Polyphasic – engage

Let me start off by saying that my life heretofore has been an experiment in sleep deprivation. I don’t sleep very well and constantly wake up during the night. During these waking episodes, I’ll usually grab a snack and watch some TV – not a good thing especially for a Type-II diabetic

A few years back, I experimented with a polyphasic sleep pattern (the Uberman cycle) while working at home. There are 6 naps spread equally throughout the day. I continued the pattern for 2 months, but had to cease when I went back to a traditional office job.

I just took a job with Learning Earnings, and I’ll be working at home most of the time. There will be the occasional client meeting, collaboration session, or video shoot, but most of my work life will be spent hammering out new features using a LAMP stack of tools. Perfect time for another run at polyphasic sleep. This go-round, I’ll be taking my “naps” at 8,12 and 4 (and 8, 12 and 4).

Right now, it’s “day” 2. I started polyphasic sleep yesterday (6-Jun-2010). Most of my sleep cycles have gone well, but yesterday I ended up sleeping for the entire 4am to 8am cycle. I’m going to chalk that up to the boundary condition of starting the cycle. If I’m still sleeping for 4 hours at a stretch by next week, I’ll have to seriously consider curtailing this experiment.

So far, I’ve felt fine. I’ve wanted to lay back down and catch a few more minutes of sleep, but that’s to be expected during this first week of of the cycle. Onward and upward.

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