Polyphasic Sleep Experiment: Days 12, 13 and 14

Two weeks. Has it only been that long? It feels like ages that I’ve been doing this. And I’ve accomplished so much more than I could were I not on this schedule. I’m still getting a positive gain in this experiment, according to my goals.

I’m falling asleep much faster than before. When I lay down to nap, I haven’t any of the time to lay and think like I used to when I slept monophasically. It’s mostly lay down, move a little until I get comfortable, and then bam, I’m out.

It’s an odd sensation, and is often a little disorienting. Often times, when I awaken, I’m not entirely sure I’ve slept. I need to check the clock to make sure that I have done so. My perception of time after naps is often very skewed; like others have mentioned, when I nap it feels more like it’s been an hour or two. Sometimes it feels like even more time passes and I get a little panicked that I’ve overslept a whole bunch (and missed work or something), only to hear the alarm clock go off because I had actually awoken before it.

Sunday, day 12, I was so disoriented that I immediately reset my alarm, convinced that I had mis-set it before and not yet napped, and promptly took another nap. I awoke from the double nap a bit groggy, but stretching relieved that. My next nap was the biggest crash I have had yet: 5 hours. But wow did I feel good afterwards.

Except for those that I significantly oversleep, each of my naps had started including a good deal of grogginess after them. To me, this felt very similar to times I woke myself up mid-sleep-cylce. This agrees with the statements on people woken up during “deep sleep” experiencing grogginess (source).

Given that I’ve been falling asleep quickly and that REM generally lasts less than 30 minutes according to here (10 minutes for first cycle) and here (between 10 and 30 during the night), I thought maybe I was sleeping a little too long and moving into deep sleep.

So I decided to experiment with a shorter nap time. I now have been setting my alarm for around 25 to 28 minutes instead of 30. Less grogginess, but it is still present. Tonight, I am going to attempt just setting my alarm for 23 minutes. If I can dispel the grogginess, I don’t think I will have any more incidences of oversleeping. Once I get to that stage, I think I can consider adopting some core sleep to make sure I’m getting at least a little NREM sleep.

I also allowed a small amount of caffeine back into my diet for Monday and Tuesday at work. I was still dragging my feet some, but I needed to be somewhat productive. So, after digging a little, I allowed myself a weak cup of Bigelow's Constant Comment Tea. According to this site, it's only got 29 mg / 5 oz. cup of tea. That's not too much, when I make it weakly and space it out over the whole day. Still, no caffeine would probably be best, but I needed the alertness.

I have a hypothesis that melatonin production is causing my day-long grogginess. See, the last nap before I go to work (around 6 or 7 am) is often taken beside my wife as she starts to go to bed (she works graveyard shift now). As a result, it's taken in a darkened room instead of a well-lit room like with all my other naps. I'm wondering if this could be triggering melatonin production (based off this article), which indicates night time to my body, which causes me to be groggy.

So, in addition to shorter naps, I'm going to experiment with very bright, full on lighting during naps. This may not work, because as that abstract points out, most indoor lighting doesn't do that. Maybe if I shine lamps directly on me? Who knows?

Anyway, it's time for a nap.
-sean