Biphasic Sleep: Day 1

This morning ended my first day of Biphasic sleep.  Overall things went well.  It was only the first day, so I’m sure the devastating effects (since everyone says the first days are rough) are still coming, but as of right now I feel ok.

I took a 1.5 hour nap yesterday evening at about 9:15 pm, and then went to sleep for 3 hours at 4 am.  I woke up this morning at 7 am, for a total of 4.5 hours of sleep for the night.  When I awoke to my alarm this morning, I felt refreshed, but I felt like I wanted more sleep, just because I am so used to sleeping more.  That’s been the hardest part so far, just convincing my mind that I don’t really need the extra sleep.  Maybe I do, we’ll see.

A few things I’ve noticed so far:

• The extra time throughout the day means I need to find more things to do to stay productive.
• I spent time playing video games yesterday and still managed to get everything I needed to do done.
• The late hours of the night are fantastic for extra reading and writing.
• Waking up at 90 minute intervals (1.5 hrs, 3 hrs, 4.5 hrs, 6 hrs etc.) is much easier than waking up at 7 or 8 hours, and leaves you feeling better rested and refreshed.  Scientific studies show that this is due to the natural sleep cycle of humans being estimated at about 80-90 minutes long.  Plus, it’s much easier to get out of bed at this time.
• I got rid of my alarm clock in favor of my blackberry curve 8900 clock program.  It has a great bedside function which is really dim, as compared to my bright blue alarm clock, and it is much easier on the eyes in the middle of the night.
• I plan to get a sleeping eye mask for total darkness during my afternoon naps.  I think it will improve my ability to fall asleep faster than I am currently able to now.
• I am interested in how this will affect my social life.  Interestingly enough, it has already clashed with my usual schedule.  My fiance wanted to spend time with me yesterday evening, but had to wait till after my nap, which ended at 10:40 pm.  Of course as soon as I woke up, she got sleepy.  We’ll have to schedule our time better.
• Also I imagine that I may find myself more irritable and/or less willing to put up with people being idiots than usual.  It hasn’t kicked in yet, but we’ll see.
• Working out will most likely require me to sleep more than 4.5 hours per day.  In case this happens I will add an extra 1.5 hours to either sleep period, whichever better fits the day.

Overall I’m pretty excited about the experiment so far.  Getting to sleep both times took a little longer than I’m used to, but I’m sure it was just because I’m not used to going to sleep at either 9 pm or 4 am.  Once I get used to it I should doze off in about 15 minutes like usual.

On to day 2!