Need opinions on setting a Everyman Schedule & Questions

[Reis]

Hello everybody, greetings to you at 6am.

Ever since finding out about polyphasic sleep two months ago, I've
been itching to try the Everyman Schedule. I failed the first attempt,
due to family issues of them being bothered at me being awake at 4am.
Thus I resorted to biphasic sleeping which worked great, allowing me
to function properly with 6 hours of sleep.

But, as luck would have it, I got a part time job from 5am to 9am so
family can't be bothered with me being awake so early. Also it means I
must forego biphasic sleep for an Everyman schedule once more.

My plan is for the 4.5 hours + 2 20 naps type. If you wouldn't mind,
could you tell me if it's set up properly, since I worry about the
time gaps between each sleep. Schedule counts with travel time between
work, school and work out.

11:50pm - 4:20am ----> Core sleep
5:00am - 9:10am ----> Work
9:10am -11:30am ----> Leisure time
11:30am - 11:50am -----> Nap
11:50am - 18:05pm -----> Lunch and School
18:20pm - 18:40pm -----> Nap
18:40pm - 19:40pm -----> Dinner
19:40pm - 22:20pm ----> Work out
22:20pm - 23:50pm ---> Relaxation time

The main issue seems to be with how I stay awake 6-7 hours between
naps and a nap and core sleep. But I don't have much manoeuvrability
thanks to school.

Also, I've considered switching thw 11:30am nap for a 1h30m sleep
starting at about 9:30am and even keeping the late afternoon nap for a
sort of modified biphasic/Everyman sleep.

Which one is more feasible/viable?

Oh right, I have some questions as well if you wouldn't mind
answering:

1) In terms of adaptation screw ups, how bad is it to:
a) Take your naps or core sleep about 30-40 minutes before or
after its time.
b) Falling asleep for a 2-3 minutes on the passenger seat of a
car.

[Reis]

(I apologize for the moderator reading this again. I accidentally
pressed ALT+Space which activated the reply button. This is the full
message I wish to transmit, thank you)

c) Having to cut short a nap by 5 minutes.

2) For the people who used Placebo's Sleep track, did you use it
during your adaptation period? And was it loud on yours ears to block
exterior sounds? Did that allow you to fall asleep?

3) I still don't fully fall asleep during my naps although I do feel a
great relaxation (To the point of my body having sudden jerks
sometimes associated to my brain believing I'm falling thanks to the
lack of feeling of weight) but there is this odd sensation when I'm
resting which feels like a sudden weight put on my head and body. It
doesn't feel bad but I believe it's the sleep hormones kicking in and
restoring whatever of my body it can. Did anyone feel like this during
those naps where they didn't fall asleep but still seemed like they
were resting?


Well, that's it. Thanks for everything in advance, people.

[Daniel Smith]

I've interspersed my replies in between quotes.

11:50pm - 4:20am ----> Core sleep
5:00am - 9:10am ----> Work
9:10am -11:30am ----> Leisure time
11:30am - 11:50am -----> Nap
11:50am - 18:05pm -----> Lunch and School
18:20pm - 18:40pm -----> Nap
18:40pm - 19:40pm -----> Dinner
19:40pm - 22:20pm ----> Work out
22:20pm - 23:50pm ---> Relaxation time

Looks reasonable to me. Personally, I was for a long time quite groggy after my core sleep. It may not be so bad on 4.5 hours of sleep. And be aware that your sleep cycles may not be exactly 90 minutes, you may need to experiment to find the ideal core length.
 

Also, I've considered switching thw 11:30am nap for a 1h30m sleep
starting at about 9:30am and even keeping the late afternoon nap for a
sort of modified biphasic/Everyman sleep.

Would be an interesting experiment.
 

1) In terms of adaptation screw ups, how bad is it to:
    a) Take your naps or core sleep about 30-40 minutes before or

after its time.

It's not ideal, but for everyman 2, it probably won't hurt you too much as long as you're generally consistent.
 

    b) Falling asleep for a 2-3 minutes on the passenger seat of a
car.

Not a big deal.
 

    c) Having to cut short a nap by 5 minutes.

Try to avoid this, unless you wake up naturally-- I imagine it would make you very groggy, like waking partway through a regular sleep cycle.
 

2) For the people who used Placebo's Sleep track, did you use it
during your adaptation period? And was it loud on yours ears to block
exterior sounds? Did that allow you to fall asleep?

Yes, yes, and yes, although I was worried about damaging my hearing and I got a pair of earbuds that helped block external noise.
 

3) I still don't fully fall asleep during my naps although I do feel a
great relaxation (To the point of my body having sudden jerks
sometimes associated to my brain believing I'm falling thanks to the
lack of feeling of weight) but there is this odd sensation when I'm
resting which feels like a sudden weight put on my head and body. It
doesn't feel bad but I believe it's the sleep hormones kicking in and
restoring whatever of my body it can. Did anyone feel like this during
those naps where they didn't fall asleep but still seemed like they
were resting?

