So, my next lesson learned from another failed polyphasing attempt is that boredom is a powerful enemy. It definitely requires a respectful nod and future consideration. Towards my next attempt, I give you the below.
I have decided to try polyphasing again. I am trying a much more lenient schedule this time to experiment with how it affects my wakefulness during work. I will be keeping track of my wakefulness each day using the below scale, which is a minor modification of iPolyphase’s scale presented in the SPAMAYL thread on trypolyphasic forums.
lvl – name – description
1 – Alert – A state of enhanced alertness comparable to that experienced when ‘in the zone’ working on something.
2 – Baseline – Standard level of alertness experienced by a monophasic sleeper not experiencing any symptoms of sleep deprivation, neither hyper-alert nor tired.
3 – Zinged – Feel tired but no performance hit is obvious.
4 – Slowed – Feel tired and some loss of performance (e.g. you find yourself zoning out or counting down the hours until your next sleep, and you find it noticeably harder to perform cognitive tasks). Complex thought patterns may be more difficult and may get muddled, occasionally requiring restarting the thought process. Approx 20%-40% subjective reduction in cognitive abilities.
5 – Primitive – A state of exhaustion where continued wakefulness is based primarily on willpower. Cognitive function is severely reduced, and complex thought patterns collapse. Approx 40%-65% subjective reduction in cognitive abilities.
6 – Zombie – A state of exhaustion where continued wakefulness is based completely on willpower. Cognitive function is severely reduced, and even basic thought patterns collapse. Approx 65%+ subjective reduction in cognitive abilities.
7 – Light Sleep – A (subjectively) light sleep.
8 – Sleep – Baseline sleep that would be neither considered to be light nor heavy.
9 – Heavy Sleep – A subjectively heavy sleep.
! – Body Forced Sleep – Signifier for a period of sleep that was not consciously initiated (i.e. your body decided it was going to sleep and you had no choice).
My current plan is to test out the waters in relation to my work environment by doing the so called Freeman schedule, which is basically a 48 hour schedule initiated by a 6-8 hour sleep followed by naps as you need them. If that works out, I will look into going into the SPAMAYL schedule, which is basically just free running polyphasic sleep. The rules for the latter are sleep when you are tired and sleep in 20 minute naps followed by at least 40 minutes of wakefulness (which keeps it from just being one big sleep). Freeman follows the same rules, but adds the full night of sleep every other night, making it like a free running 48 hour version of the Everyman 3.
The Freeman schedule currently has no known adherents with two known attempts that went subjectively well, one of whom shifted to the SPAMAYL schedule (which he is presumably still on) and the other of whom (the originator) shifted back to monophasic sleep due to fears about beheadings at his office and people reading his occasional napping wrong. The SPAMAYL schedule has an estimated four dedicated followers and no shortage of people trying to start it. There have been no negative reports from either, even from the people who flunked out of them.
Coming from attempts at Uberman and Tesla, I have a bit of experience at flunking a polyphasic attempt and know what to do and what to avoid. That combined with the fact that these schedules work with rather than against your body gives me much hope for these. I am starting tonight, and I will be talking to my boss Monday to make sure he is aware that I will be taking naps at lunch and am not merely falling asleep. I am positive that he will be cool with it, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
Quality of Consciousness: 83233737474738483->Now
Translated: I woke up from a standard night’s sleep for the weekend, up with my body and refreshed, feeling a bit tired as I woke up for the day. I carried out my afternoon hours at full alertness, and towards the evening I started to return to the slightly tired state again. I took my first nap (thought I didn’t fall asleep) and got up at the same level of alertness. I took my second nap, and got up feeling like a truck ran into me, but quickly recovered to what I would feel like on a night with ~6 hours sleep. I took my third nap, and got up at the same level of alertness. To the best of my knowledge, I didn’t actually sleep through any of these naps, which is normal for the first day. I took my fourth nap of the day, and woke up tired at first, but I improved back to a level 3 alertness shortly. Had my first normal sleep nap and woke up feeling groggy, on the low side of four, including counting down the time to my next sleep. Had my second normal nap and woke up feeling slightly groggy, but it cleared up and left me feeling only slightly tired again.
^I will update the above as new data arrives until the end of the morning phase (24 hour period beginning with a full night’s sleep), at which point I will start a new one. My approx beginning of phase will be 0700.
From Under the Wolf Tree 