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I have been transitioning towards the Dymaxion Sleep Schedule for quite some time now. This transition has had two stages.
I will call the first transition stage the "unintentional" transition stage. I slept between 8 and 11 hours consistently in high school. I believe that my dependence on sleep was a result of my parents' faith in sleep's ostensible benefits. For the first semester of college I continued rely on sleep. I quickly realized that sleeping 9 hours every night was not practical. By the end of my first year of college I was sleeping between 7 and 8 hours each night. At the beginning of the summer I decided that I wanted to experiment with sleeping less. Shortly after I arrived in China (June 14) I began sleeping for 6 hours each night with a 20-30 minute nap in the day usually around 2pm.
One day (July 5) about three weeks into my China Trip (July 5), I was checking my email when I whimsically decided to start researching Polyphasic Sleeping. I read Steve Pavlina's web page on Polyphasic Sleeping, and I was so interested that I could not look away from the screen for a few more hours.
I will call the second transition stage the "intentional" transition stage. After July 5 I decided that I had to try Polyphasic Sleeping to see if I could potentially use it for the rest of my life.
An example of a polyphasic sleeping plan is the one that Steve Pavlina and many others have used. It is called the Uberman Sleep Schedule, and it is a slight variation of the Da Vinci Sleep Schedule. The Uberman Schedule calls for 6 naps every 24 hours and 20 minutes of sleeping at each napping "checkpoint" (6x20min).
Many people have felt incredible alertness, energy, and focus while using the Uberman Sleep Schedule, but my research has led me to believe that the leading reason that Uberman Sleepers cannot sustain this schedule is its inflexibility. Uberman Sleepers must take a nap every four hours, so their longest continuous waking period is a mere 3 hours and 40 minutes. This 3 hours and 40 minutes also assumes that naps will be exactly 20 minutes long.
Furthermore, we cannot assume that a participant will be able to allocate those 3 hours and 40 minutes as effectively as he or she would like to. An Uberman Sleeper cannot expect to schedule a 3 hour and 40 minute activity because he or she will have to use a significant portion of that 3 hours and 40 minutes to wake up, go to and from the activity, return to his bed, set his alarm, and be able to fall asleep. I will refer to the wasted time attached to the waking preparations, transportation, and falling asleep preparations as "polyphasic logistics." So to reiterate, the polyphasic logistics make the waking window of an Uberman Schedule even smaller and more inconvenient.
I have chosen a plan that will give me more flexibility. It is called the Dymaxion Sleeping Schedule. This schedule consists of 4 naps for every 24 hour period with each nap lasting 30 minutes (4x30min). The amount of sleeping time is identical to that of the Uberman Sleeping Schedule. But, the 4x30min plan gives its participants 5 hour and 30 minute blocks of time.
I have set my sleeping times for 12:30pm (just after noon), 6:30pm, 12:30am, and 6:30 am. At each sleeping checkpoint I will sleep for 30 minutes. Since July 5, I have been following this schedule with one exception: at 12:30pm (just after midnight) I have been sleeping for 4 hours instead of 30 minutes. This strategy has enabled me to smoothly transition towards spacing out my sleeping time over a 24 hour period.
Since I have started this (4 hour a night plus 3 daytime naps) transition, I have felt much better than I expected. I usually feel incredibly rested and alert right after waking up from one of the 30 minute naps. I seem to have about a 2-3 hour period of focus, energy, and mental clarity. Then, as I approach the next napping checkpoint I often feel somewhat mentally sluggish.
I have been sleeping from 1am to 5am at night since July 5. It usually take me some time to feel oriented and alert after I wake at 5am. Then, from 6am-6:30am my brain starts to feel like it is in a haze. Nonetheless, I have not had a problem staying awake. Making sure that my room has plenty of light (both sunlight and artificial light) and taking periodic strolls around my suite have been very helpful tactics.
I have had absolutely no trouble at all staying awake until the daytime checkpoints. Actually, I have had some trouble in the last two days meeting my schedule on time. I often do not feel very tired, so I will get involved in what I am doing. Then, before I know it it is time to nap and I often start my nap a few minutes late.
I have been hampered by a very minor cold for the past week. I started feeling symptoms before my stage 2 transition, so I know that the cold has not been a result of the decrease in sleep.
Today, I cannot recognize any persisting cold symptoms, so I think that the cold has passed. With this increased strength, I plan to dive right into the unrefined Dymaxion Sleeping Schedule starting tonight.
For the last week (since July 5) I have been used to sleeping for 4 hours starting at 12:30pm each night. Tonight however, I will sleep for only 30 minutes at 12:30pm. The late night/early morning checkpoint is the hardest checkpoint for most people. I have heeded and will continue to heed Mr. Pavlina's advice from his Polyphasic Sleeping blog: I have been sleeping with a small covered lamp light on during the night. This strategy shrinks the difference in the amount of present light between the daytime naps and the nighttime naps. The circadian clock is the body's way of offering the brain information regarding the present conditions. When we sleep during the day our body is aware of the extra light even though we are unconscious. Then, it is much easier to arise from our naps. A "night light" of some sort similarly prompts the circadian clock to enable the brain to tell the body that it can awake without too much of a struggle.
I am a little nervous, slightly scared, and monumentally excited for the results of the upcoming days. Please share your thoughts and suggestions with me. I wish everyone the best.
-NEXT DAY
-HOME
-POLYPHASIC SLEEP