The sudden weight is probably your brain paralyzing your body in preparation for REM sleep. Maintaining consciousness during the transition into REM sleep is rare but apparently can happen. Look here under "sleep paralysis" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia

Hope that helps

--
Daniel Smith
http://www.schaumburggoclub.org/

[Matt]

Your schedule looks similar to mine these days, so I suspect it would
work fine. Mine is:

11:30 - 4 core
11 am - nap 20
5 pm - nap 20

If I'm really tired I tend to start my core early and still get up at
4, rather than moving both endpoints. For some reason that works
better for me. Usually it's only 30 minutes or an hour if I do that.

I find that this schedule is very flexible. I can move naps around
quite a bit (several hours) or even skip a nap. Skipping sometimes
makes me tired for my core early, sometimes not.

[HalfABrain]

I'm doing Uberman, so you need to take that into account when reading
my answers.

I find that my body gets used to having the same schedule every single
day. If I'm very strict about it, I sleep better. Sometimes even
starting a nap 5 minutes late will make it so I don't sleep as well
for that nap. Sometimes for a daytime nap if I start it 5 minutes
late I won't sleep at all. I expect if I moved my naps around a lot
my body would get used to THAT and it would be less of an issue.
Conventional wisdom is that you should try to be strict during
adaptation, and you can be more lax later on.

During Uberman adaptation, unscheduled sleep, even for 2 or 3 minutes,
was not good. It was very hard to avoid at times. I don't think it's
as big a deal for everyman.

Waking up 5 minutes early occasionally hasn't had any noticeable
effect on me at all. As long as I have at least a half a nap, I don't
try to go back to sleep.

I use the placebo sleep tracks for blocking out noise. I can sleep
through an awful lot of noise, but the TV is hard for me to sleep
through. I think it's because my mind follows the story line and it's
too interesting for me to sleep through. I have a nice set of ear-
covering headphones that work well with the white noise to block out
TV noise nicely. I also use the placebo sleep tracks if I want to
sleep in a room where someone else is and I don't want to bother them
with a loud alarm.

I think everyone has times they don't sleep during nap time for some
reason or other. Resting, even if I don't sleep, is better than
ignoring the sleep time. Sometimes when I rested for 10 minutes and
didn't get any sleep, I tried resetting my timer or sleep track and
extending the time. Sometimes that worked and I got very restful
sleep. Other times it didn't and I ended up groggy. It usually had
to do with something I ate. These days I just get up when my alarm
goes off and write it off. I'll drag a little bit until my next nap,
but it's a sure bet I'll sleep well then.

[Reis]

I appreciate the replies very much.

Currently I am on day 5 of Everyman2 sleep and it's working out rather
well. Don't feel terribly tired through out most of the day thanks to
being rather active. And I believe I'm starting to have short dreams
on my naps. It seems sleeping biphasically and doing a lot of 20
minute naps the month before this helped the adaptation period become
slightly less difficult.

Another question that hinges me about coffee. Not coffee per-say but
wheat based coffee. Would that have much of an impact on
polyphasic...polyphasism...polyphasicanism...anyways. I only had a cup
of it during the weekends before Everyman and stopped in fear of it
making it harder.


Oh, and another thing which might be a helpful hint: Vitamin
supplements are a god send. I take an all rounder with every vitamin
and I take Gingko Go which acts on the brain specifically. It seems to
help your health not decrease a lot during the adaptation period and
I've even noticed thinks like higher oxygen flow in your blood
(Breaths recover you more quickly) and better focus and awareness
during the more tired periods. Again, I've only been in this for 5
days but I believe it to be a positive mix.

[Jonathan Vogel]

I can only comfortably drink coffee only if there's a 6 hour stetch
between my naps usually. I will occasionally drink coffee directly
after a nap anyway, with let's say 4 hour window till my next time.
I'll find it harder to fall asleep (maybe takes a few minutes rather
than nearly instantly) to fall asleep at the next nap.

Jonathan

[HalfABrain]

Isn't it the caffeine in the coffee that makes it affect your sleep?
Does the wheat-based coffee have caffeine added? If so, there will be
issues. If not, I expect it should be fine.

[Daniel Smith]

Can you give us a link for the wheat-based coffee? I've never heard of that before.

[Reis]

I believe a more proper term is cereal based coffee, which can be made
out of wheat. I can't find a proper link that depicts its
constitution, only one with a small definition.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O39-cerealcoffee.html

And since I'm not American or English, I don't know any English based
coffee brands.


Charlotte Ellett: I also find several sites saying that it cures
impotence and augments fertility. I guess it's those kinds of things
you take with a big grain of salt.

[Reis]

You don't exactly promote something that your product cures when it
does exactly the same opposite though. Cigarettes weren't promoted to
cure lung cancer, coca cola wasn't promoted to fix ADD. Chocolate
wasn't promoted to cure diabetes.
It'd be terribly odd.
Well, it's a difference of opinions, I suppose.

On 6 Nov, 01:39, Charlotte Ellett <charlottemell...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What I'm referring to was a medical study done showing that ginkgo had
> a negative effect on fertility for both genders.  Of course, you can
> arrange a test so that it says anything you want to, but I tend to
> give more weight to negative outcomes that have no apparent monetary
> motive (for example, this study was not promoting something other than
> ginkgo).  Claims that it cures conditions are another matter all
> together and could profit-motivated snake oil sales.

