sleep.fig14.com

Now THAT is what I call a nap!

I have decided that the everyman sleep pattern is not for me. Basically adapting to it seems to stop life being fun, and although it may have been cool to be finally adapted to it, I'm not sure it is worth the effort.

This nap marks the start of my attempt to sleep with a proper biphasic pattern (i.e. better than the joke of a sleep pattern I had in Spain).

I feel a bit groggy after that nap, but it feels like I got a whole nights sleep! Let's see how this works out for me...

I took my normal 6:30 nap a few minutes early because I was knackered. I slept on my study floor with a cushion under my head, and eye pillow on my face and a small blanket over me. I think this is a better nap spot than the sofa!

I think I dreamt through this nap, although I don't have a clue what I dreamt about. I feel much better for that nap, although my vision is blurred for some reason.

I have been so exhausted that I decided to take a sneaky extra nap on the study floor. I set the alarm for 22 minutes but woke up after 10 and I feel somewhat refreshed. I just hope I can sleep for my 6:30 nap.

Last night I was exhausted again. From about 9:00pm up until my bed time I had to continuously fight off sleep. I toyed with the idea of extending my core to 4.5 hours, but after talking to a few people on IRC chat I decided against it.

Today, if I feel really sleepy at any point which isn't right before or after a nap I will take an extra nap to see if that helps. Apparently this is a much better idea than extending a core and won't really harm my adaptation.

When I woke up from this sleep I was dreaming, but I can't remember anything about the dream. I'm still sleepy though...

I used my eye pillow again for this nap and it worked a lot better because I went to bed and was completely horizontal. When I used it on the sofa my head was at an angle and it felt like it might fall off.

I like this nap on a Friday because my girlfriend comes home early on Friday, so when I wake up she is waiting for me which is great.

Today I got a new eye pillow in the post - it is a small pillow stuffed with what feels like rice and smells like lavender.

I slept on the sofa with the eye pillow on my face and had a good sleep, although I woke up feeling slightly groggy.

When I got back to the office my alertness levels were at least what they used to be on monophasic sleep. Unfortunately it only lasted about 15 minutes, but now I would say I am 'slightly tired' which is still pretty good.

I still couldn't quite last it out until 6:30!

After this nap I had breakfast and then felt alert enough to play computer games for half an hour before work.

Last night I went to bed at 23:30 and fell asleep pretty much straight away, only to be woken by a horrible dream.

I dreamt that I was outside and walking through a park, and I walked up to a group of people that I knew and started talking to them. They all gave me a really odd look, and then their faces morphed into complete strangers. I thought I was awake and this was happening, and that my sleep schedule had made me hallucinate, which made me wake up instantly.

I opened my eyes and could see my bedroom, but I was sliding slowly to the right, towards the edge of the bed. I tried to stop myself but couldn't, and was uncontrollably sliding. I tried to make a noise but I couldn't at first, and then eventually I think I made a little groaning noise and woke up properly.

I'm not sure if I was still dreaming the last bit, or experiencing some kind of sleep paralysis.

I looked at the clock and it said 20 minutes had passed. At least I know now that I am getting some REM, even if my dreams are not very nice!

I had been taking this nap earlier each day, and I have been struggling to stay awake at the end of the day. I have pushed this back to 5:00pm in the hope that it will help me have more energy at night.

Today I started the process of pushing this nap back towards 1:00pm.

This morning I felt really tired - it feels like a real step backwards from yesterday. I cycled home at lunch time and passed out on my sofa.

I feel better now but still not 100%.

I was extremely tired this morning: I think this was one of the toughest nights yet.

I was planning on taking this nap at 6:30, but I was so tired that I couldn't stay awake and I thought it's better to take my nap a little early than to fall asleep randomly without an alarm.

I napped on the sofa down stairs, and surprisingly it took a few minutes to fall asleep. I feel better than before my nap now, but I still feel very sleepy.

The weird thing is that when I was laying down to sleep, my heart seemed to be beating hard and fast. Today I had a green tea instead of a normal tea, so I should have less caffeine in my system. It felt very much like I had taken some kind of stimulant...

Wow I am tired! This is definitely the most sleepy I have felt after my core. I'm wondering if the extra 8 minutes I had past 3:30 hours was enough to push me into deep sleep, because this is seriously uncomfortable!

Normally when I wake up from my core I am a bit groggy, and I have a desire to go back to sleep. Today I am having to try extremely hard to fight off sleep: If I were to lay / sit down I would be asleep in seconds.

I also am switching from black to green tea after this sleep for the first time, to try and reduce the amount of caffeine in my system.

Now I'm off to listen to loud music and do the washing up!

I didn't feel majorly tired for this nap but I fell asleep for it quickly and had a good sleep. Now I am feeling a little groggy.

Before my nap today I didn't know whether I felt tired or not! I would say that my sleepiness was pretty low - I had no drowsiness at all really. My eyes on the other hand felt very tired but this could be from staring at a screen too much.

Today I slept on the couch for my 12:20 nap. I put on my eye mask and ipod and fell asleep pretty quickly.

My favourite technique at the moment for falling asleep fast is to count my breathes up to 10. If I get to 10, I start again at 1. I don't know why this works so well but it does, and most of the time I either don't get to 10 or only do it once.

After waking up a lot of my eye strain was gone and I feel better, but I would say now I feel more drowsy than before...

I moved this morning nap forward a little bit and shortened it. I did this because I was becoming more and more alert before the nap, and I thought if I don't take it soon, I will not be able to sleep!

I fell asleep pretty quickly and woke up feeling pretty good. I felt like I would normally feel after getting up on my monophasic schedule.

Last night was the first night that I wasn't sure I'd be able to fall asleep for my core. Yesterday I felt myself become a bit more awake just before each sleep, but in the end I slept through all of them. I must have fallen asleep for my core in a couple of minutes at most.

I had a good sleep as always, but I do feel a little groggy now like I normally do.

I have been counting my breathes to fall asleep: You count each time you breathe out from 1, 2 up to 10. If you get to 10 you start again at 1.

While I was going to sleep I would count '1, 2, 3, 4' and then drift off into a dream. A few seconds later I would realise I was dreaming and wake up. Although I don't remember any of them in particular, they were vivid flashes of people and scenes.

This must have happened 5 or 6 times before I drifted off into a nice sleep. Now I feel a little bit groggy but I am glad to have slept.

This morning I felt very sleepy. For some reason I started to feel a little less sleepy around 11:45, but after my cycle home I still managed to fall asleep pretty quickly.

My sleep was refreshing and I felt alert straight away after waking.

Unusually, this nap took me a while to fall asleep for. I knew it would be more difficult so I used my face mask.

I'm pretty sure I was laying awake for at least 10 minutes of it, but now I feel pretty good. I would say I feel more alert now than I normally would in the morning on a monophasic sleep pattern. Let's see how this holds up throughout the day!

This was the first time I have woken up from dreaming since starting this sleep pattern. This is a very good sign and means that the length of my core is probably right now.

I still feel a bit tired, but it is not as bad as the usual feeling when I wake from my core.