I've noticed the last several naps since yesterday have been very iffy (if that is a word). Frankly, I just haven't been tired when I need to go to sleep, and I've been lying awake (yes, I'm still going to bed at the scheduled times) until the alarm goes off. A couple of the naps were not in my normal resting place though, and that may have been part of the problem at least for those ones.
I finally got super tired around 12:30pm, and had the most wonderful nap. Feeling nice and refreshed again. Good thing, cause the phones have been off the hook this entire stinkin day!!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
30 Days on Uberman!!!
Woo Hoo! I am feeling about 90% adapted. Yesterday was mostly awesome and extremely productive. I'm excited about today.
Just woke up from my 1:30am feeling refreshed and went straight to work afterwords. Nap felt a lot longer than 20 minutes!!
Just woke up from my 1:30am feeling refreshed and went straight to work afterwords. Nap felt a lot longer than 20 minutes!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Day 29
Well, the first nap of the day (1:30am) I ended up laying awake the whole time. Wasn't tired in the least. I've also noticed that I have had problems before at this time going to sleep, although usually I still fall asleep at some point. I realized this might be why I have so many problems with my 5:30am. It's like I skipped a nap. I am planning on inserting a nap at 3:30am to see if this helps. Crossing my fingers.
UPDATE:
My theory worked! I slept like a baby at my 3:30am, and I just woke from my 5:30am feeling the most refreshed I ever have for a 5:30am nap. Feeling pretty darn good right now!!!
UPDATE2:
Almost a perfect day. The entire morning I was not tired in the least. I was extremely productive. In addition to getting a lot of regular work done, I also cleaned the kitchen and did a load of laundry. My 1:30pm nap gave me another nice long dream. Everything was perfect up until around 8:30pm, when I began to feel increasingly tired. This was a first, as I normally experience this in the morning and never at night. I had a hard time getting out of bed after my 9:30pm nap, and I was quite sleepy (also a first). I went back to work, and I had a series of micronaps from around 10:30pm - 12:30pm. I don't remember struggling to keep awake at this time, I think I just caught myself several times waking up. All of this very wierd, as this is usually one of my most productive times. I suspect that this might stem from the fact that I had a rather large dinner earlier this evening. Much larger than I normally eat. It is possible that this had something to do with it. Let's hope so at least!!
UPDATE:
My theory worked! I slept like a baby at my 3:30am, and I just woke from my 5:30am feeling the most refreshed I ever have for a 5:30am nap. Feeling pretty darn good right now!!!
UPDATE2:
Almost a perfect day. The entire morning I was not tired in the least. I was extremely productive. In addition to getting a lot of regular work done, I also cleaned the kitchen and did a load of laundry. My 1:30pm nap gave me another nice long dream. Everything was perfect up until around 8:30pm, when I began to feel increasingly tired. This was a first, as I normally experience this in the morning and never at night. I had a hard time getting out of bed after my 9:30pm nap, and I was quite sleepy (also a first). I went back to work, and I had a series of micronaps from around 10:30pm - 12:30pm. I don't remember struggling to keep awake at this time, I think I just caught myself several times waking up. All of this very wierd, as this is usually one of my most productive times. I suspect that this might stem from the fact that I had a rather large dinner earlier this evening. Much larger than I normally eat. It is possible that this had something to do with it. Let's hope so at least!!
Day 28
Well, it's almost been a month now. I still wouldn't say I'm completely adapted, but probably ~85% adapted. I say this because I still have periods of tiredness. Seem to mainly be during the 5:30am - 9:30am cycle, although it only seems to be for maybe an hour or 2. Also I continue to have bouts of oversleeps, but usually only for around an hour. It seems that no matter how many alarms I set for the 5:30am, I sleep right through them about every 2 or 3 days. I am trying to figure out something else that will get me up during that time.
Aside from this morning bout, things have been quite awesome! Full of energy for the rest of the day...so much so that I sometimes forget about the nap until the last minute. Definitely don't feel like I need them and go to bed wide awake. Somehow I still fall asleep fairly quickly. For the last couple of days, I've noticed that my 5:30pm nap seems to be especially refreshing, like I slept for several hours. I even woke up prior to the alarm going off during both of those naps. I really hope it will eventually feel like that for all of them. I will keep you posted.