[Reis]

I wish I could change the topic's name into something more broader
now, specially since I feel like sharing my particularities.

It's day 7 for me and lately my sleep paralysis events have been
happening stronger. Today was the highest moment.

I went to sleep at 11:25 AM and apparently, I fell asleep soon after.
My mind took the wheels and began dreaming. From what I recall, I was
explaining to a friend who Freddy Krueger was, since it seems he
didn't know in my dreams.

Right after that though, my mind woke up and no matter how hard I
tried I couldn't move. Only my eyes were able to retain their
movement. Peeking down in the dark (And with my lack of sight at the
moment), the pile of clothing and furniture morphed to Freddy Krueger
and I heard him talk in the...well, the creepy way he does.

I know I was hallucinating. Still, it's a bit unsettling to have awake
nightmares with the exact fictional character that can kill you in
your sleep.

I closed my eyes, tried to relax and focused on giving my brain the
message that I was awake. After a few seconds I was finally in control
of all my senses. I checked the clock and saw that it was 11:36 AM.
Even so, I didn't want to get up so soon so I fell asleep again until
the estimated 11:45 AM when my alarm clock rang

It's a bit odd how often I'm having sleep paralysis, considering how
it tends to be rare. Before Everyman, I only had it maybe once. It's
still an awesome feeling though.

Funny thing is that researching about it shows that it usually depicts
a narcoleptic person. And according to their description, I'm
narcoleptic...only I don't feel tired through out the day (Still felt
well after waking up) and my naps/sudden bursts of sleep aren't
uncontrollable.

[Reis]

On day 10 of the Everyman schedule with 4.5 core (Everyman2, right?)

Since the weekend it's been a bit worse than the first week. Maybe
because of stress provoked, thus not being able to feel as well rested
and getting my naps interrupted.

Strange thing is my body becoming aware 15 minutes after I fall asleep
on my naps. Still, I'd prefer sticking to the 20 minute time slot
instead of reducing my sleep time.

Question though: The hours after my core nap are terrible. I have a
job in front of a computer for 4 hours and I can handle 2 hours. But
the next ones are terribly aggravating. Suppose I can't do anything
until I finally get adapted to it but getting back home still feeling
exhausted and waiting for 11:25am to come so I can take my nap and
become functional ends up being a bit aggravating. So I begin to
wonder if adding a third 20 minute nap at around 9:15am whenever I
felt too tired, while maintaining the other ones in their time period
would end up being a really bad idea?

[Reis]

And another consideration now.

I'm going to try to change my work schedule from 7am to 11am. Probably
won't succeed, but I want to plan ahead if I do.
With the allocated change, I'd either have time to sleep biphasically
or change to Everyman3. I'd rather risk for the latter.

But with that, not only would I drop 1.5h of my core nap it'd also be
allocated to 3:10 am to 6:10 am. I'd maintain my two original naps in
their timeslots and also add one at 11:20pm.

How much would it affect my adaptation period? Would it downright ruin
it and force me to go from scratch?

[Daniel Smith]

Question though: The hours after my core nap are terrible. ...

When I was adapting to everyman 3, I had exactly the same problem. I had to add a forth nap because I was completely useless until after my first nap. I think it slowed down the adaptation some, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Now I suspect that 3 hours was not a multiple of my body's natural sleep cycle (it seems that 4 hours is) and I was missing out on REM sleep which occurs at the end of the sleep cycle.

[Daniel Smith]

How much would it affect my adaptation period? Would it downright ruin
it and force me to go from scratch?

In my experience (I switched from 3 hour to 1.5 hour core not long ago), as long as you leave the naps you are taking at the same times, it won't set you back very far.

[Reis]

Thank you Daniel. That actually makes me ponder about another issue:

Take the core sleep right before I wake up to go to work (Which I'll
try to aim to 5:20-6:20 am if I am able to get the 6am or even 7am
shift), or take the core sleep at 11:30pm and then take a nap before
going to work?

Each one has a good number of disadvantages and advantages for me.

Core sleep before work would be more flexible, specially on the
weekends since it seems I get the bad luck of a lot of times having to
be awake past that time thanks to my family life style. So going at
2-3am instead would make it easier to sleep on schedule.
However, it seems to be a trend that you are less awake right after
the core sleep and I need to be pretty much focused since I work on
Data Input and that involves a lot of staring at a screen making
decisions and being fast at typing. So getting a nap in before it
might be beneficial.

Also, sleeping at 11:30pm would me I'd wake up at 2:30am, and I don't
think my body is made to be awake between 3am-6am. Plus, if I ended up
with the shift of 6am, it'd mean that by 5am I'd have to take a nap.
And it's only 2h30m between my core sleep and my first nap.

Hard decision.

Or I might not be able to change the shift at all and am stuck with
bearing the terror of the timeslot between 8-9am where I feel like I'm
breaking apart.