I was planning on starting 12/26 -- but the spouse who'd been supportive
realized that he was actually completely freaked out about it being
dangerous, and especially so as I'm in health care. I could've sworn that I
remembered reading someplace a list of suggestions on how to reassure
family/friends about this, but can't find it.
Do we have any hard science anyplace or is it just purely anecdotal? I've
been able to find a couple of articles about Claudio Stampi, but mostly
pretty vague stuff.
We've come up with 2 things that help address his concerns:
1) since I'm in health care, I won't be taking a 7-10 days off, but closer
to a month since he's concerned about me hurting people during sleep dep.
(Me? Less concerned. I've treated family at 2am while half asleep, and
most med students routinely pull 24-36 hour shifts and are far far more
sleep deprived than I expect I'd be after 10 days or so of adaptation.)
Taking a month off is decidedly tougher to do, but I do have someone who
can partially cover for me.
2) Designating either him or my father to be my off-switch as recommended in
Ubersleep -- to let someone else declare it's not working for safety sake.
I'm leaning towards dad. The man's monophasic but probably sleeps 3-4
hours/night anyway and has for decades.
But these two aren't enough: He wants something scientific before he's not
going to completely freak on me. Any suggestions? (And just telling him to
read Ubersleep probably won't help. "Anecdotal evidence.")
On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 2:51 AM, Bobrobyn <Bobro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> With the upcoming holidays coming up, who else is starting a
> polyphasic sleep attempt? I remember reading about people saying they
> will during the winter break, and have even chatted with a couple on
> IRC.
> I started one at the beginning of the year that ultimately failed, and
> am starting again with Uberman now. My nap schedule is 12-4-8 AM and
> PM, 20 minutes apart. I'm going to be vigilant at keeping the
> schedule up this time.
> This is actually my first day of this attempt. Good luck to me I
> guess.
> Any other starters out there this holiday season?
--
-----------------------------------------------------
Karoline Gostl, Licensed Acupuncturist
NCCAOM Certified in Chinese Herbology
www.HealingMaven.com Serving Forest Hills (Queens), NYC
Have him read Stampi's book, "Why We Nap." That's the biggest (actually,
*only*) collection of scientific studies on polyphasic sleep that I'm aware
of.
On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Karoline <healing.ma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was planning on starting 12/26 -- but the spouse who'd been supportive
> realized that he was actually completely freaked out about it being
> dangerous, and especially so as I'm in health care. I could've sworn that I
> remembered reading someplace a list of suggestions on how to reassure
> family/friends about this, but can't find it.
> Do we have any hard science anyplace or is it just purely anecdotal? I've
> been able to find a couple of articles about Claudio Stampi, but mostly
> pretty vague stuff.
> We've come up with 2 things that help address his concerns:
> 1) since I'm in health care, I won't be taking a 7-10 days off, but closer
> to a month since he's concerned about me hurting people during sleep dep.
> (Me? Less concerned. I've treated family at 2am while half asleep, and
> most med students routinely pull 24-36 hour shifts and are far far more
> sleep deprived than I expect I'd be after 10 days or so of adaptation.)
> Taking a month off is decidedly tougher to do, but I do have someone who
> can partially cover for me.
> 2) Designating either him or my father to be my off-switch as recommended
> in Ubersleep -- to let someone else declare it's not working for safety
> sake. I'm leaning towards dad. The man's monophasic but probably sleeps
> 3-4 hours/night anyway and has for decades.
> But these two aren't enough: He wants something scientific before he's not
> going to completely freak on me. Any suggestions? (And just telling him to
> read Ubersleep probably won't help. "Anecdotal evidence.")
> Thank you!
> Karoline
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 2:51 AM, Bobrobyn <Bobro...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> With the upcoming holidays coming up, who else is starting a
>> polyphasic sleep attempt? I remember reading about people saying they
>> will during the winter break, and have even chatted with a couple on
>> IRC.
>> I started one at the beginning of the year that ultimately failed, and
>> am starting again with Uberman now. My nap schedule is 12-4-8 AM and
>> PM, 20 minutes apart. I'm going to be vigilant at keeping the
>> schedule up this time.
>> This is actually my first day of this attempt. Good luck to me I
>> guess.
>> Any other starters out there this holiday season?