Aside from this morning bout, things have been quite awesome! Full of energy for the rest of the day...so much so that I sometimes forget about the nap until the last minute. Definitely don't feel like I need them and go to bed wide awake. Somehow I still fall asleep fairly quickly. For the last couple of days, I've noticed that my 5:30pm nap seems to be especially refreshing, like I slept for several hours. I even woke up prior to the alarm going off during both of those naps. I really hope it will eventually feel like that for all of them. I will keep you posted.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Week 3
Week 3 started out much more difficult than I anticipated. Not that it was nearly as bad as the first week. Before the problem was staying awake. Lately, however has been a series of serious oversleeps. Beginning on Monday at my 5:30am (right after I had blogged earlier about how great a day it was), I succumbed to temptation by reasoning that I could sleep a few extra minutes by just waiting for the next alarm to go off (remember, I have a series of staggering alarms). So I hit snooze and thought an extra five minutes wouldn't hurt. Next thing I know it is after 12pm. I slept through all of my alarms, several phone calls, and several emergency pages (very very bad thing). When I did wake up, I realized I seriously screwed up, and reasoned that "oh well, I might as well enjoy the sleep", and proceeded to go back to sleep for another few hours. Tuesday, not suprisingly went quite well, since I no longer had any sleep dep in my system. I didn't sleep for a couple of the naps, but I was surprised that I was able to sleep for any of them.
Wednesday morning...I did the exact same thing as Monday. Slept till noon. Same exact issue as before - I thought it would be fine to sleep for just a couple extra minutes. It seems that the snooze button is your ultimate enemy when adapting. You get one chance to get up. If you miss it, you go into an ultra deep sleep for which nothing will wake you.
I knew that the oversleeps were going to set me back quite a bit, and not knowing how much is very agonizing. Because of both of these incidents, I was seriously tempted to quit and try again maybe a few months later. The stubborn side gave in though and insisted that I continue to keep to the schedule. Thank goodness I did. As of early Sunday morning, I have been on nearly perfect schedule, and feeling pretty great for most of it. The first 3 or 4 cycles after the oversleeps I got really tired, but wasn't really that bad. I had one small oversleep (1 hour) simply because I slept through all of the alarms. I was lucky that my wife woke me up, and I got up right away. All of the days I've been pretty good to go during my circadian low points (5:30 am - 13:30pm). I've been tired very little of the time. I surprised myself a couple of times, because I was forced to skip naps a couple of times, and there were a few other naps where I just laid there not sleeping at all. Afterwards I am usually tired (the times after I skipped a nap I was very very tired, but not zombie tired). I am very excited because I finally feel like I'm close to being adapted. My productivity has been pretty decent - by far the best since I started this.
I instituted another alarm on the computer in addition to the existing 4 alarms I already use because of Saturday's oversleeping incident. This one plays techno, and to turn it off I have to switch on the monitor and manually shut it off. I also started sleeping with the lights on in the morning naps.
A few of the latest naps I've noticed have been very refreshing. I feel very good and well rested after waking up. In fact the last one I took, I woke up before any of the alarms went off and felt quite nice. It would seem that the oversleeps from earlier in the week didn't really affect my adaption that badly, thank goodness.
Wednesday morning...I did the exact same thing as Monday. Slept till noon. Same exact issue as before - I thought it would be fine to sleep for just a couple extra minutes. It seems that the snooze button is your ultimate enemy when adapting. You get one chance to get up. If you miss it, you go into an ultra deep sleep for which nothing will wake you.
I knew that the oversleeps were going to set me back quite a bit, and not knowing how much is very agonizing. Because of both of these incidents, I was seriously tempted to quit and try again maybe a few months later. The stubborn side gave in though and insisted that I continue to keep to the schedule. Thank goodness I did. As of early Sunday morning, I have been on nearly perfect schedule, and feeling pretty great for most of it. The first 3 or 4 cycles after the oversleeps I got really tired, but wasn't really that bad. I had one small oversleep (1 hour) simply because I slept through all of the alarms. I was lucky that my wife woke me up, and I got up right away. All of the days I've been pretty good to go during my circadian low points (5:30 am - 13:30pm). I've been tired very little of the time. I surprised myself a couple of times, because I was forced to skip naps a couple of times, and there were a few other naps where I just laid there not sleeping at all. Afterwards I am usually tired (the times after I skipped a nap I was very very tired, but not zombie tired). I am very excited because I finally feel like I'm close to being adapted. My productivity has been pretty decent - by far the best since I started this.
