Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: the Conclusion

So it's official. I'm back to my old sleeping pattern now, a solid chuck of 6-8hrs every night. I am proud to have hung in there at 2 hours of sleep a day for a full-week before giving up.

So.. was it worth it?  Yes! We should be doing anything we can to challenge what's considered normal. What's the fun in life if we live it like everyone else?

Is living on 2 hours of sleep possible? I truly believe that the 2 hours of sleep a day could work if you are able to stick to it for the first 10 days and have a life that allows you to keep to your nap times.


Whats next? I'm going back to my old sleeping cycle for a bit and then will be attempting a less extreme change in the near future. Something like the EveryMan Sleep Cycle, where you get 3-4 hours of sleep at night and one or two 20min naps in the day.

Random Thoughts:

• My biggest fear while being 'sleep deprived' was stairs. I felt like I was going to fall whenever I was going up or down them and had to put all my focus into it. 
• The hardest part was getting up after my 12am/1am nap along with a social life that curbed my ability to sleep at those set times.
• I learn't how to Jazzercise, if you don't know what it is watch this YouTube video
• I didn't actually become more productive, instead I read into the most random subjects
• If I do this again I need to pick up a hobby, maybe I'll touch up on my artistic skills

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 6.5

So turns out today is day six on my change in sleeping regime. You think it would be pretty easy for me to have sorted that out in my last post considering even post has the day in it.. But I guess that's what happens when I'm in my zombie mode.

Please to say that today has been going great! My naps have all been perfect, falling asleep and waking up on time. My 1pm nap was spent on campus since I had classes all day, I just found a study booth to put my head-down and slept in a sitting position.

It's the first time that I truly believe this sleeping cycle may actually be possible! I'm trying not to get my hopes to high as it may just be today then a crash tomorrow. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 5.5 or 6(?)

Days are starting to blend together. I now see things in quarters, like mini days with 30mins to rest and 5.5 hours to be have fun.

Please note, this is not a guranteed fact.

I spent most (read all) of todays 'trouble hours' on the computer. I have my first major assignment of this week due this morning, or next quarter if you're following the time like me. I have no idea how the paper actually sounds, I think it makes sense but we'll see what my Theory of Finance professor thinks tomorrow.

There are also bags under my eyes, I didn't notice them before so they must be new? I'm hoping they go away after my 7am nap.

Oh, and I've been photoshoping pictures to keep me entertained as well. I'm going to start counting how many meals I eat every day. It seems like a lot. Enjoy my photoshop art.

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 5

I will be making a small change in my nap times today since university starts back up tomorrow! My naps will be getting pushed back by an hour, so they will now be at 7am, 1pm, 7pm, and 1am (same awake-to-nap ratios, just different timing).

Struggle, Adapt, & Refocus

I had a major setback in my evening nap last night. I slept through my alarm and several phone calls. I had started just using my one alarm, my phone, since re-setting my backup alarm four times a day was a huge pain. Turns out having a backup alarm in this sleeping cycle isn't an option its a necessity. I feel overly rested today so I'm skipping all my naps till 1am, thereby maintaining my level of sleep deprivation to carry into the next week.

This upcoming week will be rather exciting as classes start again tomorrow. I have exams, midterms, and assignments due this week so I'm looking forward to seeing the effects of this sleeping pattern on my studying and retention abilities. I've never been overly dedicated to studying or working on assignments, to say the the least, so I will have to find a new way to sit down and focus this week. I find now that I have 22 hours everyday to do things my procrastination has been increasing, I now have more time to 'get it done later'.

I have a feeling that this week will be the hardest and most entertaining. I am back to using several alarms, and will be keeping to my set schedule. This paired with the fact that I will have actual responsibilities again should make for... a good story(?)

Please accept my apologies for future typo and grammar mistakes, they will be getting progressively worse. At least they still make sense in my head.

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 4

I`m quite surprised to have made it this far on the 2 hours of sleep per day without any major incidents.. yet. I`m sure at some point the complete lack of sleep and my body having not yet fully adjusted will make for some interesting stories as sleep deprecation can cause hallucinations and a drunk like behavior.

I feel like my eyes are really tired but my body wants to get up, run around, and dance.

