, its because they have had some REM type sleep.
Anyway, the point is that the mind only needs the essential Deep REM sleep in order to function properly what the Uberman Sleep Cycle does is cut out all the flabby sleep and is based on just solely REM sleep. Once adapted ones mind goes straight into Deep REM Sleep.
So basically, the basis of advantage of the Uberman Sleep Cycle compared to regular sleeping is that your mind gets more deep REM Type Sleep than it does in Monophasic Sleep.
 |
| If this is what your looking for, your on the wrong page |
Uberman Sleep Cycle consists of taking 20-30 minute naps every 4 hours, so 6 naps the end result=2-3 hours of sleep every day.
Through research on several Uberman Sleep Cycle blogs, as well as Yahoo Answers, Here's what I know about the Uberman Sleep Cycle:
1. The adaptation process is implemented exactly how the end result is: naps every 4 hours. One starts immediately.
2. Because of this, the adaptation period is infamous for being a very difficult process because the mind has to go through sleep deprivation before it can adapt and change its patterns.
3. Once adapted, it is most likely that an individual will actually experience more energy in their daily life
4. Becoming adapted, however doesn't seem to gurantee this as I've read accounts that it didn't work for some people
5. Obviously, this will lead to much more time on a persons hands...sometimes more than they know to do with.
6. This kind of sleep cycle is suited for people who can create their own schedules and have time for naps.
7. This is actually how animals and babies sleep
8. Many famous people like Leonardo Divinci, Napoleon, and Thomas Jefferson are believed to have implemented Uberman Sleep Cycles
9. You don't want to fall off schedule...ever.
 |
| Yeah, this guy |
So how exactly does this work?
Well, in typical 8 hour sleep, the mind goes through a process of becoming submersed in deeper and deeper sleep.
There are 5 stages of this, the 1st stage is basically full consciousness and the 5th stage is full on Rapid Eye Movement (or REM) sleep. Everything else falls somewhere in between.
The process flucuates between deeper and deeper sleep happens in two cycles of 4 hour stages with the second being more dramatic than the first. This is why, people sometimes wake up in the middle of the night feeling fully rested, and sometimes people only get 4 hours and feel fully rested, its because they have had some REM type sleep.
Anyway, the point is that the mind only needs the essential Deep REM sleep in order to function properly what the Uberman Sleep Cycle does is cut out all the flabby sleep and is based on just solely REM sleep. Once adapted ones mind goes straight into Deep REM Sleep.
 |
| This is a Diagram for basic Monophasic Sleep, notice how the REM type sleep gets longer each time, with Polyphasic sleep it is the same everytime |
So basically, the basis of advantage of the Uberman Sleep Cycle compared to regular sleeping is that your mind gets more deep REM Type Sleep than it does in Monophasic Sleep.
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