I instituted another alarm on the computer in addition to the existing 4 alarms I already use because of Saturday's oversleeping incident. This one plays techno, and to turn it off I have to switch on the monitor and manually shut it off. I also started sleeping with the lights on in the morning naps.
A few of the latest naps I've noticed have been very refreshing. I feel very good and well rested after waking up. In fact the last one I took, I woke up before any of the alarms went off and felt quite nice. It would seem that the oversleeps from earlier in the week didn't really affect my adaption that badly, thank goodness.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Day 15 - BEST DAY YET!!!
Day 15 (Monday)
Starting the beginning of this day (which I consider starting after my 1:30am) I actually started getting productive. Up until this point, my productivity has been very low: from zero productivity to about 20% productivity at best. All of the sudden, I'm able to concentrate and focus on getting things done. Maybe not 100%, but definitely above 80%. All of my naps today I have woken up either completely refreshed, or completely refreshed within 5 min. At least a couple I have woken up before the alarm. One of the naps I woke up from with another 5 min to spare, so I went back to sleep...it felt so good to be able to do that. I do still feel like sleeping when my first alarm goes off, and I still battle the temptation to sleep until the next alarm. But I know the potential consequences of that and don't want to take the chance. Once I'm standing though, I'm good. Aside from some minor sleepiness in the mornings during my low period, I was great. I got a huge amount of work done, got my teeth cleaned, got a haircut. If every day went like this, I'd be thrilled. But supposedly it gets even better!!!
No dreams for previous 2 days. Also none of the weird psycadelic effects that other people claim they experience, such as time distortion. The days (and nights) seem perfectly natural for me. I think it might be due to the fact that my body clock was already seriously screwed up to begin with, and I very typically spent many of my nights awake and doing stuff, and sleeping during a good portion of the normal day. So perhaps I'm just already used to it. Also, I very rarely dreamed before, and so even a few dreams in this short period of time is significant for me.
Well, my 1:30am is coming up, and I'm starting to feel a little sleepy, so until next time...
Starting the beginning of this day (which I consider starting after my 1:30am) I actually started getting productive. Up until this point, my productivity has been very low: from zero productivity to about 20% productivity at best. All of the sudden, I'm able to concentrate and focus on getting things done. Maybe not 100%, but definitely above 80%. All of my naps today I have woken up either completely refreshed, or completely refreshed within 5 min. At least a couple I have woken up before the alarm. One of the naps I woke up from with another 5 min to spare, so I went back to sleep...it felt so good to be able to do that. I do still feel like sleeping when my first alarm goes off, and I still battle the temptation to sleep until the next alarm. But I know the potential consequences of that and don't want to take the chance. Once I'm standing though, I'm good. Aside from some minor sleepiness in the mornings during my low period, I was great. I got a huge amount of work done, got my teeth cleaned, got a haircut. If every day went like this, I'd be thrilled. But supposedly it gets even better!!!
No dreams for previous 2 days. Also none of the weird psycadelic effects that other people claim they experience, such as time distortion. The days (and nights) seem perfectly natural for me. I think it might be due to the fact that my body clock was already seriously screwed up to begin with, and I very typically spent many of my nights awake and doing stuff, and sleeping during a good portion of the normal day. So perhaps I'm just already used to it. Also, I very rarely dreamed before, and so even a few dreams in this short period of time is significant for me.
Well, my 1:30am is coming up, and I'm starting to feel a little sleepy, so until next time...
Days 12-14
Day 12
Friday 5:30am nap I had another oversleep. It started simply enough: "I'll wait till the next alarm goes off" (I have multiple series of alarms in 5 min increments). Didn't hear the next set of alarms go off. I woke up naturally a few hours later, and thought shoot, I screwed up...might as well enjoy it, and proceded to sleep until 12:30 for a total of 7 hours. The dejection you feel after everything you put in is very strong, and I can definitely understand why many people give up around this point, as you really do feel it is hopeless. Fortunately, my reasons for doing this motivated me to just keep trying, and so I went to bed an hour later in order to keep to the schedule, despite my not being tired at all. No sleep, but very relaxed. All the naps afterwards went fine. I was pleasantly surprised that I felt completely fine for the rest of the day, as opposed to the previous oversleep where I was beyond zombie mode.
