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119 lines
5.1 KiB
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119 lines
5.1 KiB
HTML
A week ago I started a [polyphasic sleep schedule][schedule]. Its been a tough
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week, I feel like I'm am adapting but I'm still very tired part of the time. I
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tweaked my schedule early on to shift all the naps later by half an hour so as
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to better fit them in with work and my hour long train trips to and from work.
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The revised schedule looks like:
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[schedule]: /personal/2011/01/polyphasic-sleep-schedule/
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<table class="left_headers">
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<tr>
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<th>Core Sleep</th><td>11pm -- 2am</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<th>Nap 1</th><td>7:30am</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<th>Nap 2</th><td>12:30pm</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<th>Nap 3</th><td>5:30pm</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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The three hardest parts of the day are the 2am wakeup and the train trips. I've
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managed to get up right on 2am only 3 out of the 7 days. I now have three
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alarms for that time: 1:59, 2:00 and 2:01. Its still necessary to force myself
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out of bed when they go off and any delay results in sleeping in. Fortunately I
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don't sleep in for all that long, with the extra time ranging from 20 minutes to
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90 minutes.
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The train trips are hard because they are both at the tail end of a 5 hour
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awake period and sitting down initiates almost uncontrollable nodding off. I
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tried taking the naps on the train on two occasions. Whilst it would fit my
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schedule well to take the naps at this time they weren't of good enough
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quality. Plus there's the possibility of interruptions from the conductor
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checking tickets and I got a sore neck.
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I'm adapting to the naps in general though. Initially I felt I wasn't really
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sleeping during them whereas now I feel like I'm asleep for about 15 minutes
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out 20. The naps themselves feel extremely long. For the first few days I
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would keep waking up around the 15 minute mark thinking that I'd overslept. At
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this point I get tired about and hour and half before each nap and feel quite
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rejuvenated afterwards.
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The first day was very difficult. I think I was already tired when I started.
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During the day I felt dizzy, light-headed and "sqinty". In the afternoon I
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ended up quite uncomfortable as I was dealing with the urge to fall asleep, a
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headache and the feeling I was going to be sick. Fortunately the nausea passed
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around 5pm and that made me feel a lot better.
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I have tried not to change my day-to-day activities to cope with the tiredness.
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As a result I'm still riding my bike to and from the station each day, mowed
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the laws on Saturday, took [Ruby] for a long walk on Wednesday and attended a
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Australia Day get together.
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[Ruby]: /personal/2010/12/border-terrier-puppy-ruby/
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Appetite
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--------
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Being awake more has certainly increased my appetite and not just during the
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time I wouldn't normally be awake. Across the whole day I feel I'm eating more
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and getting hungry more often. I have also switched to decaf for my morning
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coffee.
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What I'm Doing With the Time
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----------------------------
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One of the questions that people ask me when I tell them about the schedule is,
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"what do you do with the time?". This is a question that didn't even cross my
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mind when considering starting the plan. To me its just obvious that having
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more time means more time to work on all the things that I don't have enough
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time to do. Some of the things I've done so far:
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* Watched screencasts about [CouchDB] and [Padrino].
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* Started a CouchDB backed [Rails] application to learn more about that.
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* Released a [node.js XML generation module][genx].
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* Written five blog posts (a record for one week).
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* Kept our expense tracking software up-to-date.
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* Processed and uploaded [photos].
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* Played with [Bella].
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* Caught up on RSS.
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* Made the Radiopaedia iPad app run as a universal app.
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[genx]: https://github.com/wezm/node-genx
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[CouchDB]: http://couchdb.apache.org/
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[Padrino]: http://www.padrinorb.com/
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[Rails]: http://rubyonrails.org/
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[Bella]: /personal/2011/01/russian-blue-kitten-bella/
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[photos]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wezm/sets/72157625906833852/
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The 2am -- 6am stint has been my most productive. Once I shake off the
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tiredness after waking, which takes 15 -- 45 minutes I'm able to remain
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focussed and busy until about 6. Although on week days I have to stop around 5
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to get ready for work.
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Socialising
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-----------
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I've only attended one social event in the past week, which was a
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birthday/Australia Day catchup with friends at a pub. I took my midday nap 30
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minutes early and then the afternoon one in the car when we left at 5, prior to
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driving home. For this particular event the naps fitted in pretty well.
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Today I have a 30th birthday to attend. It starts with dinner and will likely
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kick on after that. I'll be taking my 5:30 nap at work and then plan to take
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naps about every 4 hours after that until I'm home and can resume the normal
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schedule. Its not ideal that I have to mess with the schedule during the
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adaptation phase but this is the reality of the situation.
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The Coming Week
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---------------
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For the coming week I want to focus on awaking on time at 2am and making the
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train trips more bearable. I'm going to try having a small amount of chocolate
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on the train as that has seemed to help shake off the nodding off feeling a
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couple of other times. Hopefully the naps continue to become more refreshing
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and the tiredness between them decreases.
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