Dymaxion Sleep Experiment - Sleeping 2 hours a day - Page 5

Today I decided to finally try out the sleep schedule I have been researching for awhile. To put it shortly dymaxion sleep method is a form of polyphasic sleeping (sleeping multiple times a day.) what the goal result is is that instead of sleeping 8+ hours a day every night I will be sleeping 30 minutes at a time 4 times a day (A total of 2 hours per 24 hours). I'm doing this naturally for the extra 6 hours of time every day and because it is an effective way to experience more lucid dreaming and remember your dreams more often because the entire point of the short naps is to go directly into REM sleep.

Anyway, today was day 1 with no real prep, I was running off a little less sleep than I probably normally was at; overall though, nothing special just setup my schedule and started.

The times I decided to sleep were the following:

3:15 until 3:45 both AM / PM
and
9:15 until 9:45 both AM / PM

I chose these times purely because they fit my spring 2014 college semester schedule. If I had no daily occupations I would probably go for the easier uberman method of six 20 minute naps a day.

Anyway nap #1 @ 3:15 was a bit of a bust, I was a little excited to get started and I normally sleep around 8AM so naturally I couldn't fall asleep but I wasn't very worried due to not sleeping at that time normally anyway.

Nap #2 @ 9:15AM didn't go great, but considering it being my first real nap I think it went well. What happened was I overslept an entire 2 hours and 15 minutes accidentally (No alarm went off or I didn't hear it.)

Nap #3 @ 3:15PM This one went pretty ideal, I'm not 100% if I fell asleep or not but I entered a state of complete relaxation and rest at least and actually woke up a couple minutes before my alarm went off.

Nap #4 @ 9:15PM is in less than an hour so I'll come back and update on how that goes when it happens.

I'm still hardly into the experiment but so far my mental clarity is perfect, tiredness at the moment is negliable, and my willpower to continue is high.

Hopefully things continue to go well, I read a lot of tips and hopefully learned from others mistakes. Wish me luck, I suppose.

EDIT: 9:15PM nap was had, it went pretty good, I had an alarming dream where I was driving and the car in front of me slammed on their breaks so I had a massive surge of adrenaline and woke up a tiny bit early. Relaxed laying down for the remainder of 10 minutes and then got up feeling fantastic. I'll keep you guys updated for each nap and answer questions below.

EDIT #2: My 3:15 -> 3:45AM nap went pretty much perfect. I fell asleep, dreamed, woke up all on time. I didn't feel very awake, so I went to go eat some food and now I'm awake as normal but I realize I probably made a problem for myself in the future. Out of hunger and bad judgement I decided to make a bagel with jelly and cream cheese + 2 strawberry pop-tarts. I know I should stick to more raw foods and my body needs more time to process such "bleh" foods like bread and pastries. Oh well, no sense dwelling on it; I still hope for the best.

Edit #3: Took my latest nap (9:15AM -> 9:45AM) a little tired, but otherwise so far so good.


Edit #4: A bit of a setback with nap #7, I overslept 3 hours. I am frustrated with myself but overall not very worried. It turns out I set my most important and effective alarm to AM instead of PM thus it never went off which is much different than it went off and I didn't hear it or I turned it off in my sleep somehow. I feel immensely better finding that out and look forward to the experiment and making sure I don't make such simple mistakes again.

Edit #5: Woke up from my nap, feeling pretty good, everything went according to plan I suppose.

Edit #6: This nap (3:15->3:45AM) was GREAT! Feel asleep on time, woke up on time, feeling energized and refreshed. Onto Day 3!!

Edit #7: My 9:15->9:45AM nap went exactly as planned but I feel pretty drowsy after waking up.

Edit #8: Just woke up from 3:15PM nap, this one did go perfectly (asleep instantly, up quickly) however I still feel a bit drowsy which sucks.

Edit #9: Woke up feeling the worst yet.. I still haven't given up, though I now see why others have. Ughh.. Pushing myself onwards, I hope it gets better soon or at the very least I will need an extra nap to prevent passing out. (micro-edit: Ate food, watched TV, woke up a bit.. Went from miserable to "Decentish I guess" feeling.)

