Sleep 1

23:50 to 03:08

(3:18 hours)

Okay so I moved my core back a bit today. To be honest I thought I was going to have to abort this experiment but I guess I'm still here!

Last night I had my pet rat out (who is very old and has 2 tumors growing on her) and at about 10:00pm she started to get weird. I think she couldn't breathe because of the cancers pressing on her lungs. In the end I sat with her for a while because she seriously looked like she wouldn't survive and I couldn't just dump her back in her cage to die.

At about 23:30 which was 15 minutes after my bed time, I discussed with my girlfriend what I should do. In the end, I slept downstairs on the sofa with my pet rat on my chest while she watched Red Dwarf DVDs and watched me to make sure I didn't roll on her or anything.

At about 2:00am I woke up and my rat seemed to have much improved so I put her back in the cage, and my girlfriend went up to bed. I stayed on the sofa and had another 1.5 hours of actually pretty good sleep.

I woke up easily for my alarm but now I feel very drowsy. I'm not sure of the overall quality of my sleep last night, but at least I can still continue with this!

Sleep 2

06:28 to 06:56

(0:28 hours)

I crept into my girlfriends bed and was out like a light. This is normally one of my favourite naps as I fall asleep so easily for it. I wish they were all this easy!

Sleep 3

12:20 to 12:45

(0:25 hours)

I was feeling a little sleepy this morning, and in the end we went roller blading from 10:30 - 12:00. When I got in I was starving so I ate a pice of Spanish cured ham, and then went for my nap.

I was worried that I wouldn't sleep so soon after doing exercise but I passed out straight away and had a nice nap. I still feel tired afterwards but I'm used to that by now...

Sleep 4

16:52 to 17:14

(0:22 hours)

I laid down and dozed off, and what seemed like a few seconds later woke up but kept my eyes closed. A few seconds later the alarm went off.

I don't feel particularly refreshed but I was really tired today. I think I have accumulated some sleep debt yesterday.

Sleep 5

23:18 to 02:51

(3:32 hours)

Today for the first time I took the full 3:30 hours for my core sleep. I woke up feeling tired as usual, but after about half an hour the tiredness faded and this has been the easiest morning yet.

Last night I wanted to give up - I was sick of feeling tired all of the time. My girlfriend persuaded me not to, and agreed to get up with me for this period which has been great. It's great to have someone else to talk to and to not have to worry too much about making noise.