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'?

Merry Christmas!

I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, wherever you may be. I'd also like to thank my friends for all their, sometimes drunk, text messages and phone calls from around the world.  Giving holiday wishes and kind reminders that they are still traveling some exotic lands while I'm back home in the freezing Canadian prairies..

It will be just over a week until I'm back in my home city again and I have a post that will have to wait till then. I will be looking into my half unpacked bags to see what actually made it through the entire trip with me, what items I would never have survived without and which I would never take with me again.

Till then happy holidays!

Remember to eat, drink, and be jolly!

You've got mail!

I received a notice in my mail yesterday that a parcel had arrived. I thought it may be the one I sent home just over a month ago but didn't want to get my hopes up.

I went to the post office this afternoon and after searching around for a couple minutes they presented me with a dirty and beaten parcel from Neyyerdam Thiruvananthapuram, India! When I picked it up with my hands I could tell that there was no structure left to the parcel as it had a long and rough trip across the ocean. The only thing holding to together was the, originally, white cloth sewn around it. Eager to see what made it back home in reasonable condition I raced home to open what could be considered my Christmas present to myself as I had forgotten what I packed inside almost two months earlier.


The contents:

• My custom made-to-fit yoga pants (x2)
• Some white women's yoga pants (there was lack of guys & therefor guy clothing at the ashram)
• Hand panted t-shirts
• Shirts from the ashram
• Tons of book (religion, meditation, yoga, and various other topics)
• CDs (yoga and meditation)
• Chakra poster
• Ties, cufflinks, and handkerchiefs (I knew I'd have to 'suit up' again eventually)
• A gift for someone
• Various other things I bought for no apparent reason

Out of the entire package there was only one thing that I bought for someone else, but I suppose I have the right to be greedy with space when shipping costs so much!

Culture Shock (Reversed)

It's been a few days now since I arrived home. Not too many people know this, but every time I fly through airports I like to play little games with other people to keep myself entertained without spending any money. During my flight to India back in September I decided that people don't smile enough and set out to make as many strangers smile during my 5 hour layover in Minneapolis and 6 hour layover in Amsterdam. I ended up loosing track of how many people smiled back at me after only a couple hours but I'll consider that a good thing. Not only did it keep me entertained without spending money but I'm hoping it made someones day a little better when I was able to put a smile on their face.

On the way back from India, seeing as how I was constantly getting searched and questioned by security on my flights to India in September, I thought I'd dress as someone who fits the typical stereotype of a possible threat to airport security. I wanted to see how dressing in a foreign cultures clothing and having my ungroomed beard would play into the 'random' security checks and the racism of airport authorities. When I was in India, towards the end of the trip, everyone asked me if I was Muslim so that's the look I went for on my flight home as I was sure it would cause problems when going through the USA. I was quite surprised with the results of my little game.  I got through security at Amsterdam quicker then I had before and absolutely flew through the USA's security check, faster than any of the other people in my line. Sure I got a lot of stares as I waited for planes during my layovers, but it was nothing in comparision to the stares you get in India. Actually, I'm pretty certain that India took more pictures of me than I took of it.

Back home, my dog and a lot of snow.

Now that I am back home in Canada I'm facing some (reverse) culture shock similar to my first week in India. The structure to everything, the absolute quietness, and the way people isolate themselves from others is chipping away at my nerves. I'm not really sleeping yet. Wide awake every night until well into the next day, it's taking a long time to get my body back to its original time zone. Driving on the icy Canadian roads is stressful, I'd take an Indian road over an icy road any day. I'm glad to see family, old friends, and familiar faces once again. I have just over one week to prepare for a conference I'm facilitating and after three months of no responsibilities getting down to work has proven difficult.

I'm hoping that this is all just the effects of reverse culture shock but it almost feels like I don't belong here, I'm already looking forward to my future travels.

Coming home..

Today will be my last full day in India, and it's been a crazy one. I've done so much running around and spent hours this afternoon in Mumbai's 'red light district', all work no play, trying to find a certain Christmas gift for one of my brothers.

I can't believe that three months have already gone by. I haven't taken many pictures since I've been back in Mumbai so I'm bringing some old ones back for this post. The city seems so different but the pictures help remind me that its just my perspective that has changed, Mumbai is still the busy crazy place it's always been.

My suit is getting its final touches as we speak, I'm hoping its done in time. They assure me it will but India has taught me to know better.

I've payed for another night in my hotel room even though I won't be staying through till the morning. I'm just using my room as a preparation area for my packing that I really should start on soon.

Bollywood: Late this afternoon while wondering the streets of Mumbai, looking good as always, I received my first reasonable offer to be in a Bollywood movie as an extra. They were willing to pay me a salary on top of paying my room, board, and moving me out to Goa for a week. Of course this is terrible timing as I leave for home in less then 24 hours.

I gave the Chicken Maharaja Mac another try, three months later at the same McDonalds in Colaba, Mumbai. Although it will never quite be comparable to the original western 'Big Mac' it tasted a lot better then I remembered.




Well this is me signing off with my last post from India. It will be a long journey home full of many cups of coffee, random conversations, and more time zone changes then I care to think about. I've reached into the softer-side of my iTunes library to find my departure song.

Hope you enjoyed following along for my travels, you'll be hearing from me again soon.

