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How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-17 09:02 |
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For over 8 months, I've been reading up on all the information I could find on polyphasic sleep from several different points of view. I've tried about... 4 or 5 times to adapt to the dymaxion sleep, but have been unsuccessful for various reasons.
Probably the last two failures show the most accuracy in portraying my reasons for failing to stick with it. The second-to-last time was at the beginning of the summer (June 2 for me). My alarm, a wind-up kitchen timer, fell off of my ear and onto the floor (yes, in my stupidity, I slept in a bed). It was too far away from my ear to wake me up.
The most recent attempt, starting around 48 hours ago was thwarted in a similar fashion. To prevent the alarm from slipping off of my head (I rely both th loud noise of the alarm and its vibrations on my head), I sought to tape it there with Scotch tape. In my sleep, the tape's weak bond parted from my head and the alarm fell onto the floor again. I plan to switch to duct tape next time. 
Before I get to the question I sought to have answered by posting this, I'm wondering: Is 30 minutes every 6 hours sufficient for the dymaxion schedule? I wouldn't have questioned this before, but I read the other topic in this subforum and noticed that people are doing 45 minutes instead of 30 or something.
But, anyways, I had been adapting to polyphasic sleep for 36 hours, and should have awoke at 12:40 GMT-5. I didn't, and am wondering how long I should wait before I attempt to start again. From what I've read, there seems to be an elongated adaption period for those who attempt to continue immediately after failing. In an ideal world, I'm hoping to try again in about a week of normal sleep. Would I still be bound by the negative effects of recent failure?
Edited by foolonthehill on 2007-07-17 09:44 |
 
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RE: How long should I wait? |
jarsac
Member
Posts: 6
Joined: 04.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-17 13:04 |
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I've heard of people only taking 30 min naps on Dymaxion, but the official amount (as far as I'm aware) is 45 min per nap.
As far as how long you should wait until you try again, my opinion would be to not wait at all. I believe the best strategy is to just push forward as if it didnt happen. Totally changing your sleeping habits is very difficult and takes a while to adjust to. So if you screw up, dont give up, keep going. Today's failure is one step further towards tomorrow's success.
By the way, I cant say I've ever heard of anyone taping an alarm clock to their head. You're quite the character  |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-17 13:22 |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep#Practice_makes_perfect
Would that part of the Wikipedia article be true or false then? |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
polykan
Super Administrator
Posts: 164
Location: Canada
Joined: 17.12.06 |
| Posted on 2007-07-17 18:25 |
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Not sure what the official call on that would be myself, I've seen arguments for both sides. Personally I would say 45 minutes is too long, as you'd go well beyond the REM stage and would have a very hard time waking yourself up after. |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-17 19:57 |
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Do you think I should catch up on sleep before going at it again? I'm torn between Wikipedia's opinion and jarsac's. If you could tell me why or why not, the world would be a better place.
Edited by foolonthehill on 2007-07-17 19:58 |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
polykan
Super Administrator
Posts: 164
Location: Canada
Joined: 17.12.06 |
| Posted on 2007-07-17 20:35 |
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I've never heard any recommendations to catch up on sleep after messing up. I've actually always heard the opposite, to stick with it and realize it can take time before these things become habits. |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-17 21:53 |
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Would it hurt to catch up on sleep? I would imagine everything would be easier to start without being tired. I know that a good part of adapting is being sleep-deprived while adhering to a strict schedule, but I think (maybe I'm wrong) that sticking to it does a whole lot by itself, which would be more easily done when started off with good rest. This is my opinion: When just staying up (no polyphasic sleep, even), it gets harder and harder to stay awake. If you begin staying up with less sleep before hand, you can't last as long. As far as polyphasic sleep goes one may not snag the relief of adjustment in time if you try running on nothing for too long.
But, of course, that's just an opinion of someone who's never succeeded, and I'm probably stabbing myself in the foot. Thank you kindly for both your answers: I'll keep you posted on whether it is indeed a good idea to recuperate first.
5:10-5:40
11:10-11:40
GMT-5
Edited by foolonthehill on 2007-07-17 22:21 |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
polykan
Super Administrator
Posts: 164
Location: Canada
Joined: 17.12.06 |
| Posted on 2007-07-18 05:33 |
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It sounds like you've already made up your own mind, so I'm not going to bother answering the question. It's been answered twice already anyways.
Best of luck |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-19 04:05 |
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6:05 AM: I'm tired. |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
polykan
Super Administrator
Posts: 164
Location: Canada
Joined: 17.12.06 |
| Posted on 2007-07-19 06:05 |
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Well you're doing better than I did last night, I woke up and saw that my Internet was down, and the modem is in my roommate's room, who I wasnt about to wake up at 3am. So back to sleep I went  |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-19 06:26 |
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I thought that you had been Everymanning for a while at this point in time. Do you still have to worry about trying to stay polyphasic?
Edited by foolonthehill on 2007-07-19 06:48 |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
polykan
Super Administrator
Posts: 164
Location: Canada
Joined: 17.12.06 |
| Posted on 2007-07-19 07:50 |
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Yeah you always have to worry about it, it's easier to get back into schedule after a screwup but a screwup is just as easy to come by.
For example, on the weekend I spent Saturday out and about and missed two naps. Ended up oversleeping that night because of it. Managed to get back on track for a couple of days then there's last night where I went back to sleep out of boredom. Had it been at least nice outside I would've went for a walk or a bike ride but it was storming. |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-19 16:13 |
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Whee, over 31 hours in. 209 hours left to go for 10 days! The midnight/11:10 nap has of this milestone has been my failing point 2 times before now. Since this is the first time I've ever been able to get help from other people (no one believed me about polyphasic sleep's working until now), I expect I'll get much farther. |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
foolonthehill
Member
Posts: 58
Joined: 17.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-19 22:09 |
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Whee, I made it! Sorry for the double-post, I'm just happy. 37 hours into it, and I feel like I could fall asleep wherever I wanted if I wanted. Even going outside to run doesn't really help. I feel tired enough to doze off in mid-sprint.
Edited by foolonthehill on 2007-07-19 22:10 |
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RE: How long should I wait? |
kevin
Member
Posts: 13
Joined: 03.07.07 |
| Posted on 2007-07-20 14:58 |
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Congrats! |
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