Thursday, August 14, 2008

Day 4

It seems to be going a bit more smoothly now. I've got little trouble getting out of bed after waking up, which is a relief. My last nap was strange, but I think it went well. It was kind of like, lights out, then boom, time to get up. I was definitely asleep, just the seemingly instant jump 20 minutes into the future was disorienting.

Only two things kept today from being perfect. First, I was bowling, and the other team was taking forever, so I effectively skipped the 12PM nap. The best I could do when the time rolled around was rest my head and close my eyes between frames. It kind of helped, or at least I believed it did haha. Second, when I over a friends house I ended up delaying the 8PM nap by 45 minutes or so. I felt surprisingly okay after all this. Perhaps this is why I went out like a light during the 12AM nap.

I'm excited to see how I feel in the next few days. Although, I have a bad feeling I won't be able to follow it during the first few days of college, which should be right after I start to feel the perks from it.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Day 3

Hello.

So this morning I messed it up again. Doh. But not too bad. I was tired enough to take a nap by the evening. Now it's in the AM and already I feel like I've been doing this for several uninterrupted. Nothing much to report for today.

Not sleep related but oh well:
I spent most of the day screwing around with our new computer. A fair mental challenge, or at at least a challenge of patience. The main problem was Windoze XP doesn't support the spiffy new SATA hard disks. I don't know what is was, but it took me basically all day to find the right driver. However, in the process I learned two things. #1, 64 bit Windows is incompatible with damn near everything. My favorite example of this is a self extracting driver file for x64 systems that won't extract because it's a 32 bit application! Has the world gone mad!? I think so.
#2, I learned how to slipstream install Windows. Really cool.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_to_slipstream_windows_xp_sp3_and_vista_sp1
What this allows you to do is take a Windows install disk, the latest service pack, and any extra updates/hotfixes/drivers (like the SATA one I needed) and mash em all together into one iso file you can burn to disk and use to install Windows quicker and easier. It even lets you enter the product key, among other things, before hand so you can pop in the disk and just let it install without any user input. This is especially useful if you don't have a floppy drive and can't do the F6 thing to install 3rd party drivers. Although, I actually did have a floppy after our Dell generously made a cable donation, muhaha.

Oooh, ahhh, special.

I hope the quad core and 4GB of ram can handle DOOM cause that's the best game we have right now haha.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Days 1 - 2

This is actually spilling over into day three a little, but I wanted to update instead of putting it off another day.

The first day was a little rocky. I'm not sure what it was, lack of motivation probably, and just the fact that I didn't have a (good) reason to get up prevented me from doing so.

Oddly enough, day two was a breeze. Everything went perfectly. Like almost unnaturally perfect. All the naps were on time and only 20 minutes long. It was amazing how easy I woke up from them too. I just don't understand. =P As far as doing stuff goes I actually accomplished a good deal on day two as well. None of it was particularly taxing though.

Now today, day three, I took the 4AM no prob. Got up relatively quickly. I got something to eat and read some articles in New Scientist. I was about halfway through the third article when I realized I was nodding really bad. It was almost 6 so I stuck it out a bit longer and decided to throw in an extra nap between cycles. It worked wonderfully.

I lied down and was extremely comfortable, as well as drowsy. The next thing I remember is my mom bothering me about something. I reluctantly got out of bed and went over to the door. She had some kind of clothing for me. As she was explaining I hear the distinct sound of my alarm clock ringing (crowing actually, like a rooster, cause that's what it does haha) and I feel like I'm being sucked into my own head, only to actually wake up and realize it was all a dream!

Let me tell you, as far as I was concerned, it was real. I even noticed that I was wearing the same clothes I put on before going to sleep and that level of detail doesn't usually happen. Plus the nagging mother at the door thing is quite common. It was indistinguishable from the real thing, right up until the head sucking part that is. =P

So what does this mean? Could I really be having some REM after only two days? Last time it took me seven days to have a dream. A few minutes after I woke up I started writing this, and right now I feel a lot more awake than I did after the 4AM nap. Perhaps I'm still slightly conditioned from the first week of sleeping funny. Maybe two full nights of sleep aren't enough to be wiped clean. Unless I hit a wall soon, it's way easier this time around.

Also, I'd like to mention I now have some help from a bit of software I found. =) Although, I've been woken by my alarm clock most of the time.
http://www.timeleft.info/
TimeLeft is a bunch of little tools that do pretty much anything you can think of that's clock related. I wanted it for the "timer" function it has. Once the timer runs out you can have it play a music file. I've found a little Rage Against the Machine or Skid Row with the volume turned up loudly makes it easier to not fall back asleep.
You can always put on an artist you strongly dislike to better encourage you to get up and turn that crap off! There's also this online countdown timer, but it won't play a song of your choice.
http://timberfrog.com/countdown/

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Uberman 2.0

Well, first off, I'd like to announce I had a wonderful birthday! I juggled, made a pie, went bowling, traffic-coning, and played on the swings at 2AM.

Having said that, I'd also like to mention that it totally messed up the sleep schedule haha.
The last two nights I had a full 8 hours of sleep. So I'm sort of starting over. The only thing I gained from the first week or so is knowledge, which is in fact very valuable.