Day 13
Ok, Saturday is the day to pay for my mistake yesterday. I was tired the entire day. Not a zombie, but many hours just standing in front of the clock waiting for bed time. Mostly just tried watching TV or going for walks, trying to force myself to keep awake. I did have dreams for 2 of the naps, although I didn't get any 'refreshed' feeling afterwards. Just a miserable day really.
Day 14
Sunday went surprisingly well. I was up and at'em for most of the day. Very energetic. Even my low points (mid morning till early afternoon) were pretty good for at least half of the cycle. The last half of each of the low cycles were difficult, but doable. I'm definitely feeling encouraged by the way today went.
Friday 5:30am nap I had another oversleep. It started simply enough: "I'll wait till the next alarm goes off" (I have multiple series of alarms in 5 min increments). Didn't hear the next set of alarms go off. I woke up naturally a few hours later, and thought shoot, I screwed up...might as well enjoy it, and proceded to sleep until 12:30 for a total of 7 hours. The dejection you feel after everything you put in is very strong, and I can definitely understand why many people give up around this point, as you really do feel it is hopeless. Fortunately, my reasons for doing this motivated me to just keep trying, and so I went to bed an hour later in order to keep to the schedule, despite my not being tired at all. No sleep, but very relaxed. All the naps afterwards went fine. I was pleasantly surprised that I felt completely fine for the rest of the day, as opposed to the previous oversleep where I was beyond zombie mode.
Day 13
Ok, Saturday is the day to pay for my mistake yesterday. I was tired the entire day. Not a zombie, but many hours just standing in front of the clock waiting for bed time. Mostly just tried watching TV or going for walks, trying to force myself to keep awake. I did have dreams for 2 of the naps, although I didn't get any 'refreshed' feeling afterwards. Just a miserable day really.
Day 14
Sunday went surprisingly well. I was up and at'em for most of the day. Very energetic. Even my low points (mid morning till early afternoon) were pretty good for at least half of the cycle. The last half of each of the low cycles were difficult, but doable. I'm definitely feeling encouraged by the way today went.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Day 11 - part 2
Well my 5:30pm nap didn't include any dreams, however this is the first nap where I woke up completely refreshed. I didn't require any time to get going after this nap. I went straight into work, feeling like a million bucks. I will definitely continue to allow myself to fall asleep 5 min earlier than I was (up to 24 minutes of sleep, as it always takes 1-3 minutes for me to fall asleep). I can only hope that this is what I feel like after every nap after I'm fully adapted. Crossing my fingers...
9:30pm and 1:30am naps were typical wake up scenario. Would really like to continue sleeping, but I get up anyways. No dreams. About 10-20 minutes to boot up.
9:30pm and 1:30am naps were typical wake up scenario. Would really like to continue sleeping, but I get up anyways. No dreams. About 10-20 minutes to boot up.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Day 11 - BREAKTHROUGH
Really tired (as usual for late morning and early afternoon). BREAKTHROUGH - I just had my first long dream after my 1:30pm. As far as it being extremely vivid, I wouldn't say that, but I do recall some very minute (even trivial) details. Also, I would say it was several dreams or at least scenes. When I woke up, I didn't instantly remember them...I just knew I had a dream. I had to sit down and think about what I was dreaming about, and then it finally started flooding in piecemeal. I finally broke out a notebook to make some notes on the dream, as I know this is good practice for lucid dreaming, of which I am interested in. I very rarely remember my dreams on monophasic schedule (maybe a few dreams a year), so this is big for me.
I did not, dissappointingly get the super refreshed feeling that others speak about after having dreams, although I did get going a little faster than normal. As I thought about the dreams, it occurred to me that 20 minutes was an awfully short time to experience all of those dreams...I would have guessed maybe a couple of hours to dream what I did. So that was cool. Just wish I could have felt that way as soon as I got up.