Karoline,
I can understand your husband's viewpoint - my initial reaction to
Polyphasic was a "No way...", but I've since come around and am
currently on Day 3. As Scott said, Stampi is the only credible hard-
scientific source on the subject. There WAS a documentary on PBS back
in the mid-to-late 90s that I found streaming online, and it did
feature a lot of Stampi's work. However, two caveats about that:
1) Stampi didn't advocate polyphasic for general use - that was
something that the internet picked up. He was advocating it for
people to use in short spurts, mostly for long-distance rowers. The
documentary is about a painter who tries it, but it doesn't quite go
as well. The whole concept of adaptation phase, the Everyman schedule
and much of the other advice on this forum is anecdotal in nature and
not scientifically proven.
2) The documentary's subject quit after 42 days, rather forcibly. He
was tired of being out of sync with everyone else and generally unable
to put up with the weirdness of it all. That might not exactly be
reassuring to your husband. What MIGHT be more reassuring is showing
A) that you're willing to quit if it doesn't go well after a set
number of days and B) that many medical professionals have operated
under significantly worse sleep schedules. The TV show M*A*S*H does a
good job of portraying this, with grueling 48-hour surgery sessions
and horrible conditions outside the operating room
Hope that helps!
-Netopalis
On Dec 16, 3:31 pm, "Scott Helvick" <crazyscot...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Have him read Stampi's book, "Why We Nap." That's the biggest (actually,
> *only*) collection of scientific studies on polyphasic sleep that I'm aware
> of.
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Karoline <healing.ma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I was planning on starting 12/26 -- but the spouse who'd been supportive
> > realized that he was actually completely freaked out about it being
> > dangerous, and especially so as I'm in health care. I could've sworn that I
> > remembered reading someplace a list of suggestions on how to reassure
> > family/friends about this, but can't find it.
> > Do we have any hard science anyplace or is it just purely anecdotal? I've
> > been able to find a couple of articles about Claudio Stampi, but mostly
> > pretty vague stuff.
> > We've come up with 2 things that help address his concerns:
> > 1) since I'm in health care, I won't be taking a 7-10 days off, but closer
> > to a month since he's concerned about me hurting people during sleep dep.
> > (Me? Less concerned. I've treated family at 2am while half asleep, and
> > most med students routinely pull 24-36 hour shifts and are far far more
> > sleep deprived than I expect I'd be after 10 days or so of adaptation.)
> > Taking a month off is decidedly tougher to do, but I do have someone who
> > can partially cover for me.
> > 2) Designating either him or my father to be my off-switch as recommended
> > in Ubersleep -- to let someone else declare it's not working for safety
> > sake. I'm leaning towards dad. The man's monophasic but probably sleeps
> > 3-4 hours/night anyway and has for decades.
> > But these two aren't enough: He wants something scientific before he's not
> > going to completely freak on me. Any suggestions? (And just telling him to
> > read Ubersleep probably won't help. "Anecdotal evidence.")
> > Thank you!
> > Karoline
> > On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 2:51 AM, Bobrobyn <Bobro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> With the upcoming holidays coming up, who else is starting a
> >> polyphasic sleep attempt? I remember reading about people saying they
> >> will during the winter break, and have even chatted with a couple on
> >> IRC.
> >> I started one at the beginning of the year that ultimately failed, and
> >> am starting again with Uberman now. My nap schedule is 12-4-8 AM and
> >> PM, 20 minutes apart. I'm going to be vigilant at keeping the
> >> schedule up this time.
> >> This is actually my first day of this attempt. Good luck to me I
> >> guess.
> >> Any other starters out there this holiday season?
If it helps you feel better, my wife had her reservations at first - she
made me promise that if, in her eyes, I started acting insane (well, beyond
the usual :P) then I would stop immediately.
And she watched me like a hawk
Nowadays, she actually moans at me if there's any irregularities in my
schedule, because she likes her bed to herself, the baby taken care of at
night, can wake up whenever she likes and bug me for whatever she wants, etc
etc.
Now she's only concerned if something breaks my schedule and I struggle to
get back into things - it's that initial adaptation that's not so good for
you.
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Netopalis <andrew.ea...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Karoline,
> I can understand your husband's viewpoint - my initial reaction to
> Polyphasic was a "No way...", but I've since come around and am
> currently on Day 3. As Scott said, Stampi is the only credible hard-
> scientific source on the subject. There WAS a documentary on PBS back
> in the mid-to-late 90s that I found streaming online, and it did
> feature a lot of Stampi's work. However, two caveats about that:
> 1) Stampi didn't advocate polyphasic for general use - that was
> something that the internet picked up. He was advocating it for
> people to use in short spurts, mostly for long-distance rowers. The
> documentary is about a painter who tries it, but it doesn't quite go
> as well. The whole concept of adaptation phase, the Everyman schedule
> and much of the other advice on this forum is anecdotal in nature and
> not scientifically proven.