It wasn't a failure, I was simply unable to meet the requirements of nature, as Dr. J. would put it. ;)

Things I discovered:
  1. I need to be falling over tired to fall asleep quickly when I take a nap.
  2. I need to have something equal to a slap in the face to wake me up from these naps.
  3. I NEED to stay up after the naps, for at least two hours.
  4. The stricter I follow the schedule the better.
I think I'll try naps at 4, 8, and 12 this time around. Just because.
So I guess I'm starting right now. I'll stay up until I'm tired enough to drop into sleep almost immediately.

As for goals, I'd like to get to the point where I feel the same at night as I do during the day. That is, able to do stuff that requires me to be above zombie level of functioning. Mmmm..brainsss.

Check out the new poll, eh? =)

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Days 8 - 10

I didn't die if that's what yall were thinking. =)
Just been running around having a good time without my parents around.

First, let's look at the results of the poll! Thanks to all six of you who voted haha. Nobody opposed the schedule. Maybe some people felt it was a bad idea but didn't want to vote. I don't really care what anyone thinks of it, if you think it's a bad idea I probably won't stop, I was just sorta curious to hear other opinions. :)
4 people said they would possibly try it.
2 people said they would not want to try it.

I understand it's not very practical to nap every four hours. In fact I'm finding that it goes against the normal flow of society in general. =P
If work/school or other time constraints is the reason you wouldn't like to try it, there's another (less extreme) polyphasic sleep schedule called the Everyman. It's major advantage over the Uberman is more flexible nap times. I'll probably make a post about in detail later.

So. I can't remember what happened in detail three days ago haha. But I believe everything was going swell, until Tuesday night. I ate a ton of pizza, which doesn't digest as easily as not greasy food. That, in addition to setting my alarm for PM when it was actually AM, made me totally mess up my naps. *face palm*

I realized that I need a lot more will power. It's also a pain to always be setting my alarm clock. Since I can't just create more will power for myself, I got a louder alarm haha. I'm actually using two countdown timers now, instead of my good 'ol alarm clock. One of them is an online script, which requires me to actually click on something to turn it off. Much harder than slapping a button without even getting up.
http://timberfrog.com/countdown/

Also, I found that I'm often not tired at the proposed nap times. So now what I'm doing is sleeping whenever I feel like I can fall asleep almost instantly. This does not include right after I wake up, because that would lead to continuous sleep. =P I think I'll try to stay up for at least two hours after each nap, regardless of how I feel. Eventually it should smooth out to a nap every four hours. (At least that's what I'm hoping for)

On a whim after waking up from a nap around 3AM, I decided wanted to try to juggle. +5 spontaneity. I actually made a lot of progress after only a day or two. I can almost do the basic three ball juggle. And today I drove down to Dick's and got some lacrosse balls to practice with, They're wonderful. ($1.99 each)

I'll come up with another poll eventually (hopefully tonight), right now I have a bunch of stuff to clean up before my parents get home. :P

Oh, by the way. I'm now old enough to buy cigarettes, porn, lottery tickets, go to strip clubs and all those other things I'm never going to do haha. =)

Monday, August 4, 2008

Day 7

Guess what!? Today I had a (brief) lucid dream during one of the naps! And dreams = REM. *grin* In addition, I didn't oversleep either. Even though from a normal perspective I accomplished nothing today, I feel like I've had a breakthrough.

So yeah. My main goal for today was not to oversleep. And I did it by the skin of my teeth. Today in the wee hours of the morning I felt tired and kept nodding off, but since I was sitting up I didn't actually fall asleep. I was watching some Death Note to stay awake until the next nap. I threw in an extra nap too, which was a little risky, but luckily I woke up after 20 minutes.

I must admit, I didn't feel so well today. Aside from the mental happiness of following the schedule. Physically I was a bum today, but that's alright, it's summer. =P
Also my parents are gone for the next few days, so that made me really happy. I guess did feel pretty good after all. I was tired though, at least in the morning.

The evening naps were the most exciting parts about today. They all went well. I was definitely sound asleep in the one. Feeling more fatigued than normal, I was wise to turn up my alarm. I needed it to wake me up from the sleep, not just tell me the 20 minutes were over. The last nap was the best of all because I had a coherent dream. What's more, I remember it, and I was even lucid for a moment! What fun! =) My body wanted to sleep more, but the alarm was able to wake me up again. After a few minutes I felt awake again and just to be random, I ordered a pizza and went to pick it up. (The road right after the mall and before the bridge on Lackawanna Avenue is closed by the way. *grumble* )

