Polyphasic Sleep and Better Thinking
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Not sure if this is bragging, really…

by puredoxyk

…Today, I discovered that I know more about sleep-dep than anyone else I know.

It’s not by choice, believe me. Today I caught myself being “resident expert” on the topic for yet another person, and found myself having to answer the question, “Why do you know so much about sleep dep?”

(This wasn’t nearly as disturbing as answering the question I asked myself: “Why does nearing the end of a month of sleep deprivation feel familiar to me?”)

I was forced to admit out loud that I’ve:

  • suffered insomnia; once went 2 weeks without sleeping more than 20 minutes a day
  • lived on Uberman for 6 months
  • later been awake 24 hours, then in labor for 22 more
  • …then slept for six hours, and immediately resumed care of a baby that didn’t sleep through the night for eleven months, and which woke every 2-3 hours for six months straight
  • spent 5 days awake in the hospital when said child was sick
  • spent 9 days imperfectly adjusting to Uberman and then switched to Everyman, accumulating a near-record sleep-debt, even for me
  • Yay!
  • …but I stopped hallucinating two days ago, so don’t worry. ;)

…So yeah, seems that sleep dep is just a general theme for me. Great. Wonderful. Of all the archetypal companions to pick up on the journey of life, I pick up Mr. Coffee, the Infomercial Connoisseur. Sheesh.

Still, regardless, who cares, right? I’m posting mostly because it’s almost 1:30 and I wanted to get down my update for day 10, during which I was surprisingly coherent. I was tired before my naps, slept well except for 10:00 (barely dozed off at the end…I have some ideas about what might be causing that to pursue), and generally wasn’t half as thrashed as I expected to be, after the debacle that was last night. Iiiiinteresting. I also ran my rough draft “formula” of polyphasic sleep-schedule generation by my dad, a right smart fellow, who says there’s something to it but I’m probably missing a mathematical concept needed to express said something. He’s very likely right. Math friends, prepare for seriously aggravating phone calleage!

Okay, time to wind down with some video games or something and hit it. ‘Night!

-PD