*Transcendental *Logic

Okay, this morning I had occasion to write the following in a polyphasic discussion group, and it reminded me that I want to write it down more formally:

All of the following is incorrect in my experience, FYI.  Or I should say, none of it is correct past the adaptation period.  I really hope I can help new/hopeful polyphasers understand, eventually, that someone who attempted to adapt to a polyphasic schedule but didn’t get past 30 days [at a bare, bare minimum] never "was" polyphasic — they just "were" in adaptation for a while.  Statements about things that happen during adaptation — like mild immune system suppression, which is a common side-effect of sleep deprivation — often are NOT characteristics of polyphasic sleep as a long-term endeavor; at the very least they shouldn’t be considered good evidence one way or the other.  If you have questions about polyphasic sleep in the longer term (i.e. past adaptation), you should really only take advice from people who have gotten that far; otherwise the information you get may be very "off".

I seriously, honestly cannot count how many silly ideas have been presented to me from people who heard them from some pontificator who "did Uberman for 8 days" or "was polyphasic for 2 weeks" or some such nonsense.

And yet, such people will claim that their experiences are indicative of what polyphasic sleeping is really like.  Examples of adaptation-truths I’ve seen presentated as traits of polyphasic sleep are:
- Your immune system will be suppressed / you’ll heal slower;
- You’ll be hungry a lot;
- You’ll be irritable;
- You’ll be tired all the time (my favorite, because of the DUH factor);
- You won’t be able to think very clearly during some of your day
- Your body temperature will be higher (or lower)
-  You’ll be sensitive to light (or sound)
-  You cannot modify your (usually Everyman) schedule in the short-term, such as replacing one 20-minute nap with 90 minutes of Core Sleep, without messing up your schedule

…See how all of those (except the last one) are perfectly reasonable symptoms of sleep-deprivation?  Of course you’ll experience them while you’re adapting, because you’re experiencing sleep deprivation.  The sleep dep can be there, in some form, for up to 2 months that I’ve seen (especially if the adaptation process wasn’t perfect), so anybody who hasn’t gotten past that point really isn’t commenting on fully-adapted polyphasic sleep, period.  And as for modifications, I and others have always said that short-term modifications should not be attempted while you’re adapting, for what I think are pretty obvious reasons.  It’s just like how you can get away with slipping your well-trained dog an odd treat now and again, but you can’t do that while you’re training him!

I’m not dissing the people who try but fail to adapt — for one thing, the failure rate for polyphasic adaptation is high, and I hope that people trying it know that (since it’s written, like, everywhere).  That combination of self-discipline-without-external-motivation and at-least-mostly-polyphasic-friendly-lifestyle is not very common, and it really is what’s mainly required to succeed (in my occasionally-humble opinion). 

I just wish that people who haven’t ever been past the adaptation phase would quit doling out advice as though they’re experienced polyphasers.  (Exceptions made, of course, for those who study hard and are attempting to pass on the advice of people who did adapt — that’s still dangerously easy to do wrong, but not harmful in itself, I think.)  At the very least, mention that you’ve never adapted, because the newbies you’re talking to often don’t realize how stark the difference is between adapting and being polyphasic.  Maybe the people who’ve never successfully adapted don’t realize it either, I guess, but at the very least they could take our word for it!

Okay, grousing over.  As you can tell, I don’t much like being poked into dissertating on well-worn irritations before 6 a.m.  ;)

This entry was posted 1 year ago on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 5:51 am and is filed under irrationality, polyphasic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.