I was relaxing at home, cruising the internet, and I came across a video on YouTube that struck my interest. It was a TEDtalk speech on our natural sleep cycles (Click here to watch it). It was a very interesting topic that made me want to know MORE. I really do wish it had been longer, but I guess it didn't hurt me because I ended up searching for more information! I came across sites like the ones that I have posted under "Additional Info"... or something with a similar title. Anyways, it's on the right side, not hard to find.
I've been absolutely exhausted for weeks now, and I've never felt like I get fully rested after sleeping, even on nights where I have slept about 12 hours. I am absolutely sick of feeling this way, and it's been effecting my quality of life. I'm always grumpy and tired. I'm done with that. I figure I'll try this out, though I realize that the adjusting period will be difficult. I've been under the weather for a few weeks now with very low blood pressure that has been causing me to black out and faint. Along with that, I've had headaches and been very drowsy. So, admittedly, this may not be the best time to start this, but I think I need a physical change in my life right now to get me back on my feet.
I've done some researching, so I guess I'll answer some questions that you probably have.
What IS Biphasic Sleeping? Simply put, it's the practice of taking a nap during the day and having a core sleeping period at night.
How long do you sleep for? From what I've gathered, it can vary from person to person. Most people sleep a total of 6 hours of day, that being a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon and a 4.5 hour core sleeping period starting around midnight or later.
Why the strange times? Everyone knows about REM sleep. What most people don't know, is that it takes an average of 1.5 hours to go through what is called a "sleep cycle". In this time period, your body can go into REM sleep and make it's way out in time for you to wake up. For this reason, most people who practice biphasic sleeping keep their sleeping periods in multiples of 1.5 hours. For example, they prefer periods of 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6, and 7.5 hours.
What happens if you don't complete a sleep cycle? Well, it's nothing catastrophic. You have undoubtedly experienced it before. Let's say you've got work in the morning, so you plan to get 8 hours of sleep. When you go to wake up from that night's sleep, you are in the middle of a sleep cycle. Essentially, you are going from being dead asleep to wide awake. For this very reason, it is thought that 7.5 hours of sleep will leave you feeling more rested in the morning than 8 hours.
How long does this take to get used to? Some people say it takes about a week, other say it can take up to a month or two. It just depends on the person, but I've heard it can be exhausting to get used to.
That's enough of that. Now, I'm going to be monitoring some things about myself as I progress through this experiment. It will look a little something like the following, which I filled out to show how I've felt before I started.
MONITORED VARIABLES
- Mental Alertness. I'm not that alert, but I'm fairly aware of everything around me.
- Physical Energy. I've had enough energy to go on short walks, but anything more might be a bit much for me.
- Emotional State. I have a notoriously bad temper at times and I am usually very anxious.
- Productivity. I have been very unproductive the last few weeks, barely getting any work done at all.
- Hunger. My appetite has been average. I've been eating 3 meals a day and not too hungry.
- Water Intake.I've been drinking a LOT of gatorade. Doctor's orders.
- Social Life Impact. None yet, haven't started!
Most people set their core sleeping period for 4.5 hours, but because I am not feeling well, I am planning on starting off with a schedule like this.
7am-11:30am ~ Awake for school
11:30am-1pm ~ 90 minute nap
1pm-1am ~ Awake
1am-7am ~ Core sleeping period
It is a little late in the day, so I can't exactly take the early nap, but I will take it now instead!
*Time lapse*
So I've already run into a problem. The only thing I can hear in my head right now is "Urrrggggggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!". I fell asleep at about 8:40 and then at 9:51 I got a phone call that woke me up, almost 20 minutes before schedule. This is, to say the least, frustrating. It's not like I could just go back to sleep for the last 20 minutes; my sleep cycle was interrupted! This was an event that could not be reversed! My only options were to either try to fit in another sleep cycle, or tough it out and wake up. I decided to take the latter option, which feels like it was the best decision to make now that I've broken the initial barrier of "I WANT MORE SLEEP!". It's 11:58 now, so after 2 hours of awake time, I feel absolutely refreshed and awake. Almost too awake to go to sleep. I will definitely have to be taking my nap earlier in the day.
Now, it's 12:51 and I am heading to bed now! I'll be up at 7!
