So far, Polyphasic sleep: What kind of polyphasic sleep I am currently on, why I have decided to do it in the first place, how it has been working out so far
I've been sleeping in increments of 2 to 3 1/2 hours daily..
Typically, I sleep from 7:30 pm - 10pm.. And then again from 5am-8am.
For this type of sleep schedule, you need to allow your body to TELL YOU when it feels tired, rather than passing out because you think you should.. I say this obvious principle that I now abide by because it took me a while to abide by it! ... I wasted a bunch of time laying in bed after taking the 3 hour nap wondering "how much more time am do I need to lay in this bed before I finally go to sleep?" SLEEP when your body is ready!
Then, you might be asking:
How is this better than just going to sleep from 7:30pm -> 1am? or from 10:30pm -> 3:30am? or from 12am -> 5:30am?
- I am allowing my body to sleep early and regenerate energy from the day (pushing my mid-afternoon energy drop to a time when I can CAPITALIZE on it by falling right into a restful sleep
- At these points in time, I have not eaten anything in the past hour or two; my body doesn't need to focus on the digestion process
- An extra energy spike; I wake up from BOTH sleeps feeling refreshed, pushing me forward into my activities up until a time that I need sleep and then give myself that sleep in order to wake up feeling refreshed yet again.
- I actually feel energetic after only sleeping for 5 1/2 hours each day compared to feeling if only - just as energetic after sleeping for 8 hours
Why i've decided to go polyphasic:
You're probably expecting me to tell you that I went polyphasic because I want more time in my day.. Well, that's NOT the main reason why! SHOCKER, i know :P .. Though, it is an added benefit.
I decided to go polyphasic due to this idea in my head:
"Why sleep for 8 straight hours every day, to wake up energetic for 7 or 8 hours and then feel a gradual dump in energy that I need to suffer through or take a nap and then need feel like an insomniac at night when it comes to going to sleep?" <--- To me, there was no good reason for this sleep pattern! Why have I been following it all my life? I still have no idea!
"Okay, well... what is your day-time activity like? You must be sedentary because 5 1/2 hours of sleep sounds pretty low.."
I workout 2 days and 1 day off (4 or 5 times a week), right now I am taking a winter accounting course (involving 9+ hours out of class studying per day and 4 hours in class per day), and I work on the weekend... So, I'd say that i'm pretty darn active!
"Okay, well... what nootropics do you take" ; ) This is the only point that you can try to derail my regimen:
- First and foremost, I EAT a LOT (okay.. I know that food isn't a nootropic... but it's just if not more.. duh... important than one!!)
- Piracetam (1200mg twice or thrice a day)
- Noopept (10mg twice a day)
- Modafinil (right when I wake up the second round of sleep) <-- Usually @ 8am
- Gotu Kola (Twice a day)
And so far, melatonin and glycine are the two supplements I take pre-sleep in order to get a better sleep.
Right now I am working on sleep quality. I am going to try and make each sleep round centered upon one type of sleep (either REM or NREM sleep) .. I am going to do this by:
- Utilizing REM rebound (I will try to maintain NREM sleep the first round)
- By use different substances that increase the likelihood of one or the other..
For #2: So far i've decided that I will use:
- 5-HT in my first round of sleep (because it increases NREM deep sleep duration and decreases light sleep duration)
- Glycine in my first round (because it promotes NREM deep sleep duration)
- Alpha-GPC in my second round of sleep (because it supposedly increases REM sleep and decreases NREM sleep)
- Melatonin because it stimulates the body to start the sleeping process
Previous to now:
- I had not deciphered between the two sleep cycles
- I was shocked that I felt awake and energetic the whole day while only sleeping for 5 1/2 hours
- I've been using sleep cycle to see my sleep and for it to wake me up before I fall into deep sleep
- I've been using Pzizz (on and off) throughout the duration of my sleep .. Though, I've stopped recently because it's a pain with regular earphones (I need to get those headearphones) .. It is great though if I ever feel tired during the day and I want to take a 20 minute nap... Something I haven't needed to do since I started this regimen!
Now, we shall see the effects of segmenting the two sleep rounds by way of NREM and REM objective!
Edited by Zakariah, 09 January 2016 - 09:09 PM.