> 2) The documentary's subject quit after 42 days, rather forcibly. He
> was tired of being out of sync with everyone else and generally unable
> to put up with the weirdness of it all. That might not exactly be
> reassuring to your husband. What MIGHT be more reassuring is showing
> A) that you're willing to quit if it doesn't go well after a set
> number of days and B) that many medical professionals have operated
> under significantly worse sleep schedules. The TV show M*A*S*H does a
> good job of portraying this, with grueling 48-hour surgery sessions
> and horrible conditions outside the operating room
> Hope that helps!
> -Netopalis
> On Dec 16, 3:31 pm, "Scott Helvick" <crazyscot...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Have him read Stampi's book, "Why We Nap." That's the biggest (actually,
> > *only*) collection of scientific studies on polyphasic sleep that I'm
> aware
> > of.
> > On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Karoline <healing.ma...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > I was planning on starting 12/26 -- but the spouse who'd been
> supportive
> > > realized that he was actually completely freaked out about it being
> > > dangerous, and especially so as I'm in health care. I could've sworn
> that I
> > > remembered reading someplace a list of suggestions on how to reassure
> > > family/friends about this, but can't find it.
> > > Do we have any hard science anyplace or is it just purely anecdotal?
> I've
> > > been able to find a couple of articles about Claudio Stampi, but mostly
> > > pretty vague stuff.
> > > We've come up with 2 things that help address his concerns:
> > > 1) since I'm in health care, I won't be taking a 7-10 days off, but
> closer
> > > to a month since he's concerned about me hurting people during sleep
> dep.
> > > (Me? Less concerned. I've treated family at 2am while half asleep,
> and
> > > most med students routinely pull 24-36 hour shifts and are far far more
> > > sleep deprived than I expect I'd be after 10 days or so of adaptation.)
> > > Taking a month off is decidedly tougher to do, but I do have someone
> who
> > > can partially cover for me.
> > > 2) Designating either him or my father to be my off-switch as
> recommended
> > > in Ubersleep -- to let someone else declare it's not working for safety
> > > sake. I'm leaning towards dad. The man's monophasic but probably
> sleeps
> > > 3-4 hours/night anyway and has for decades.
> > > But these two aren't enough: He wants something scientific before he's
> not
> > > going to completely freak on me. Any suggestions? (And just telling
> him to
> > > read Ubersleep probably won't help. "Anecdotal evidence.")
> > > Thank you!
> > > Karoline
> > > On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 2:51 AM, Bobrobyn <Bobro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >> With the upcoming holidays coming up, who else is starting a
> > >> polyphasic sleep attempt? I remember reading about people saying they
> > >> will during the winter break, and have even chatted with a couple on
> > >> IRC.
> > >> I started one at the beginning of the year that ultimately failed, and
> > >> am starting again with Uberman now. My nap schedule is 12-4-8 AM and
> > >> PM, 20 minutes apart. I'm going to be vigilant at keeping the
> > >> schedule up this time.
> > >> This is actually my first day of this attempt. Good luck to me I
> > >> guess.
> > >> Any other starters out there this holiday season?
I can concur with Placebo, my wife was very much against me trying
polyphasic and only let me because she could see it was something that I
really wanted to do, she had full veto power to tell me to stop at any time
and also marked a day on the calendar that would mark the one month period
where she would decide whether or not she liked me being on polyphasic.
After a couple weeks on the schedule she got to be a huge fan of it and is
now my best supporter, she gets very annoyed when I mess up my schedule and
miss naps, etc. She has said many times that she has seen a complete change
in me since I started polyphasic, I used to be useless in the evening but
now I am alert at any time in the day and happier since I finally have time
to work on my own stuff.
Also just so you know, I am a pretty long term polyphaser, I have been on
the Everyman schedule for about a year and three months now.
Your spouse is right to be concerned, they hopefully want the best for you
and polyphasic sounds quite extreme to many, but hopefully they will allow
you to at least try it as long as they have control to stop it if things are
getting out of hand.
--
Marcus Weidner
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 3:19 AM, PlaceboZA (Greg) <placeb...@gmail.com>wrote:
> If it helps you feel better, my wife had her reservations at first - she
> made me promise that if, in her eyes, I started acting insane (well, beyond
> the usual :P) then I would stop immediately.
