Fail

I was always told that pain was just weakness leaving the body.

However the pains and delusions of sleep deprivation prove to be the proverbial "bridge to far." My previous aches weren't healing, I was getting nauseous and vomited a few times, was permanently cold, and after awhile even started to have the itching and skin crawling normally associated with a drugs comedown. Couple that with the inability to focus, and nearly being hit by cars and it was inevitable I guess. Oh and the crippling lethargy

So the experiment that started with such high (and insane) hopes has failed. Eventually my body refused to obey any further instructions to rise and I simply crashed beyond my ability to control.

However the failure was not total. At this time, for the first time in years, I am managing to get uninterrupted sleep for longer periods of 6-8 hours a night. It seems that the everyman sleep pattern has trained my body to sleep correctly. That is not a result to underestimate.

Sleep and Chi

So as I want this blog to be a complete series on my experiences, and because I know a number of different people are reading this, I'm going to include some notes on my chi exercises.

So firstly what needs to be said is that chi and chi flow are replenished and repaired during the sleep period according to the traditional view. This means that as you undergoing sleep deprivation your chi becomes sluggish and stops flowing properly. Or so the theory goes.

However my experience has been counter to this. During my chi exercises the flow feels much much stronger than it does normally. This improvement on less sleep would indicate that chi does not require the normal cycle to of sleep/wake to replenish. Or at least I hope that's what it means. It seems equally possible this could be a fever type situation. For example when you ill and have lucid moments that feel amazing to your fevered mind...like that.

The problem arising here is that I'm still struggling to focus for longer periods of time. This makes meditation damn near impossible (because I'll either interrupt myself or fall asleep). So more experiments on this will probably have to follow.

Finally: I'm still unsure how I intend to take this much further, I've already had a problem with staying awake, and boredom, and now I'm swinging between manic, normal, Obsessive compulsive and holding my head in my hands and wanting to cry. This is the worrying thing when linked to the chi observation. That is to say that my emotions might be more stable if my chi was stable and vice vesa...and now I'm rambling like a crazy person...that happens to.

Cycle Three update

I've passed through another core sleep period. However following on from my previous post, I'm starting to really struggle. Focusing has become more difficult, even typing this is proving very hard.

Earlier I reported that I was feeling very cold all the time, and that's still happening. However I can reduce the feeling by eating in between naps, and making sure the food has a decently high carb value. Right now I feel really REALLY sick though.

I feel so awful. And the boredom adds up, trying to find things to do, to keep busy and awake. I've been doing all kinds of mad things to keep busy.

2 more hours till I can sleep again...assuming I can hang in that long. Despite expecting this to be difficult, this is way harder than I had really anticipated.

I'm loosing the will to live right here. So tired, aching and feeling sick.

I know there was more I wanted to write, something else I needed to say. I can't remember. My brain is only working in short fire bursts. I've had to re-read what I've just written so I can cut out the bits I might have re-written.

Tired, pain and the will to live

This is just a quick snap up entry to document how I feel right now, effectively the lowest point so far.

During the last of my nap periods (18:00-18:30) I was disturbed by the phone, and several police sirens. Consequently I was unable to get the full half an hour required. I am now 30min away from my core sleep period, but I'm not sure I'm going to make it...and if I do whether I'm going to actually wake up again...ever.

Other problems are arising from injury pains, the smaller sleep units do not seem to provide the required time for healing to occur. This may or may not pass in time, unfortunately none of the things I've read on the subject seem to cover this.

I'm beginning to seriously question the gain/loss ratio of this experiment.

First Cycle Completed!

Its official! I've just passed through the first 24 hour mark and have completed my core sleep period. It is one complete cycle since the experiment began.

So far it hasn't been to bad. The last hour before core sleep yesterday wasn't so great, I was tired and twitchy. Right now I'm still tired but trying to stick to the plan.

It would be nice to have some one doing this with me. I think its going to get difficult now, with no one to assist with time keeping. Also my concentration seems to be a bit all over the place, hit and miss as it were, though I'm going to try and study.

Another side effect seems to be a complete lack of body heat. I'm cold all the time, and have to use warm drinks and heaters, and two jumpers to try and keep up my temperature.

So there's nothing else to report (or I've forgotten it lol)

A Short Update

At this point I have now had one 3 hour core sleep period and one 30 min nap period. I have obviously not yet finished one complete cycle however.

This post is just to make a few notes on things I am already experiencing.

1) Normally when I am preparing to sleep my brain is going at a million miles an hour, full of thoughts and ideas etc etc. However today when I lay down to nap it was like some one pulled down a curtain, my brain was dead silent. In fact even now my thoughts are pretty much linear with little random occurrence.

2)Its strange to think that by 8:30 I have effectively been awake for around 7 hours, so it actually feels like the afternoon at this point

3)I can already feel the onset of sleep deprivation. I'm pretty sure I can remember how it feels.

Finally, just as a note to some parameters for this experiment: I live with my wife (obviously) so she will be keeping an eye on me, making sure I'm awake or waking up (if she's awake and in a position to do so) ; lending moral support and importantly keeping an eye on my mental and physical condition. We've agreed she has the veto to this experiment should it need to come to and end.

Everyman sleep - one small step

To give this blog and my experiment some background let me explain what I will be attempting. This blog will be used to recount my experiences as I attempt to convert to the "everyman" sleep pattern. This method of sleep is something known as polyphasic sleep. This means that instead of 8 or 9 hours straight I will be attempting to sleep in "batches" amounting to 4.5 hours in a 24 hour period.

The idea of polyphasic sleep is well documented in animals. In fact it appears to be the method used by most animals, humans being one of the few who sleep once in a huge block.

So my "sleep cycle" will be as follows:

22:30 - 01:30

6:00 - 6:30

12:30 - 13:00

18:00 - 18:30

As you can see, the plan is built around a core of 3 hours followed by 3 half hour napping periods. The idea is that your body is trained to drop straight into the REM part of your sleep cycle...that is the deep and dream filled period. Cutting out the waste of the cycle.

At the moment I have just completed my first 3 hour core sleep (so yes its 1:30am BST) and so far I feel confident. I'm pretty sure there was some REM sleep so its all go.

I'll keep this updated as I go on.

Kel