Last night after skipping one nap and then oversleeping on the next I was a wreak. Not just physically but emotionally too. I ended up crying through my shower (to wake myself up) and in the end decided to just go back to bed. Colin, upon finding me in bed crying softly, made a couple of attempts at motivating me to keep going but in the end just let me sleep.
I don’t regret stopping, nor do I regret trying it out. I’ve learned a few things about myself and I’ve also seen how this could work. I probably could have kept going for a bit if I hadn’t skipped a nap but I think even with adaption I ultimately would have stopped fairly quickly anyway.
The reason for this is loneliness. I am a very social person and I really couldn’t handle not being able to cuddle in bed before I went to sleep, and cuddle again when I wake up. I’m also fairly panicky and afraid of the dark so noises in the night freaked me out when I didn’t have Colin to cling to. Another massive problem with this method is that a simple thing like dinner and a movie doesn’t work if you need to sleep every 4 hours. Its like having a baby with you, except that you’re the baby.
If you have too much happening in your day to handle and want some spare time, and if you’re not a particularly social animal (or you can at least handle being alone at night) then this method could work for you. But if you’re life isn’t very flexible or you just want to try this out for the fun of it then its just not worth the effort.
In the end I’m confident that you can get a 22hr day, but you need to weigh up whether it’s really worth it.
Tags: Sleep, Polyphasic, Uberman, Experiment
Miriam Parkinson 