One possible reason for the dreams this time around is that I crashed during my 5 min "get relaxed and sleepy time" before the official 20min nap. Usually I read or just chill until it's time. I am going to try 25min naps to see if that makes a difference in my dreaming.
I'm looking forward to the evening, where I start feeling totally energized.
I did not, dissappointingly get the super refreshed feeling that others speak about after having dreams, although I did get going a little faster than normal. As I thought about the dreams, it occurred to me that 20 minutes was an awfully short time to experience all of those dreams...I would have guessed maybe a couple of hours to dream what I did. So that was cool. Just wish I could have felt that way as soon as I got up.
One possible reason for the dreams this time around is that I crashed during my 5 min "get relaxed and sleepy time" before the official 20min nap. Usually I read or just chill until it's time. I am going to try 25min naps to see if that makes a difference in my dreaming.
I'm looking forward to the evening, where I start feeling totally energized.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Day 10
Well day 10 started out decently enough, but I had a major mishap at my 5:30am. I woke up just fine, but after getting out of bed, I thought it would be nice to just rest until the next alarm which was in 5 minutes. Big Mistake! Ended up sleeping till around 9:30, woke up, realized what I had done, and then went back to sleep for another 3 hours. This was so incredibly frustrating, as I felt like I had been doing such a good job. It didn't occur to me until much later that this may have been because I had to delay a nap by an hour a few cycles earlier. I kind of doubt it, but it is something to note in case I discover a pattern. If I delay a nap and I oversleep the next day, I will know that delaying the nap was the base cause.
Anyways, I continued on with the schedule, even though I didn't sleep during the next cycle. One nice thing was the fact that I felt totally refreshed and recharged, versus the last time I overslept, which caused me to become worse than a zombie. I am sure this will set me back some, and it sucks not having a clue how much, or when the adaptation will be over.
Oh well...on to day 11...
Anyways, I continued on with the schedule, even though I didn't sleep during the next cycle. One nice thing was the fact that I felt totally refreshed and recharged, versus the last time I overslept, which caused me to become worse than a zombie. I am sure this will set me back some, and it sucks not having a clue how much, or when the adaptation will be over.
Oh well...on to day 11...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Day 9
Nighttime went well as usual for me. I've always been extremely nocturnal, and so staying up at night has always been pretty easy. On the other hand, I'm definitely NOT a morning person, and this was evidenced by this morning. The 5:50-9:30 session was not bad, just tired. After 9:50 I was even more tired upon getting up. Fortunately I had a meeting, so I didn't have to work to stay up. 1:30pm was harder still, and it was difficult to stay awake. The temptation is very strong to go back to bed. Even stronger to just sit down on the couch for a little. I know exactly what happens if I do sit down though. I HAVE to be standing or walking. Even leaning on things is a big no no.
All this being said, it is still much easier to deal with than being a zombie. This is at least doable. The most challenging thing is not to relax right after you get up from bed, or you will fall asleep. I've noticed that usually, the temptation to go to bed dissapates in about half an hour (even though you may still be tired). As I write this at 4pm, I am very tired and looking forward to my nap, and knowing (hoping) that I will be much better this evening.
All this being said, it is still much easier to deal with than being a zombie. This is at least doable. The most challenging thing is not to relax right after you get up from bed, or you will fall asleep. I've noticed that usually, the temptation to go to bed dissapates in about half an hour (even though you may still be tired). As I write this at 4pm, I am very tired and looking forward to my nap, and knowing (hoping) that I will be much better this evening.
Day 8
After returning from the party, I stayed up watching tv and browsing the internet until my 5:30am nap. I was really tired by that point, and remember thinking that I really just wanted to go to bed for real and not have to get up in another 20min. Well, I got my wish, as I didn't wake up till my wife woke me up 2.5 hours later. She asked me if I was supposed to be sleeping, and when I realized what happened, I let out a Sh*%!! I quickly got up, and just as quickly, I became an instant zombie. But zombie really isn't even the word to describe what I was after oversleeping. My face was distorted, I couldn't shut my mouth. My wife kept asking me the same questions over and over, but all I could let out was a small incoherent noise. I went into a near constant microsleep for the next several hours, just going in and out of consciousness, despite my walking around, eating, drinking, taking the dogs out. A neighbor saw me and knew something was wrong, and kept trying to talk to me, but I once again could not let out more than a grunt. I shook my head when she asked if I was sick, and that seemed to appease her. My wife was doing everything she could think of to keep me awake...she even suggested I eat wasabi, as she knows that I detest it, and I didn't want to make myself even more miserable than I already was. She suggested soaking my feet in a tub of cold water while we watched a sitcom (Samantha Who?) together. Even with that, I went in and out, and didn't have a clue about what I was watching. This was definitely the worst of all of them, and it was because I overslept!! Def don't want to oversleep again!!