The Dream
Here's what happened. I remember being in my car having to back up. I wasn't really watching where I was going, and I just missed hitting a car. Then I just kept going in reverse, but even faster. I could see numerous cars on the road out the front window as I passed by the going backwards. How in the world haven't I hit anything? I thought to myself. Because you're dreaming of course! Cool! I'm surprised I didn't get nervous after becoming lucid because it's been while since it's happened. So to test it out, I decided I didn't want to go backwards anymore. The car started moving forwards down the street. I came up to a building and didn't really know what to do, so I just let the events play out. Nothing much happened, one minute I was outside the wall, the next I was on the other side. Should that have smashed? I thought. I looked at the other side of the building that was approaching and this time the car smashed through it splintering the wood and making a crashing noise. I was okay, even though I was standing on the roof of the car now, or maybe standing with my head out the sunroof. I tried to pass through the wall of the next building without damaging it. It worked! I passed though it easy, as if it turned into something viscous for the second I contacted it. I was psyched and for some reason I wanted to try and pull myself through the roof of the building head first. I tried but it didn't work. It felt like a blanket over my head. (Wasn't sleeping with a blanket btw) Then I woke up, or at least I thought I did. It could have been a false awakening. Looking back on it I can't tell for sure, but I know the 20 minutes weren't up at this point.

There was also a shorter non-lucid dream after that one. Basically I was over a friends house with my beloved laptop. I went away for awhile and when I came back my friend's mom came over to say hi. For some reason porn kept, subtly, popping up. Odd places like the menu bars of Firefox had tiny pornographic images on them. I tried to close the programs but there was always more. I had a feeling this was happening because of another person who had been near my computer when I left momentarily.

I would like to mention that I was watching The Matrix right before the last nap. Great movie. I forgot how similar being in the Matrix is to being in a lucid dream. Well I started to nod off when Neo was getting ready to go save Morpheus, that's when I realized it was time to take a nap. Perhaps the concept of questioning reality had helped me realize I was dreaming. My advice to people who want lucid dreams: watch The Matrix. =)

Results from Day 7
Adherence to schedule: 10/10 - Yay for me. I added two extra naps, but I'm not counting that against the schedule during adaptation. I shouldn't want any extra naps afterwards.

Mental awareness: 7/10 - Drove through Scranton after a nap, needed to take a detour, still got my pizza home safely. The rest of the day was pretty much mentally inactive haha.

Physical energy: 5/10 - Lazy day. I felt tired during the morning, but the fatigue wore off eventually. Still didn't do much of anything.

I don't even want to talk about Productivity today. =P

Comments: I would like to point out the inverse relationship between adherence and awareness/energy. In all honesty I didn't feel terrific today (aside from the fact I have the house to myself until Friday, whooo!). However, I do feel like I have made a lot of progress since I was able to go fully asleep very quickly as well as dream. Dreaming is the best thing because it means I got some valuable REM sleep. I'd also like to mention that I mostly slept on a couch upstairs. It's just about as comfortable as my bed, but I think it's better for napping since I connect the idea of prolonged sleep with my bed. Couches just seem to be better suited for a quick nap.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Day 6

Today was alright. Didn't make any ground breaking progress, but I was able to perform normal people functions.

In a nutshell, today was pretty much like yesterday. Overslept a little in the morning, and the rest of the day was fantastic. =P

Today, however, was the first time I slept somewhere other than my house.
I was over a friend's house pretending to be a lumber jack and collecting wood to build a bonfire. I wasn't terribly helpful, but it was somewhat physically challenging. When 5:30 rolled around I went up to my car and took a nap in the back seat. As soon as it was over I went right back to work no problem.

The problem area is in the morning, the 5:30 AM and 9:30 AM naps. I think once I'm able to cut my sleep short during these naps I'll be fully adapted. Then maybe a day or two more and I'll start to feel the nice perks that are supposed to come with Uberman.

Kevin was thinking and suggested taking more frequent naps, as it seems it would help the adaptation without messing anything up. I had tried this once before and didn't seem to have any problems. Steve Pavlina also mentioned it once on his blog. I think that will be my secret weapon to finally rid myself of early morning NREM sleep.

I've found I have a bunch of stuff to do at night, but I'm often too drowsy to make a full hearted attempt at it. This leads to sitting around, which of course leads to boredom. Once I'm tired and bored all I want to think about is going to bed. Not so much to get rest, but just to do something. That's bad. I need to get into the mentality that sleep isn't normal at night, doing stuff is normal at night, just like it is during the day. Unfortunately, I can't go out anywhere at night, and (usually) most of my friends are asleep. I think I may try going for a walk outside if this lethargy hits again. My neighborhood is pretty calm so my chances of being raped/maimed are minimal.

Thanks for the comments Phil! =)

Results from Day 6
Adherence to schedule: 7/10 - Overslept once, but the other naps went normally. Even the one in my car was relaxing!

Mental awareness: 8/10 - I used a chainsaw and still have all my fingers.

Physical energy: 9/10 - Hauled some logs around. Went to church too, that was a workout. =P

Productivity: 9/10 - We had a great start on making the bonfire today! And I folded a bunch of paper cranes.

Comments: It's hard to tell if I'm actually asleep or not. I often feel like I'm somewhat conscious throughout the whole nap, though after a certain point my thoughts drift to the point of no return. Then, usually, I'll suddenly remember I'm napping again and that is often when I check the clock and realize it's time to get up. I'm definitely getting something out of it even if I don't go completely to sleep. Also, today after the car nap it felt like way more than 20 minutes had passed. Felt more like an hour.