Thread: Starting the Dymaxion Sleep Schedule

I just started the adjustment period for the Dymaxion sleep schedule and I wanted to post this log for anyone who's interested. To start out with, I'm taking a half hour nap every four hours (which is actually closer to Uberman) and I'll continue with that for a week or two before switching to a half hour nap every six hours. This is because I heard that adjusting to Dymaxion right off the bat is harder.

My naps were a bit off Tuesday (yesterday) due to scheduling, but I'll be taking naps at 2:00, 6:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00, and 22:00 from now on. I'll continue to update the log as I go. Feel free to post questions/comments.

Tuesday 6-2-09
7:45
Woke up from the usual monophasic chunk of sleep (went to sleep last night around 23:30). The bags under my eyes are not too bad right now. Previously I wasn't getting quite enough sleep because of all the things going on (finals, violin concerts, etc), but the past few days I've managed to get an extra hour or two of sleep per day. At the moment I'm actually feeling more awake than I usually do. Maybe from the prospect of taking extra naps today.

8:20-8:50
My first nap! Well, I didn't actually fall asleep... I might have started to in the last five minutes though.

12:50-13:20
About the same as this morning's nap, at least as far as being able to fall asleep. (Took a nap during my lunch break. I won't have work again for a while, but I figured it was fine for today because I have a full night's sleep and I won't start feeling the effects of adjusting until sometime tomorrow.)

17:25-17:55
Napped in the car while my dad was driving. I drifted in and out of sleep...mostly out. I did see some faint but vivid images (if that makes any sense), the way I do sometimes when I'm just starting to fall asleep.

21:35-22:05
Finally managed to fall asleep for real.

Wednesday 6-3-09
2:00-2:30
I fell asleep fairly easily this time. At first, when I woke up, I couldn't believe that I had only slept for half an hour...it felt more like two or three hours. Must be a good sign. If I had any dreams, I don't remember them.

6:00-6:30
Best nap so far; I fell asleep right away. For one thing, it felt weird seeing the sky get lighter when my mind was telling me I had just stayed up a bit late. Then when I woke up, I was instantly convinced that I had overslept, and I was starting to get upset when I realized that my mind was playing tricks on me and it had only been half an hour. I was even more confused than the previous nap

10:00-10:30
I started getting really tired about an hour and a half before the 10:00 nap. I closed my eyes and was out like a light, without even thinking about it. Now that I'm awake again, I'm wondering how I can stay awake until 14:00... reading has ceased to be an option, as I knew it would be; it might keep my mind interested, but my eyes won't focus. So far the only thing that seems to keep me awake is to keep moving. I'm going to attempt to clean my room, which needs it anyways. If I get much more tired than this, I might consider adding in the occasional extra nap during the adjustment period. I've read a few people that did that successfully...so long as the naps are limited to about 30 minutes.

(Edited at 12:33): I'm doing better now. I ate lunch around 11:30 and that really helped boost my energy.

14:00-14:30
Still can't remember any dreams, but I did feel more normal after waking up.

16:00-16:30
I decided to go ahead an take an extra nap; it seems to me like adding more naps can only be beneficial. I'm going to make sure that there's a at least two hours between the start of each nap.

18:00-18:30
I've actually been feeling pretty close to normal since my extra nap. For a short time I was worried that I wouldn't be tired enough to fall asleep for the 18:00 nap, but I seem to be getting the hang of it.

22:00-22:30
May have actually had some vague dreams, but it's hard to say. Only slightly tired feeling after waking up, not too bad.