Everyman Sleeping Schedule - An account

[Nekxyu]

Suspenseful, isn't it? xD

I never got around to describing the end of Everyman. It was in the middle of a one-week vacation, and I was traveling a lot, moving around and having to miss naps all the time - I even missed a core! I was dead tired (almost as bad as day 3-5), and pretty much ready to call it quits.

So I grabbed one complete night's sleep; I was reaching a point, a physical barrier where you need a break before you can start trying to adapt again. And... it felt horrible, actually. I woke up naturally after 7 hours and I just felt really bad. Groggy. As if I'd just woken up from a bad party with lots of mixed drinks.

Well, groggy as I was, I couldn't sleep any more. I was actually horrified at this. I'm a person who loves to sleep in - had my experimentation robbed me of this ability?

Demoralized, I sat in front of my computer and started data-trawling the net for any data I'd missed on polyphasic sleep.

Well. And I found some. Apparently, all of my data has been slightly outdated. A new schedule has been discovered, called either SPAMAYL (Sleep Polyphasically As Much As You Like) or Freeman. I prefer Freeman.

Basically, you only ever sleep in 20-minute naps. But you nap whenever you feel like it, except 20-30 minutes must pass between naps. I found a forum thread where several persons detailed their attempts at this. Having nothing to lose, I decided to try it.

So I started grabbing naps whenever I felt like it. One or two oversleeps of an hour or two happened, but they actually had no major adverse effects. You sleep as much as you like, and apparently once fully adapted you only need 7-8 naps a day, though I still need 10-12.

Adaptation was... surprisingly gentle compared to Everyman. You never get really tired, because when you hit that intolerably tired threshold, you're always grabbing a nap. You're still tired, and at times staying up between naps in the early morning gets tough, but it was over all a saint compared to what I was used to.

I'm now almost two weeks into Freeman, and... I haven't been tired at all for two days. It feels goddamn strange. I'm experiencing some mild euphoric effects - overall, it feels like you're on top of the world. Only the world is rolling and you gotta keep your balance. In the start it takes a lot of getting used to; never sleeping more than twenty minutes at a time. You start flowing into one continuous stream of consciousness instead of a large gap being where your 8 hours normally are, and it can be overwhelming.

But there are other benefits: Freeman is ridiculously flexible. I was at a LAN party a few days ago. Before, I took three extra naps to prepare for being awake quite a lot longer than usual. Still, when we were done after 24 hours I was pretty goddamn smashed. So I decided to grab a sleep as long as I wanted. I slept for 9 hours straight, and then I got up, fresh as ever. It felt right.

And I just jumped straight back into the schedule; no adverse effects.

Reportedly, two of the people in that thread have gone for months with no problems. By now one of them will have hit a year.

So I figure this is what I'll be doing for the foreseeable future.

I hope that answered any questions you might have? If not, fire away

[JenDoon]

What job do you have, because I can't imagine many jobs where you can piss off for 20 minutes whenever you feel tired.

[Slide]

A job gets in the way of many things involving health.
There are nutricionists that claim that it's healthier to spread your meals throughout the day instead of having three meals.
Most people exercise in the evening, after work, way after their physical peak.
Quit your job, and you can't afford the food, the gym, etc.

Oh well. The streets aren't crowded by zombies yet, so I suppose it's not all bad.

[Nekxyu]

I have school; that means almost no naps for 9-10 hours in a single stretch. Sometimes I can grab a nap during a break, but usually not.

The schedule allows for pushing naps around like this; you get used to it after a while. It's very flexible. I can't imagine a work that would allow you to sleep monophasically that wouldn't work with Freeman.

[Terrog]

Isn't it hard to wake up after 20 minutes?

Also, have you completely given up your original schedule with 2-3 hours sleep?

[Nekxyu]

Yep, I've given the core nap up completely. And no, it really isn't that bad getting up after 20 minutes. In the start, you might just lie there unable to fall asleep, anxiously fearing your alarm and then it's easy getting up. If you actually fall asleep (about a 20-30% probability occurrence for me right now. Yes, I only sleep at about one fourth of my naps right now, and I still feel great Imagine when I really get to sleep! Yow!), getting up is slightly harder, but still far easier than getting up after 8 hours.

It gets a lot easier after some time, though, and you learn all these small tricks. If you're really tired when you get up, you go for a walk or a shower. You might leave out some food for yourself, or a cold drink of something delicious (milkshake, yummy ). Leave a music number ready for one-click-play on your PC, etc. etc.

[Xenn]

Really interesting thread, thanks for posting your experience. I have been sleeping polyphasic (ly?) for about three years now. I just sleep when I'm tired and wake up when I'm awake. No schedules, no timers. I don't work currently but that might be changing soon. It's been interesting. Lost a girlfriend because she freaked out, claiming I was a vampire. It's been funny. Feels good and natural but it is pretty incompatable with "normal" society. Definitely frustrating to not be able to get breakfast at 9pm at night and dinner at 6 am. One of the big drivers for me has been the night clubs here in Berlin. Loving techno as I do, it is challenging that a lot of times the best artists play at 5 in the morning. Probably won't last forever but it's been fun.

[Xenn]

PS have you heard about the Jawbone UP? - http://www.jawbone.com/up/product It just launched today, I really want to get one to track my sleep.

[Cheesey]

This is also known as the Da Vinci sleep system/cycle after the great man himself. He never slept for more than 20 minutes but did so regularly. Many years later we find that he was spot on for the REM etc.

Looking at the things he "invented" like the helicopter etc it shows it might have merit

[JenDoon]

This is also known as the Da Vinci sleep system/cycle after the great man himself. He never slept for more than 20 minutes but did so regularly. Many years later we find that he was spot on for the REM etc.

Looking at the things he "invented" like the helicopter etc it shows it might have merit

Is that so, old Da Vinci was a fan eh? My girlfriend is going to kill me when I try this.