Edit #10: Woke up tired again, not sure if I'm getting used to being tired or getting less tired, but things aren't as bad as the last couple naps I think. I have been falling asleep and waking up easily to say the least.

Edit #11: I'm going to be updating less frequently unless more interest appears. So far so good though, naps are all going according to plan and I feel fine.

Edit: #12 starting today (the 19th and day 5 I will be updating the main post once a day. If anyone has any questions though I of course will still be monitoring the thread and reply within an hour or two 24/7.)

Edit: #13 All still going well.

Edit: #14 it has been over a week, its the 21st, things still going perfectly fine. I'll probably own make a few more updates unless interest rises.

Edit: #15 - I'd say project success at this point. Fucked up several times along the way, still not 100% as efficient at maintaining the schedule as perfectly as I'd like but.. It works and I plan to continue.

This is stuff I learned mostly the hard way by fucking up my schedule. The good news is that the longer you continue the schedule the easier it gets. For example after a month or so I was waking up without the use of alarm clocks every time. (Although I always kept at least one just in case.)

- If you aren't experienced with staying up late, don't even think about this. To get adjusted you will have to go through a hell of a trial. For people that stay up 72 hours in a row for LAN parties relatively easy, this is for you. Even if you frequently go days without sleep the first week or two on this schedule will be a challange.
- When starting out set alarm clocks. A LOT of alarm clocks. Like.. 3+
- Change alarm clock ring-tones, if you keep it the same for too long you will sleep them.
- Keep alarms out of arms reach. You will turn them off in your sleep. Trust me, you will.
- Use alarm clocks that prevent asleep you from turning them off.
Bad examples: Swipe to turn off, requires to be plugged into the wall, push to turn off. You will turn all of these off in your sleep.
Good examples: A laptop with a password set or puzzle alarm clocks
- Sleep on the floor. Your bed is designed to be cozy and easy to sleep in. Trust me, you'll be tired enough in the beginning to fall asleep just fine without it. It makes it tremendously easier to wake up from though. (Again, things like this you can skip over after you're a few weeks / a month in)
- Eat well, drink a lot of water. Basically just be healthy, if you're stuffing yourself full of junk food it'll be harder to wake up.
- Don't do anything important your first week or two.
- Don't drive your first week or so. (You should be able to tell how you feel and what you can do, but please be safe.)
- Make sure people know when you nap. Make it very clear you are not to be woken during your naps.
- HAVE SOMETHING TO DO! If you don't have any use for the time, what is the point? Have a purpose. Know well in advance why you want this time because you must take this time, it isn't just lying there. If you do not have a reason to be awake you will not want to stay up for 6 hours when you're tired. (Note: You lose all the bad feelings after the semi-long adjustment period.)
- You can start cold-turkey. I've seen a lot of people try to ease into the schedule over weeks, it seems like a massive waste of time, especially since most of them quit. Just dive into it and start the schedule now / tomorrow. If you can't handle it (and many people biologically can't) you'll save yourself time.
- Find someone to support you. It could be someone starting the schedule as well (although the vast majority quit, so be careful. I have only ever even heard of a few people use the dymaxion schedule successfully for over two weeks.) A friend, significant other, family member, etc.. will help you a lot as you tough out the first week or two.
- Expanding on the last point, if you can get someone to physically wake up you, that is fantastic.
- Place alarm clocks on thin flat surfaces. Many alarm clocks vibrate when they ring (smartphones), having the extra noise / vibrations will help you get us.
- Try to avoid energy drinks if you can. It's a temporary fix and will fuck you up later.
- Eat apples. Apples and other healthy foods (especially lemons and other juicy / cold / sour fruits and such) will wake you up very well and don't have any negatives. Seriously, apples saved me more than once. Get some.
- HAVE A PURPOSE! I said it before in caps, but it's seriously the BIGGEST thing. If you do not have a reason to stay awake, you won't. Ask yourself why you want the extra hours a day and then acknowledge it when you are tired during the first week or two.