As those of you who know me in real life know, I have recently decided to undertake a transition to the Uberman Sleep Schedule. That link will tell you most of what there is to know about Uberman. If you don’t like reading, the following diagram somewhat summarizes it.
Circle is 24h. Red is asleep. Black is awake.
Basically, rather than sleeping ~8h at night, I’m going to be sleeping for 20-25 minutes every 4h. At first, the body violently resists this, because it does not know how to get any REM sleep while only sleeping in 20 minute stints. After a couple of weeks, though, the body can adjust to this and then actually becomes more rested since it actually gets 2 full hours of REM every 24h versus only about 1.5h REM on a regular sleep schedule.
I’ve given this past day (June 27th, 2011) the name “Day Zero”. I had a full night’s sleep last night—aside from my roommate’s phone waking me earlier than I’d intended—but I started my naps at noon, and have just finished my fourth (my midnight nap).
My nap schedule is: 11:30, 3:30, 7:30 (am & pm).
I’ll post abut Uberman at least daily for the first week or two, then after that it will depend on my state. My hope is that polyphasic sleeping will become my normal state (or close to it) by then and there won’t be many more anomalies to remark.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment! I have plenty of time now, so I should be able to answer it 😛
Malcolm
PS: My friend just sent me a link to this comic about sleep deprivation.