After the 5:30am nap, which I overslept by maybe half an hour, I seemed ok...tired, but definitely functional. The rest of the day went great after that, with schedule intact, full of energy.
After the 5:30am nap, which I overslept by maybe half an hour, I seemed ok...tired, but definitely functional. The rest of the day went great after that, with schedule intact, full of energy.
Day 7
Day 7 was pretty awesome! All of my naps were on time, and I was full of energy for the most part. There was about a 1.5 hour period that was rough, from around 12pm-1:30pm. I wouldn't say I was a zombie by any means, but I definitely had to stand and keep moving to keep myself from falling asleep. Man, the time goes by so amazingly slow during those periods! After the nap, I was awesome again. Still no dreams. In the evening we had a party to go to, and it would take up about 3 nap cycles. The first nap I had to take in the car with 3 other people in there and talking. I downloaded the polynaps for just this occassion. I don't know how much/or if I got any sleep during that one, but I was fine afterwards. I ate dinner and later partied like normal...I'm a complete freak on the dance floor. I left in the middle to take my 9:30 nap. I overslept by 5 or ten minutes cause I didn't hear the alarm, but fortunately my wife woke me up. That one was a good sleep, and I was full of energy just a few minutes after waking, and back to hard core dancing. Someone even stopped me and asked how I had so much energy to dance as hard and as long as I do!! My 1:30 nap was also nice. Left shortly after, and I drove home, which I wasn't originally planning to do, but my wife was super tired, whereas I was chock full of energy. I just can't believe I haven't had a normal nights sleep in nearly a week.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Day 7
Ok, so far, off to a good start. I was very worried that the 1:30am lack of sleep would affect my next nap. It didn't...I got up immediately, and it wasn't that bad. I've been dreading this morning for the rest of the day yesterday, but after getting up, I started making oatmeal, and I ate while catching up the rest of the blog entries. Let's see how that goes...
Wow! My 5:50am-9:30am cycle has been awesome! I feel totally energized, and actually got a few things done (including this blog). I went in to this cycle expecting it to be hell, and look what happened! Knock on wood...let's see how 9:50am-1:30pm goes.
One thing that has had me concerned is the fact that I still haven't had any dreams yet. It seems like most people start having dreams around day 5. This might however be attributable to the 3rd day oversleep, so my day 7 might actually be more like day 4. I am SOOOO looking forward to the dreams, and probably more importantly, the feeling of sleeping for a couple of hours instead of the 20min I am actually getting.
Wow! My 5:50am-9:30am cycle has been awesome! I feel totally energized, and actually got a few things done (including this blog). I went in to this cycle expecting it to be hell, and look what happened! Knock on wood...let's see how 9:50am-1:30pm goes.
One thing that has had me concerned is the fact that I still haven't had any dreams yet. It seems like most people start having dreams around day 5. This might however be attributable to the 3rd day oversleep, so my day 7 might actually be more like day 4. I am SOOOO looking forward to the dreams, and probably more importantly, the feeling of sleeping for a couple of hours instead of the 20min I am actually getting.
Days 2-6
So the first couple of days were pretty much what I expected. A constant feeling of tiredness, as if I had stayed up all night. I did not have any problems with going to sleep, although I did give myself an extra 5 minutes to go to sleep prior to the official 20 minute nap.
I decided it would be in my best interest to quit caffeine/energy drinks during my adjustment. This in itself is a major feat, as I have a serious addiction to both, drinking at least a pot and a half a day of French Roast (bold) coffee. I would say for the first 3 days I suffered many headaches which I suspect were more from caffeine withdrawals rather than sleep withdrawals. It certainly does not make it easier. I have substituted decaf for regular, however, as the hot drink does help to keep me awake still (I never thought I would ever find myself drinking decaf!)
