Day 2:
Today was the first day I had to go to work on this schedule. It is advised to go through the adaptation stage when you are fully in control of your schedule and presumably free of responsibilities, but I'd rather adapt sooner than later -- especially so I can apply the polyphasic sleep during school (which starts this week).
I work part-time as a cashier at Lowe's on weekends only. Given the less control that I have over my time for the 8 or so hours that I work, I knew this was going to be a challenge -- especially in my adaptation period. In fact, I had chosen the 1am, 5am, 9am,...etc. sleeping cycle specifically because those are the times that least conflict with my usual 15 minute breaks, which I could use to roughly cover my 9am and 1pm nap times. The key word here is: Usual. And indeed, my expectations were confirmed: My first break was scheduled a half-hour earlier than usual, but that was no biggie. The somewhat biggie was not getting my final break at the usual time of 1pm (or close to it). I waited until 2:30pm, and specifically requested a break immediately. They were compliant, fortunately.. Next time, I'm going to be more vigilant about that 1pm-ish break. But even after my 15 minute nap which substituted for what would be the 20-30 minute nap, I wasn't too bogged down about the delayal. I expected this, and I think it's fairly clear that the weekends during the workdays will simply have deal with "wobbles" here and there.
Today I noticed that I've already started "deep-sleeping" just mere minutes after I begin napping. And naturally, the deeper the nap, the more refreshed and energetic I came back. It's pretty neat.
On the other hand, I have a deeper understanding of what polyphasers are talking about when they say you feel like "you got hit by a truck" during the adaptation phase. When I took my naps, I woke up with my arms amazingly stiff and achey. My elbow joints didn't seem to want to extend.
My right eye became very red in the outer corner, which led me to purchase some advanced eye-care Visine after I got off work -- just to ensure optimal preventative care. I also bought a sleep mask, to aid in my napping during the daytime.
When I got home, it was about time for my 5pm nap. Here is where I made my first (and I hope, last) screw up: I napped on the couch, thereby placing myself far away from my bedroom where all my back-up alarms are located -- only my phone was used.. Problem is, I forgot I had my phone on "silent" mode, so no vibration woke me up. So what was supposed to be a 20-30 minute nap, ended up being about a 3 hour nap. Overall, I'm not that disappointed because:
1) It was a pretty tough day working while adapting to this new schedule. So I was fairly exhausted.
2) Three hours of sleep is just a wobble - though the fewer the better. If I had fallen asleep for 8 or so hours, then I'd be really upset: I'd basically reset my entire sleeping schedule to square one, and all the hard work down the drain. Interestingly, I think that my nap was that only 3 hours short because of the continuous napping prior to. In the past when I was a monophasic sleeper, I would at times come home from work, exhausted and fall-asleep much in the same way -- except I wouldn't get up until early morning the next day. But with this polyphasic sleeping, the continuous napping itself seems to be a mitigating factor in potential "screw ups", which is nice. That being said, however, I recognize that there are some variables that I will have to control from here on forth every time I take a nap at home (at least, in the crucial adaptation stage). Namely, the location and alarms. Taking my home naps on the bed (where my three alarm clocks are at), in addition to my properly-activated phone, will provide an optimal, controlled environment.
Day 3:
Today was pretty good -- it wasn't perfect, but it was very good. I've noticed that the hardest times to maintain my alertness was during the 5am - 9am period. After my 9am nap, it's already sunny out, which I think stimulates myself on a physiological level; it "wakes me up" a little more. So I went and did some grocery shopping at Wal Mart and Costco at unprecedented times of the morning, and as I was driving, the "strangeness" of being a polyphaser creeped up on me. Just having spent the previous several hours in the dark of the night, and now it was daylight out. It was precisely because of the continuity of my experience and the lack of "grogginess", that it was such an odd and surreal experience. I also had to keep reminding myself: "Today is Monday. MONDAY." It will be interesting to see more of how my perception of time changes as I continue to make progress.
I also notice that I have to remind myself to brush my teeth at night now. Before, I would simply group the "brushing teeth routine" with my other monophasic-based routines that revolve around going to bed and hibernating for the night. In the absence of these other sub-routines, I notice that I am easily "forgetting" to brush my teeth. The fix is trivially easy, though -- just a simple matter of re-arranging my routines according to other fixed factors (e.g. time). But interesting to note, nonetheless.
I find that I am having to eat much more food and on a much more continuous basis -- this was expected, based on my research. What I find very nice is the fact that I actually CAN eat much more healthier now, simpy because I am not in any rush during the mornings. During my monophasic sleeping, I would typically wake up at the last second, leaving me with just enough time to shower, do my hair, get dressed, and make coffee -- that's it. No big country breakfasts, no elaborate meals. Now, it seems like I have ALL THE FREAKING TIME to eat, eat, eat -- and to make meals for when I head out to school or work. Not only must I eat more, but I can actually eat more healthier at the same time! It's beautiful!
So today at Wal Mart, I bought a bunch of high-energy foods for me to graze on: Diet (no sugar, etc) trail mix, celery, baby carrots, apples, walnuts, etc. Btw, Steve Pavlina blogs about his vegetarianism having crucial role in his success -- but vegetarianism is far from necessary. PureDoxyk, author of "Uber Sleep", mentions this, and further points out that the majority of polyphasers are omnivores, just as are the majority of humans. What's more important is the timing and sizing of your meals. Eating too soon before a nap or too much at once will clearly create forces to be reckoned with.
So what was it today that made it short of perfect? First of all, I was late for my 1pm nap because of an absurdly loquacious neighbor -- an encounter that I tried my best to end while maintaining politeness and discreetness. I am going to have to devise strategies for this kind of situation. And when I finally rush to take my nap, I neglect to create the controlled napping environment, again -- this time, I slept on my bed, but naively relied on my phone and didn't bother to turn on my back-up alarms, and slept for three hours (same as yesterday). I'm not that bogged down by it, not only because a three hour nap is just a mere "wobble" and not a wreck, but also because this inadvertently coincides with an "Everyman Schedule", which (as prescribed) has a core nap (what I call a "wobble") of 3 or 1.5 hours (the two main variations)::