Biphasic sleep : Day 30
by Scott Bird
October 9, 2006
5 comments
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Final day of the experiment (though I’ll definitely continue biphasic sleeping - too many positives to ignore). This morning I woke feeling refreshed, with a mixed blessing of dream recall quickly replaced by thoughts of the day’s schedule. Less than five minutes after waking I was up and running, but I’d almost completely forgotten my dreams.
I’m starting to wonder whether a notepad beside the bed would be more often used as a dream diary or to-do list.
Following nap
That was a deep one. It took slightly longer to get to sleep than usual, and this brought the total just under 90 minutes (which, as expected, made little difference). The only noticeable change was that it was a bit longer afterward before I felt truly awake (to the point of operating heavy machinery, in any case).
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Wow, you made it to 30 days, congratulations, there are very few people who actually manage that while doing these kinds of things.
So has the sleeping had a positive effect on your fitness as well, or is it just a mental thing?
The one thing I’m intrigued about is the ‘mixed blessing’ of dream recall, what were you dreaming about, and why was it a mixed message to remember it.
Posted by: Steve | October 10, 2006 7:24 AM
Thanks Steph, I’ll write up a summary of things, but in the meantime:
I didn’t see any fitness benefits (although it certainly isn’t any worse) short-term, but the extra time and improved quality of sleep probably aid your recovery over a longer period. I intend to stick with this sleeping schedule, so I’ll find out soon enough.
The ‘mixed blessing’ I was referring to was a combination of dream recall and thoughts of the day’s schedule. The schedule replaced the dream. Now if I can find a way to have both…
Incidentally, I notice you posted this comment as ‘Steve’ rather than ‘Steph’. Anything sinister behind the change of spelling? :)
Posted by: Scott | October 10, 2006 8:22 AM
It’s been roughly a year later. Are you still a polyphasic sleeper?
Posted by: Clay | September 12, 2007 2:56 AM
Yes, definitely. I took a brief look at it recently, but the short version is - not much has changed, the benefits are still present daily. No side-effects that I’ve noticed in a year. It’s all good.
Are you considering/testing a similar schedule?
Posted by: Scott | September 12, 2007 8:58 AM
Thanks for the quick reply! I didn’t realize you did an update until after I posted. This page came up before the update one on google…I then spent a good while on your site. I like that have a lot of fitness orientated stuff on hear too. I’m just getting back in to lifting weights and working out after a sciatic nerve injury.
I plan on trying some type of polyphasic in the near future. I’m currently experimenting with a once-a-day diet. (Warrior Diet / Fast-5 Diet) It’s sounds a little dumb to just eat at night, but I figured it was worth a try. I’m just in my 4th day. I’ll try it at least 2 weeks. I like the extra time I have with skipping breakfast and lunch. One of my friends from undergrad would do this and was in incredible shape. I downloaded the free pdf book at fast-5.com. They also have the book on amazon. (there’s also a lot of stuff about the warrior diet online). I thought about trying biphasic sleep immediately but don’t like to start things just to not finish. I’d rather try this radical diet now and it now work then try it for a week and then keep wondering if it was functional.
I haven’t decided what type of sleep schedule I’ll try. Definitely Everyman or Biphasic. The biphasic is the most intriguing (and most practical) to me because something like “everyman” or “uberman” have so many naps. My problem with your biphasic schedule though is that I want my nights free. (I’m 25 and in law school) So I’ll probably try a core sleep some time at night (between 11am and 5am) and then a nap (1.5 hrs) anywhere from 10:30 to 1pm. I read your experience w/ afternoon napping… Do you think having the nap after (instead of waking up 4.5 hours before the core) will be a problem?
I’ll keep you posted whenever I do try it though. An interesting note (that makes me excited about biphasic): Last Thursday night I forgot to turn off my cell phone. I went to sleep about 11pm and woke up about 1.5 hours later when somebody called me. I couldn’t go back to sleep until about 5am. I then only slept 2-3 hours. The strange thing is I felt fine the next day. The following night I woke up on my own a little after an hour of sleep and stayed up (did a little reading and then researched sleep patterns online) and stumbled upon biphasic and polyphasic sleep. I then slept a little over 4 hours in the early part of the morning. I felt great on Saturday too!
I think I’ll start biphasic sleep the 1st of October!
Posted by: Clay | September 13, 2007 4:21 AM