Mumbai: Quick update

I arrived back in Mumbai yesterday but haven't had any time to write a post until now. I'm staying further to the southern tip of Mumbai this time and after going to several hotels that had no rooms I found a place called 'Delight Guest House' for 350rs/night. I think calling it 'Delight' is pushing it a little far as my room is the size of the old style prison cells with nothing but a bed and table but its clean and cheap (by Mumbai standards).

My guest house is only a couple hundred
meters from the gateway of India.

I'm spending today in alternating sessions of running around to shop and get everything done I want to before leaving India with periods of relaxation over the deliciously spicy and flavorful India food I'm sure to miss. But for now I have to run for a fitting as I'm getting a new suit made for myself [prices for hand-tailored suits range from 4,500-15,000rs($100-330+) depending on the quality of your tailor and the materials they use].

Still in Jaipur.. opps..

So yesterday didn't go exactly as planned as I'm still in Jaipur when I should have now been in Mumbai, but that's India for you. My ticket for the train yesterday was 'WL-1' which means I was the first person on the waiting-list and would be given a seat when someone canceled. 99% of the time anyone with WL-1 status would be confirmed, but seems I found that other 1%.

After a fair amount of paperwork I was able to get access of their 'tourist quota' seats and get a confirmed spot (AC3) on fully booked train at 2pm today. So I will be arriving in Mumbai a day later than planned but should still be able to get everything done I need to before leaving India. 


When I came to India Mumbai was the first city I saw and I ended up spending a week there so I'm looking forward to being there once again to see how my perspective on it has changed with my time in India. One of the things I'm not looking forward to about the big city, the overbook and ridiculously expensive accommodation

One week remaining

I just realized that one week from today I will be on a plane, on my way back home.

I booked a train to Mumbai tomorrow. Seeing as it will be my last train ride in India I thought it was worth splurging a little and booked a first class air conditioned berth for 2,350rs($50). I don't have a confirmed ticket though as every train was fully book so I'm waitlisted. Being waitlisted isn't anything new, but it is making me slightly nervous as I need to get back to Mumbai for my flight.

For those of you wondering what I've been up to in Jaipur, other then the entertaining first couple days, not much. Sure the city has ancient forts and temples, but it's nothing I haven't already seen a million times. I've been spending most my days sharing travel stories with other backpackers over a McChicken burger at McDonalds, fighting with rickshaw drivers, or wondering the endless bazzars in the old city.

"They want to end your life.."

There is lots more to the story but this is my best attempt to sum the last two days without writing a never ending essay on the subject.

Two locals friends recently pushed past a yelling hotel manager after he told them I wasn't there, banging on my door with a message. 'Don't go with them, they want to end your life' they warned me as we talked in my room with the hotel manager angrily pressed against my closed door.

The last two days in Jaipur have been interesting to say the least. With Jaipur being one of the major tourist cities in India there is a large high pressure tout/rickshaw walla population that rush towards tourists hoping for an easy rupee. I met two guys yesterday morning, at a McDonalds, and they offered to show me a new hotel as I had payed far to much the previous night (when you arrive at 1am 700rs for the night is something you just have to deal with). They showed me a new hotel at 400rs per night for an amazing room (sure they got a little commission but I couldn't find anything even close to this cheap & good on my own after hours of searching). After getting settled in they refused to take any payment and wanted to show me around Jaipur.. for free.. Of course I knew something was up but I thought I'd play it out as long as I could. We went up to Tiger Fort, they paid for all the entrance fees and teas, to watch the sunset over Jaipur. Around 7pm we went for supper as his brother and boss had 'just flow in and would like to meet me', okay so isn't as abnormal in India as it would sound in another country. Westerners are after all a hot commodity here. The conversation was good, plus the free beer and meal helped out. Once the 'boss' arrived and started talking I was able to put all doubts aside and knew exactly what scam they were trying to pass over, good news for me there was no risk and I could expect a lot of free things as they tried to gain my trust.



The boss left as he of course had urgent business matters, but said he would like to have breakfast with me tomorrow morning. The two others and myself talked for another hour before they dropped me off at my hostel, refusing any payment once again.


This morning they picked me up at 10am and took me out for coffee at a Cafe Coffee Day branch for some espressos and breakfast. I offered to pay but they declined, the boss had to remain in character and pick up the tab. Then the business offer came, it was a simple idea but was well presented, you could tell this was a regular act for them.  All I had to do was have some precious jewelry mailed to myself back home (they would never actually be sent in the mail) and deliver them to their agents in Canada (who would pay you and reimburse you for any taxes you had to pay), allowing them to bypass the high tariffs on exporting. How the scam works is they will either get a small payment from you up front or a credit card so they can fake some receipts and undervalue the jewelery. After the pitch I politely declined and left, they gave surprisingly little effort (for India) to try and convince me to stay.

So with that I come to the end of my second day in India. Its been a fun, and free, ride but I knew it had to end at some point. For those of you wondering about my friends warning me that they 'want to end my life' its just a common lost in translation thing. They were actually just wanting to warn me that these other people were trying to scam me for $1,000-5,000 and it had nothing to do with my safety, just the end of my financial life.

For those planning to travel to India: I hope you venture outside of the famous golden triangle route (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) as the rest of India is completely different, more friendly, and less stressful to travel. From what I've seen so far South India is without a doubt better for backpackers than Northern India.