Here is an interesting post I found on the stages of adapting to polyphasic sleep:
Taken from http://www.danceproof.com/dymaxion-sleep-intro/

Polyphasic sleepers usually go through five phases (the humor comes from realizing that they resemble the five stages of grief):

1. Pre-polyphasic phase (denial)- The soon to be polyphasic sleeper is extremely excited about final getting to master time and space, they “knew something like this HAD to exist”. Imagining all the things they will do with their new found extra time their blood pressure continues to rise.
2. Infected-pre-zombie phase (anger)- The polyphasic sleeper has began their nap schedules, was doing fine, but is now feeling the effects of sleep deprivation arriving.
3. Changing-into-zombie phase (bargaining)- the polyphasic sleeper now starts to desperately try everything to stay awake (picture someone chugging a whole case of red bull), even though they realize that things are slowly getting worse and worse.
4. Zombie phase (depression)- The polyphasic sleeper is now defeated. Now resembling a zombie (drooping arms/shoulders, slow paced, bloodshot/puffy eyes, murmured speech, etc.) they are drained of all energy and are only waking up from their naps by pure instinct.
5. Defeat phase (acceptance)- The polyphasic sleeper now believes that everything they read/heard was a lie, they “knew nobody could live on two hours of sleep per day”, and soon accept that they need sleep. They now proceed to take that 8-24 hour nap they’ve been desperately craving for.

…Wait, what? The outcome is a failure?

Well… the truth is that there is a 6th phase few reach. In this stage the polyphasic sleepers (the few left) who had decided to (against all possible reasonable explanations) continue with their polyphasic sleeping just a little more are now rewarded. The have now passed the hardest stages of polyphasic sleeping and from here on out they are Masters of Time! 

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 3

It seems the hardest time to stay awake is still the 1am-4am zone, where my body knows it should be sleeping.

My 12am nap gets the 'Hardest to Awake From' award. It's a constant fight to get up when it's the time most people would be going to sleep for the night. My proposed solution for todays 12am nap will be to take it somewhere slightly uncomfortable, such as the couch or floor.

Since I overslept on my earlier naps this morning I will be cutting out my 12pm nap to get back on schedule.

Today's Game Plan for my 12am nap:
'Sleep on the floor, kind of like a vagrant. Brings back memories of India..'

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 2.5

I slept in after my 6am nap by an hour. I slightly remember waking up and hitting my phone at which point it stopped making noise.. so I went back to sleep. Hopefully this will be a one time set back, I will be pushing myself to just jump out of bed from this point on and minimize the chance of over-napping again.

That said, I'm feeling pretty good so far! Lots of energy for most the day. It's usually around 30 minutes before my next scheduled nap that I start to get tired again. I've had a productive day, running around to get some errands done, a little shopping, and a meeting in the afternoon to discuss finances and event planning for the upcoming year.

Just woke up from my 6pm nap, which went perfectly. Don't have much planned for tonight to keep myself awake. I have a lot of coursework to get done for my university classes, will try and get that done this evening if it doesn't put me to sleep.

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 2

I laid down for my 30 minute nap at 12am.. Just laid there for 30 minutes, with my eyes closed, before my alarm went off. There was no sleeping.

I got out of bed and am going to continue on schedule with my next nap at 6am. I will be cranking up my alarm volumes to make-sure I wake up.

Note: I don't actually know how to Jazzercise... yet!

What have I been up to? I played Battlefield 2 for an hour, Facebooked it for a bit, random internet website, watched 1.5 movies with some Jazzercising and dancing worked in to keep myself awake.

Did you know it would take 40 minutes to hard-boil an ostrich egg? Because I do.

Productivity(?) vs. Sleep: Day 1

I spent a few hours yesterday researching the main three options for alternative sleeping (Uberman, Everyman, and the Dymaxion). The Everyman is without a doubt the easiest of the three. I think most students have used it at some point. Uberman, although it has an epic name, requires too much discipline and too many scheduled nap times. Therefore I decided to go with... the Dymaxion! There has only been one documented case of anyone successfully using this sleeping technique, the inventor Buckminster Fuller! (Who is said to have died at an early age for unknown reasons...But anyhow..)

Basically the plan for me is to sleep for 30 minutes every six hours. I have to keep the nap times constant so I picked the times to be: 12am, 6am, 12pm, 6pm.


I've started the sleeping pattern last-night and will continue with the help of two or three very loud alarms. I now have 22 hours per day to fill with.. things.. I don't actually know what I'm going to be doing but during the 'trouble hours' (aka 1am-5am, when I want to sleep the most) I will be doing something that can keep my attention. Sometime like picking up first person shooter video-games again and working out whenever I start to feel tired.

It's 10 mins till nap time so that's all for now.

- Simon Sywanyk (11:50pm, Feb 23rd)

Spring Break Experiment

I've been reading some articles on sleep patterns lately and have always been, in the past anyways, interested in maximizing my productivity while minimizing my downtime (aka sleeping). I am currently a full-time student on spring-break and for the first time am not working in addition to my studies.. This means I have free time for a Spring Break Experiment!

To help explain what my experiment will entail here is one of the better posts I've found on the subject. I'm still finalizing the details and shall post again soon, enjoy.

