Today was the best so far. I slept 2AM and got up 230AM. I was feeling fresh considering I had only 4h 49 mins sleep previous day. Towards 4AM I was getting bit sleepy. I went to nearby shop to buy things. I was feeling OK after a walk. I learned a little trick that helped me getting up. I left my room light on and placed my iPhone alarm behind me and out of my arms reach. So when alarm rings I have to get up and switch off. When room light is on, it is easier to shake out the sleep and wake up. The urge to sleep is strongest the moment you wake up and wanes out gradually. If you can hold until you pass the initial urge to sleep, then it is easier for you to maintain the wake.

My 6AM nap was also equally good. I woke up five minutes earlier than alarm. I had dreams. I was able to recall my dreams vividly. It was raining outside and I had a hot shower. After one hour of shower, I began to feel very sleepy. My eyes were heavy and it tried to auto-close every few minutes. I believe I hit my low body temperature due to my shower earlier. Caffeine was not helping as well.

After I endured the 8AM to 9AM sleepy phase, I was feeling alert for the rest of the day. I took a 30 mins nap at 1PM instead of 2PM as I had an appointment later. After the nap I was feeling good and alert.

Towards the evening my sleep was returning. I felt sleepy around 7PM, I did a 15 mins sleep. I was feeling good after that. I planned to do 8PM nap as well.

After 8PM nap I felt the best. I was wide awake and fresh. Towards 1AM I got sleepy.

Free Running Polyphasic Sleep (FRPS)

From today I am planning for a change in the sleep schedule to Free Running Polyphasic Sleep (FRPS).

In FRPS you still sleep polyphasically, but instead of sleeping at set times, you sleep whenever you are sleepy. This is not new, this method is borrowed from sleep technique called SPAMAYL  (Sleep Polyphasically as much as you like) by Rasmus

http://forums.trypolyphasic.com/topic/154/the-spamayl-plan-discussion/

I would like to test some variation from SPAMAYL (and so the name change :)

[1] Variable nap length from 15 mins to 40 mins. From my previous tests with polyphasic for me 25mins nap length seems to be more restorative compared to 20 mins or 30 mins. You have to test your nap length that works best for you. But if the nap length is more than 40 mins, then it will become a core sleep, so limit it to max 40 mins. When I tested Free running sleep as advocated by Dr. Piotr Wozniak (who by the way is dead against Polyphasic sleepers and not very well liked by Polyphasic sleepers for his strong comments) I noticed when I take a short nap I always wake up after 25 mins which seems like a sweet spot. Whether I do Free running sleep or Uberman or Everyman, the nap length of 25 mins seems to work well for me. Test your nap length find out a nap length that works for you better. As in SPAMAYL sleep as many times as you are sleepy. There is no set time to sleep. If you are sleepy you go to nap. The advantage of this is you will not be holding back the sleep and the body know when it is sleepy you will allow it to sleep. After the stabilization period, you will sleep much less than Monophasic sleepers.

[2] Minimum time between naps will be 4x nap length. If your nap length is 15 mins, you need to wait minimum of One hour (4 x 15mins) before taking next nap. Obviously of you are not sleepy after One hour period you can still carry on without nap. Take a nap only when you are sleepy, but do not nap within 4x nap length. The minimum gap between naps will be 4x nap length. When you finish a nap your body and brain are still not fully out of nap. It needs some time to snap out of it, if we are going to nap too soon after previous nap it will register as single long nap instead of two short naps.

I believe this way my sleep schedule is much more flexible and I will be able to shift around my sleep times as needed. If I am sleepy I know I can sleep right away instead of waiting for my next sleep stop.

Cheers

-Jag

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