> And she watched me like a hawk
> Nowadays, she actually moans at me if there's any irregularities in my
> schedule, because she likes her bed to herself, the baby taken care of at
> night, can wake up whenever she likes and bug me for whatever she wants, etc
> etc.
> Now she's only concerned if something breaks my schedule and I struggle to
> get back into things - it's that initial adaptation that's not so good for
> you.
> On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Netopalis <andrew.ea...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Karoline,
>> I can understand your husband's viewpoint - my initial reaction to
>> Polyphasic was a "No way...", but I've since come around and am
>> currently on Day 3. As Scott said, Stampi is the only credible hard-
>> scientific source on the subject. There WAS a documentary on PBS back
>> in the mid-to-late 90s that I found streaming online, and it did
>> feature a lot of Stampi's work. However, two caveats about that:
>> 1) Stampi didn't advocate polyphasic for general use - that was
>> something that the internet picked up. He was advocating it for
>> people to use in short spurts, mostly for long-distance rowers. The
>> documentary is about a painter who tries it, but it doesn't quite go
>> as well. The whole concept of adaptation phase, the Everyman schedule
>> and much of the other advice on this forum is anecdotal in nature and
>> not scientifically proven.
>> 2) The documentary's subject quit after 42 days, rather forcibly. He
>> was tired of being out of sync with everyone else and generally unable
>> to put up with the weirdness of it all. That might not exactly be
>> reassuring to your husband. What MIGHT be more reassuring is showing
>> A) that you're willing to quit if it doesn't go well after a set
>> number of days and B) that many medical professionals have operated
>> under significantly worse sleep schedules. The TV show M*A*S*H does a
>> good job of portraying this, with grueling 48-hour surgery sessions
>> and horrible conditions outside the operating room
>> Hope that helps!
>> -Netopalis
>> On Dec 16, 3:31 pm, "Scott Helvick" <crazyscot...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Have him read Stampi's book, "Why We Nap." That's the biggest
>> (actually,
>> > *only*) collection of scientific studies on polyphasic sleep that I'm
>> aware
>> > of.
>> > On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Karoline <healing.ma...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > > I was planning on starting 12/26 -- but the spouse who'd been
>> supportive
>> > > realized that he was actually completely freaked out about it being
>> > > dangerous, and especially so as I'm in health care. I could've sworn
>> that I
>> > > remembered reading someplace a list of suggestions on how to reassure
>> > > family/friends about this, but can't find it.
>> > > Do we have any hard science anyplace or is it just purely anecdotal?
>> I've
>> > > been able to find a couple of articles about Claudio Stampi, but
>> mostly
>> > > pretty vague stuff.
>> > > We've come up with 2 things that help address his concerns:
>> > > 1) since I'm in health care, I won't be taking a 7-10 days off, but
>> closer
>> > > to a month since he's concerned about me hurting people during sleep
>> dep.
>> > > (Me? Less concerned. I've treated family at 2am while half asleep,
>> and
>> > > most med students routinely pull 24-36 hour shifts and are far far
>> more
>> > > sleep deprived than I expect I'd be after 10 days or so of
>> adaptation.)
>> > > Taking a month off is decidedly tougher to do, but I do have someone
>> who
>> > > can partially cover for me.
>> > > 2) Designating either him or my father to be my off-switch as
>> recommended
>> > > in Ubersleep -- to let someone else declare it's not working for
>> safety
>> > > sake. I'm leaning towards dad. The man's monophasic but probably
>> sleeps
>> > > 3-4 hours/night anyway and has for decades.
>> > > But these two aren't enough: He wants something scientific before he's
>> not
>> > > going to completely freak on me. Any suggestions? (And just telling
>> him to
>> > > read Ubersleep probably won't help. "Anecdotal evidence.")
>> > > Thank you!
>> > > Karoline
>> > > On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 2:51 AM, Bobrobyn <Bobro...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > >> With the upcoming holidays coming up, who else is starting a
>> > >> polyphasic sleep attempt? I remember reading about people saying
>> they
>> > >> will during the winter break, and have even chatted with a couple on
>> > >> IRC.
>> > >> I started one at the beginning of the year that ultimately failed,
>> and
>> > >> am starting again with Uberman now. My nap schedule is 12-4-8 AM and
>> > >> PM, 20 minutes apart. I'm going to be vigilant at keeping the
>> > >> schedule up this time.
>> > >> This is actually my first day of this attempt. Good luck to me I
>> > >> guess.
>> > >> Any other starters out there this holiday season?