- Simon

Most people only think that there is one way to sleep: Go to sleep at night for 6-8 hours, wake up in the morning, stay awake for 16-18 hours and then repeat. Actually, that is called a monophasic sleep cycle, which is only 1 of 5 major sleep cycles that have been used successfully throughout history. The other 4 are considered polyphasic sleep cycles due to the multiple number of naps they require each day. How is this possible? How is this healthy? Well the most important of every sleep cycle is the Stage 5 REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which has been shown to provide the benefits of sleep to the brain above all other stages of sleep. When changing over to a polyphasic cycle, the lack of sleep tricks the body into entering REM sleep immediately instead of 45 to 75 minutes into sleep like in the monophasic sleep. This way, you still get the benefits of 8 hours of sleep without wasting all of the time it takes to get to REM cycles, resulting in a much more efficient sleep cycle. Here are polyphasic cycles:


      Uberman Cycle:
20 to 30 minute naps every 4 hours, resulting in 6 naps each day. The uberman cycle is highly efficient, and usually results in feeling healthy,  feeling refreshed upon waking and extremely vivid dreams. Many uberman-users report increased ability to lucid dream as well. However, the rigid schedule makes it near impossible to miss naps without feeling horribly tired. Blogger Steve Pavlina tried the cycle for 5.5 months and had amazingly positive results.He only reverted to monophasic sleep so that he could be on the same cycle as his wife and children. 


      Everyman Cycle:
One longer “core” nap that is supplemented with several 20-30 minute naps. The most successful variations that I have read about are either one 3 hour nap and three 20-minute naps or one 1.5 hour nap with 4-5 20 minute naps, all of which have equal amounts of time in between each nap. This cycle is much easier to adjust to than the Uberman and allows for more flexibity in nap times and in skipping naps when necessary. It is also still extremely efficient compared to monophasic with only 3-4 hours of sleep per day. Many bloggers have tried out this cycle and reported no negative 


      Dymaxion Cycle:

Bucky Fuller invented the cycle based on his belief that we have two energy tanks, the first is easy to replenish whereas the second tank (second wind) is much harder to replenish. So Bucky began sleeping for 30 minutes every 6 hours. That’s 2 hours a day of sleep! He reported feeling, “the most vigorous and alert condition I have ever enjoyed.” Doctors examined him after several years of using the cycle and pronounced him perfectly healthy. This is by far the most extreme of the 4 alternate cycles, but also the most efficient.

      Biphasic Cycle:

Not even worthy of a diagram, the biphasic cycle is basically that of every college student in America. The biphasic cycle consists of sleeping for 4-4.5 hours at night, and then taking a 90 minute nap around noon. So not all that different, still more efficient than monophasic, but not by much.

I come back, everyone is leaving

When I came back to my home city in December I found out two good friends had already left while I was in India, with more soon to be flying away to other exciting exotic lands.

Dreaming for a day where it's 0c..

It seems everyone who grows up here leaves eventually. I'm not sure if its because all my friends are very internationally focused (AIESEC anyone?) or because the weather here is terrible. Yes, it is true, the weather in Saskatoon reached a low of -43C yesterday. I remember talking to children in southern India who didn't believe me that it can get colder than freezing (0c), oh how I wish that were true..

Another friend I've known since high-school left this week on his own adventure to Holland!  I'm quire envious and would like to wish him the best of luck, may he find whatever it is he is, or isn't, looking for.

For those of you who have been reading this blog and are now traveling, I would love it if you were willing to share your own travel blog. Feel free to email me the link or add it in the comments section.

I've been compiling a small list of questions I've been asked which I will answer in a upcoming post. If you have anything you are curious about (whether it be on India, traveling solo, on a budget, or without planning) please email me and I'll be sure to answer it! If it's a 'bigger' question I may even commit an entire post towards answering it.

Cheers,

Catchy sayings and thoughts

It's been a few weeks now since I arrived back in Canada but I can't stop thinking about India, traveling, and the people I met. I just wanted to share a couple things I heard while traveling that have stuck in my head.

During your first couple weeks in India the country will be an acronym.

..India as an acronym..

I was able to meet a variety of backpackers while in India. A good number of these people, usually the fresh arrivals, absolutely hated the country. The culture shock and different feelings for the country had caused fights between many couples and often caused others to arrange onward flights as soon as possible (for those who were doing an 'around-the-world' trip).

The key to enjoying India? 
     Lower your standards and keep an open mind!


Another saying I heard from someone in the group I traveled with for just over a month is still one of my favorites. He told me "It takes a brave man to fart in India". At first I didn't understand what he meant. Was it culturally insensitive to fart here? How could that be when there is, burning, garbage everywhere with people defecating in the middle of the street?

It took a while but I figured out what he meant.. Diarrhea! Oh yes, the famous 'delhi belly' that attacks so many travelers. The saying "It takes a brave man to fart in India" is a reminder that you don't always know if that fart is actually a fart.. I have seen the face of a man who thought he had a fart but got more than he was expecting. It was a look of fright, worry, and slight disgust. In Canada we call this little surprise the 'Shart'.

So remember this every time you want fart in India... 'Is it really worth the risk'?