Initial Biphasic Sleeping Experiences
April 12, 2007 by Greg
As Cash mentioned earlier, we’ve been experimenting with biphasic sleeping here at Urban Monarch. After a bit of tinkering, and a few recent events, I wanted to share my experience thus far.
Monday Night
I met my friend for dinner after work. Dinner turned into 3 margaritas, a couple tequila shots, and another round of drinks at the lounge where his girlfriend works. At this point, the night was still young, and realizing it would grow longer, I informed everyone that I would need a nap if this party was going to continue.
Around 10pm I went up to his place and set myself up on the couch. He stayed up to play video games and wake me in 90 minutes. 11:30p came and much to my own shock and disapproval he forcedly pulled me from my strongly desired sleep. In a haze of grogginess I shuffled to my feet and we made it back out on the town. I stayed out till 2am, grabbed 4.5 hours of sleep and was off to work in the morning.
I felt surprisingly well rested for having just endured a late night of partying, but by no means at 100%. The redbull I consumed at the club seemed to still be jittering away at my bones.
Tuesday Night
As I was walking home from my piano lesson at 8:30p my friend called to invite my to an impromptu dinner party he was having. I told him I was rather sleepy, but would be up for it if i caught a nap. I went home and quickly fell asleep because of the exhausting night before.
I awoke the next day at 6am. That was 9 hours of sleep. Shit.
Wednesday Night
Wednesday is the start of the social week. I generally go out every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Do to a tie up at work, I missed the afro-cuban dance class I had planned on, but still made it home a little after 7p. I made plans with three of my friends, promised a text message in a few hours, and was off to bed.
I laid there awake and well rested from the 9 hours of sleep I received the night before. However, I knew if I stayed up till 2am without a nap, I would be sleepy. One thing that has been crucial to sleeping when I am not tired is understanding the basic phases of sleep.
Stage 1 is the gateway between wakefulness and sleep. In this stage my muscles relax, eyelids are heavy, and a tingly feeling touches the nerves all over my body. When I am not sleepy I start to mimic these physical responses consciously and usually within 10-15 minutes I’m out.
I awoke the next day at 7am. That was 11.5 hours of sleep. Shit.
Reflections
Not to be disheartened I’ve decided to collect my thoughts and make a step forward.
I should choose biphasic or monophasic sleep as a basic cycle. If a one off need arises to switch to the opposite sleep cycle, it is easy enough to accommodate. However flip flopping for days at a time seems to make the transitions more difficult.
Naps are socially acceptable and can take place anywhere. I gather most of my friends would not be upset if I told them I needed a 90 minute nap, but would be ready to go again after. Instead of being flexible about how I sleep, I should be flexible about where I sleep. Hanging out with a girl? I need a 90 minute nap and then we can continue this.
Alcohol affects sleep and, while altering my sleeping cycles, intake should be minimized to allow proper calibration. Studies have shown that the body has shorter REM cycles when alcohol is in the system. After the body has eliminated the alcohol from the blood stream, the sleeper then experiences longer REM cycles than earlier, making up for the earlier loss (sleep, sleepiness, and alcohol use). If I’m sleeping for short periods with excessive alcohol in my system, the sleep may not be that good or all that useful.
I know someone with a Kitchen Aide Mixer… It’s real nice.
Afro cuban dance class?! Wild.
I made some notes on my own Biphasic experience from last night here. I’m committed to making it work.
yeah no doubt, i think I’m going to make a solid 1 or 2 week commitment to doing it every night to see what happens.
Thanks for the followup guys. I was actually just wondering how that experiment had gone. I was kind of wondering how alcohol, stress, events etc might affect sticking to this schedule.
So last night, further improvements.
6:00PM-7:45PM 1st sleep cycle
7:45PM-1:00AM Miscellaneous chores / going out (a veritable Urban Monarch reunion, with Gucci, Sifu and Greg all in effect)
1:30AM-5:45 2nd Sleep cycle (basically 3 complete cycles + one additional hour)
This represents a total of 5 hrs, 45 minutes sleep for the night, and again, right now, even without any coffee in my system, I feel great.
My alarm was set for 4:45 (which would have been adhering almost exactly to ‘traditional’ biphasic timing, aka 4.5 hours of sleep / day) but not having any No Doz in the house for a jump start, I stole another hour.
I’m almost sure though I’ll be able to move to true Biphasic (4.5 Hours) with just a few more nights ‘adjustment’.
Goat; last night I had a total of maybe 3 drinks during the night, and then 1 Knob Creek on the rocks when I got home. Again, I didn’t wake up at all during my second cycle.
Greg; Regarding the ‘biphasic reset’ I was telling you about last night; check out the info here at the Eyecrust Biphasic sleep blog. Probably makes sense to do this once every few weeks at least.
One final note of Biphasic vindication; last night as the evening came to a close, I noticed Gucci was definitely dragging and in need of some sleep. Meanwhile, I was still wide awake and ready for more fun.
Oops. Make that “Biphasic Reboot”.
I’m a little sleepy this morning. One key I forgot to mention is making sure your well nourished and hydrated. It seems to be amplified with a lowered sleep schedule.
Oh, and I’ve decided to biphasic sleep for the next week solid, starting last night.
You gotta be kidding me. This is my normal cycle.