HOME
POLYPHASIC SLEEP
NEXT
PREVIOUS LOG
Today is Wednesday July 23, which means that I have been on either the Dymaxion Sleep Schedule or the Unberman Schedule since Saturday the 12. Therefore, my current location in the fourth dimension ("location" in time) is the beginning of the 12th day. I will reflect on the past two days (11th and 12th days).
I would predominately like to focus on oversleeping and the polyphasic sleeper's task of quintessentially structuring the 22 hour waking day.
1. Polyzombies
The definition of oversleeping is a bit equivocal. The polyphasic sleeper Kirk Kahn describes oversleeps in the following way in his youtube video. He defines "oversleeps" as actions consisting of sleeping beyond the allotted 20 minute period of a designated nap. He also considers sleeping at a time that is not accounted for in the particular user's uberman nap schedule to be an oversleep.
Mr. Kahn also discusses how oversleeps happen. They happen in one of two ways. First, a polyphaser can actively oversleep. This means that he or she can wake up to the sound of the alarm, deactivate the alarm, and go back to sleep with full recollection of his or her actions.
Second, a polyphaser can sub-consciously oversleep. This occurs when the participant insintictually disables any alarm or other device that prohibits him or her from continuing to sleep. After the disabling action, the user has no recollection of those actions whatsoever.
I have not had very many oversleeps, but I have had some. All of my class one oversleeps (oversleep longer than 20 minutes but started at the right time) have been either due to the alarms not sounding or have been sub-conscious oversleeps. In other words, I have no recollection of the method that I employed to disable my alarms. This has frightening implications.
I am currently in a student suite with two friends in Beijing. My roommates often joke around with me and say that I could get dangerous and turn into the incredible hulk if they try and wake me up. The reason that this is possible is due to the fact that, on occasion, adapting polyphasic sleepers will unconsciously go to lengths to quell the occurence or phenomenon that is prohibiting them from sleeping. The extent of the lengths that a polyphasic "zomby" will take are unclear.
I do not want to trouble or concern anyone. I think that this is more comical than anything. Furthermore, this zomby phenomenon only occurs in the adaptation stages of polyphasic sleeping. Fully adjusted polyphasic sleepers do not have zomby oversleeps.
Nonetheless, I do often wonder (at least from a purely entertained standpoint) how far a polyphasic zomby would instictually "go" to stop the things that are keeping him or her from continuing to sleep. Mr. Kahn contends in his youtube video that a polyphaser who subconsciously oversleeps cannot be awoken or made conscious. I would have to disagree with this claim.
To start with Mr. Kahn then proceeds to discuss the ostensible efficacy of a water alarm contraption. Therefore, he feels that some methods (for example water methods) have the ability to rest a polyphaser (even a zomby polyphaser) from his occasional surfeits of obfuscation.
While I do think it would be funny to make a horror movie about a crazed polyphasic zomby (why don't we call these polyzombies) that would wreak havic on an entire city because he subcounscoiusly believed that everything in the city was keeping him from sleeping, I do not think a scenario like this is even remotely possible.
2. The emergence of my daily polyphasic rituals
Walking
Walking has many well-known physical and mental benefits. I have embraced walking's wonders and I have enjoyed a sunrise morning ritual for the past 5 or 6 days. Here in Beijing, the night sky begins to slowly morph into a blue daytime sky. Around 4:30am, the first tinges of blue in the sky begin to surface. It is precisely at this time that I love to go for a walk and listen to my my spanish podcast, Nuevos Horizantes.
Each year there is fourth dimension movement(movement in time) towards the summer solstice, during which the days get longer. Also, there is eleventh dimension dimension movement (same as fourth dimension but more appropriate. Brian Greene notes that the current belief is that there are 10 spatial dimensions and one time dimension) towards the winter solstice, during which time the days get shorter.
Similarly, and some might say analogously, each day has two parts. In the first part, the minutes get "longer" as in each minute is brighter and the sun is more present than the last.
In the second part, each minute gets shorter, meaning that each minute has less sunlight concentration than the last. In this part, the minutes are approaching nighttime.
Most people experience the second part (minutes getting shorter) much more frequently than the first. However, it would make a great deal of sense if a balance of "getting longer minutes" and "getting shorter minutes" each day was good for our mental and physical state.
Speculation aside, my sunrise walks have been unique daily experiences that I wish all monophaser could experience. I have been most productive from around 4:30am to about 6:30am the last few days because I feel a sense of urgency. The minutes are getting longer and more "sun-filled." I feel a sense of urgency as in I must micromanage each minute efficiently. I feel this urgency because the "lengthening" of the minutes subconsciously tells my body that the previous day is gone and a new day (this day) is upon us and passing quickly. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on solar body coordination, daily routines, or just random thoughts.
Enjoy the day as the minutes lengthen and then shrink :)
HOME
POLYPHASIC SLEEP
NEXT
PREVIOUS LOG