One of my biggest worries has turned out to be not so bad for me...waking up. With normal sleep, I am the snooze button king, often times finding myself pressing it until the alarm doesn't even go off anymore. I came across Steve Pavlina's wake up fast method, and decided to do wake up drills prior to my actual sleep, and I really do think that that helped. For the first 4 days, for about 10 minutes prior to going to bed, I did mock wake ups by setting the alarm for 2 minutes and then practicing getting up. I would actually doze off during those 2 minutes, but I was still clear enough to go through the drill.
Day 3 - my first oversleep. Yep, it was bad too - around 12 hours. Even after waking up after several hours and realizing that I had overslept, I still decided to keep sleeping. I knew it would throw the whole thing out of whack, but I didn't care at the moment. I felt great and well rested for the rest of the day. Of course, afterwards I felt guilty and immediately resumed the nap taking. Even though the next nap was just a couple of hours away, I still managed to fall asleep immediately. That was nice. I do wonder how much this has set me back. I guess I am probably starting from scratch, although I will continue to count it from when I originally started. I am sure, however that I will be about 2-3 days behind the normal adaptation process.
Day 4 was the easiest so far. This may have simply been because of the great sleep I had gotten the day before. There was a bit of zombie mode in the morning, but that quickly went away. I remember thinking about how excited I was that I was probably past the hump because I felt remarkably good. In the afternoon I had another oversleeping episode, although this one was only about 3 hours. I slept through my alarms. I set 3 alarms on my cell phone to go off in 15 minute increments. The alarm is pretty loud and annoying, and I set the phone far enough away so that you have to get up to turn it off. I don't think I sleepwalked to turn them off, but I had no memory of the alarms going off. I immediately added two more alarms to my repertoire...a vibrating pillow alarm, and a computer alarm that will play some energy inducing music.
Day 5 just sucked. At least parts of it did. Morning I was just a vegetable. Ok, so this is zombie mode. All I could think about was keeping awake and when my next nap was. I realized I couldn't sit at the computer without beginning to nod off, and then later realized ANY sitting will cause me to start nodding. So I've spent pretty much the whole day today standing. My feet and legs are sore by the end of the day. Pretty much the rest of my body is starting to get sore as well - definitetly noticing it in my back. The dogs are just loving the super long walks. I'm getting tired of walking though. I started ironing my shirts while watching movies to pass the time. That seems to do the trick for me. After the movies, I seem to be ok. It seems that morning was the worst of it, as afternoon and evening were actually fine. In fact, there were several points where I was completely wide awake and energized and in a terribly good mood, so that was nice.
Uuugghhh, Day 6 morning made yesterdays morning look like a walk in the park. I wanted to go back to sleep so bad this morning, but forced myself up. From 5:50 - 9:30 I was in zombie hell. I don't know how many walks I went out for, but I was definitely microsleeping during the walks. I kept walking into things. Or just stopping on the sidewalk and staring. Once I found myself in front of the dumpster not having a clue how I got there. I was completely dissoriented and didn't have a clue where I was. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was at the dumpster right next to my house. My body and legs were soooo sore from all the walking and standing. Sitting was definitely out of the question. The next nap seemed to take forever to get here, and when it did come, it seemed like it was never even there, and I needed to go through it all over again. Fortunately, I slowly went from zombie to just very tired. I was able to sit on the couch to watch movies in the afternoon. I found that if I sit on the edge of the couch, I am not as likely to start dosing as I would if I completely relaxed on the couch. By evening, I was completely fine. In fact, my 1:30am nap I had trouble falling asleep for, so I just laid in bed. I suspect that eating a few crackers about 10 minutes prior to bedtime had something to do with that, so no more eating an hour before bedtime (didn't mom teach me that??) Also, the power supply in my computer started making noise, so I found myself getting up a few times to get it to shut up...to the point of actually opening it up. So much for that nap, huh?
