It has been too long since I have written.
I am not going to try to continue where I was exactly the last time I posted. I will just let my reader(s) know that I have been doing more than watching the television. I have continued my research on sleep cycles and have found alternative sleep cycles, also known as polyphasic. Polyphasic sleep cycles seem to be a little controversial in the sleep world. Tonight is my first night of the polyphasic sleep cycle cleverly nicknamed the "everyman". The everyman has a 3 or 4 hour "core" nap or sleeping period than a nap for 20 minutes of 20 at intervals of about 5 hours. Clearly, this is much less than the widely believed 7-8 hour sleeping period. There are a few possible explanations why this could work despite of this. It is true that the later someone sleeps straight the less deep sleep they are receiving in the later hours. One such explanation is that you get your deep sleep from the core nap, and in time, learn to go into REM almost right away while napping. Another possible explanation is that in time, whole sleep cycles can be condensed into one nap period. I really cannot say which is more likely. There is a more extreme called the "Uberman" which is made up of only naps and suggests the latter, but it's still in theory.
With all of this so experimental, some may say "Why bother with it?"
Well, that is simple. The only reason it is experimental, is because few people have tried it (as well as studied it). Those who have reported pretty positive results. There is nothing to suggest this is "against nature". In fact, it appears to me that most of us, if not all, came to this world as polyphasic sleepers. We may have slept for more than a few naps, but had not our parents forced us into a new way of sleeping who knows what our sleeping patterns would be today. Life is short anyhow, I can honestly say that there is nothing wrong with sleeping the typical sleep pattern of 7-8 hours. I can also say, most people don't get this amount of sleep either. If most people are living long term deprived sleep lives in America, does it not make sense to try something else? Even if going in completely unaware of sleep patterns or anything related, is a two week test period unreasonable? At the very least this sleep pattern reports to make users feel charged and well. With that I can at least say one way has one feeling well and enjoying life. What if this way does work with no actual drawbacks other than initial sleep deprivation I wonder. The person with a dot of courage to experiment clearly is the one who will unlock more plentifulness and prosperity in this age of life and all that have passed. Not to say this is the right place upon which to test, but perhaps we should all add to one field of study or experimentation. In my opinion, some of the experimentals (an idea such as America was just an idea, a cause, or new sleeping style) of our life may be dangerous or kill us. On the other hand, there is a good possibility they will kill us a lot slower than the widely accepted practices we know kill us.
If this does work, feeling well rested every night is my main prize, the few extra hours is only a valuable bonus.
Today is day 1, I think I will attempt the record my feelings throughout these 2 weeks semi-regularly. I am writing this currently at 2:48 AM. It seems strange to me to be awake. It's chilly outside and the world is ever so much quieter. I am not really all that tired. I am in a sort of neutral mode where if asked if I was tired, I might reply "huh?". I do not really feel tired nor well rested. Two good lessons have appeared out of this already. The first is that it is interesting is that if the question of "If you could have more time in the day for productivity, would you take it?" I believe most would sincerely answer "yes". The interesting part is that I am not all that sure most of us (including me) would know exactly what to do with it. True there are things we do not and sometimes can not complete in a normal day. If you are like me and stand to gain another 4 hours or so of new productive time those tasks generally are completed with ease. Then, "now what?" It is very interesting that in a world like this with abundant things to study and do we run out of things to do rather fast. Maybe we just procrastinated often during the day and it's harder to mask it by watching t.v reruns all night to cover it. The first lesson is that many of us want more time, but in truth would have to ponder what we would do with it.
The next lesson is a short story. I was trying to get rid of all my sleep debt prior to starting the "everyman". I did a fairly good job of catching up over the weekend. Due to me being over my dad's house for the weekend and coming back that morning I had to wake at around 5 A.M. I knew this ahead of time and planned to wait to start, to take that hit and get one more night of solid rest the next night. Sunday night was different than expected because I didn't fall asleep until about 11 and woke at 1, and re-woke about every hour until 5. I nearly hit my sleeping schedule. The next night I slept about the same even at home. The lesson I arrived at was that there are no perfect times to start. It was just not likely that I would start at a point with no debt without a few attempts and added frustration. I now think that sometimes while waiting for that perfect opportunity, we miss that perfect opportunity due to us not knowing what it looks like. To be fair this perfect is not as in every ideal circumstance is there. This ideal is that the least negative factors in our way for a foreseeable time are present. The best way I know of is that we sometimes force ourselves to stay and wait, even when it's easier to just begin.
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