I decided it would be in my best interest to quit caffeine/energy drinks during my adjustment. This in itself is a major feat, as I have a serious addiction to both, drinking at least a pot and a half a day of French Roast (bold) coffee. I would say for the first 3 days I suffered many headaches which I suspect were more from caffeine withdrawals rather than sleep withdrawals. It certainly does not make it easier. I have substituted decaf for regular, however, as the hot drink does help to keep me awake still (I never thought I would ever find myself drinking decaf!)
One of my biggest worries has turned out to be not so bad for me...waking up. With normal sleep, I am the snooze button king, often times finding myself pressing it until the alarm doesn't even go off anymore. I came across Steve Pavlina's wake up fast method, and decided to do wake up drills prior to my actual sleep, and I really do think that that helped. For the first 4 days, for about 10 minutes prior to going to bed, I did mock wake ups by setting the alarm for 2 minutes and then practicing getting up. I would actually doze off during those 2 minutes, but I was still clear enough to go through the drill.
Day 3 - my first oversleep. Yep, it was bad too - around 12 hours. Even after waking up after several hours and realizing that I had overslept, I still decided to keep sleeping. I knew it would throw the whole thing out of whack, but I didn't care at the moment. I felt great and well rested for the rest of the day. Of course, afterwards I felt guilty and immediately resumed the nap taking. Even though the next nap was just a couple of hours away, I still managed to fall asleep immediately. That was nice. I do wonder how much this has set me back. I guess I am probably starting from scratch, although I will continue to count it from when I originally started. I am sure, however that I will be about 2-3 days behind the normal adaptation process.
Day 4 was the easiest so far. This may have simply been because of the great sleep I had gotten the day before. There was a bit of zombie mode in the morning, but that quickly went away. I remember thinking about how excited I was that I was probably past the hump because I felt remarkably good. In the afternoon I had another oversleeping episode, although this one was only about 3 hours. I slept through my alarms. I set 3 alarms on my cell phone to go off in 15 minute increments. The alarm is pretty loud and annoying, and I set the phone far enough away so that you have to get up to turn it off. I don't think I sleepwalked to turn them off, but I had no memory of the alarms going off. I immediately added two more alarms to my repertoire...a vibrating pillow alarm, and a computer alarm that will play some energy inducing music.
Day 5 just sucked. At least parts of it did. Morning I was just a vegetable. Ok, so this is zombie mode. All I could think about was keeping awake and when my next nap was. I realized I couldn't sit at the computer without beginning to nod off, and then later realized ANY sitting will cause me to start nodding. So I've spent pretty much the whole day today standing. My feet and legs are sore by the end of the day. Pretty much the rest of my body is starting to get sore as well - definitetly noticing it in my back. The dogs are just loving the super long walks. I'm getting tired of walking though. I started ironing my shirts while watching movies to pass the time. That seems to do the trick for me. After the movies, I seem to be ok. It seems that morning was the worst of it, as afternoon and evening were actually fine. In fact, there were several points where I was completely wide awake and energized and in a terribly good mood, so that was nice.
Uuugghhh, Day 6 morning made yesterdays morning look like a walk in the park. I wanted to go back to sleep so bad this morning, but forced myself up. From 5:50 - 9:30 I was in zombie hell. I don't know how many walks I went out for, but I was definitely microsleeping during the walks. I kept walking into things. Or just stopping on the sidewalk and staring. Once I found myself in front of the dumpster not having a clue how I got there. I was completely dissoriented and didn't have a clue where I was. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was at the dumpster right next to my house. My body and legs were soooo sore from all the walking and standing. Sitting was definitely out of the question. The next nap seemed to take forever to get here, and when it did come, it seemed like it was never even there, and I needed to go through it all over again. Fortunately, I slowly went from zombie to just very tired. I was able to sit on the couch to watch movies in the afternoon. I found that if I sit on the edge of the couch, I am not as likely to start dosing as I would if I completely relaxed on the couch. By evening, I was completely fine. In fact, my 1:30am nap I had trouble falling asleep for, so I just laid in bed. I suspect that eating a few crackers about 10 minutes prior to bedtime had something to do with that, so no more eating an hour before bedtime (didn't mom teach me that??) Also, the power supply in my computer started making noise, so I found myself getting up a few times to get it to shut up...to the point of actually opening it up. So much for that nap, huh?
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