PolyPHASE update, that is
Today, I kid you not, someone asked if I was “poly”, and I just automatically said, “Yes, how did you know?”
Yeah. NOT what they meant. A bit embarrassing, that. And here I thought that crankiness, inconvenient naps and tortuously loud alarms was all my husband would have to put up with from this…!
Anyway, a quick update…I no longer need an alarm at all in the afternoons, that’s for sure. I’ve forgotten to set it twice this week, and it doesn’t matter; even when I do set it, I wake up, fully rested, 1-3 minutes before it goes off. (I always set it a little “extra” in case it takes me a minute to get settled; ours is not a comfortable floor! I have a folded afghan to sleep on, another folded blanket under my knees, a sweater to use as a blanket–stupid air conditioned office is always cold–a sleep-mask and a little pillow to wrangle. Complicated!) If I’m sleeping at home, I have to make myself get out of bed when I wake up, because I’m a lot more comfy (there’s a lesson about beds for you) — but I still wake up on my own, without help.
Additionally, it’s funny, but my afternoon nap seems to be impervious to any problems with the rest of my schedule. If I sleep extra at all, I’ll frequently have trouble falling asleep for my evening nap; and if I miss sleep the day before, I’ll tend to oversleep my morning nap (and it sucks when you successfully get up at 4, have a whole productive morning, and then accidentally snoz for 45 minutes at 7! …And yes, by the way, if I oversleep in the morning, it’s almost always to 45 minutes. No idea why, but it’s interesting!). But the afternoon one is solid as a rock. Something tells me that I’ve got it timed right to a dip in energy that I probably felt even when monophasic — I take that nap between 1 & 2 p.m., which is when I’ve heard that “early riser” people are likely to want a nap anyway. And I did always get sleepy after lunch, even when I routinely didn’t eat anything at that time.
Anyway, there. You got an update, because I’m avoiding making an unpleasant call for work. (Note to humans: Yes, nonprofits are there to help; yes, the counselors will be happy to contact you if we missed your call. But, um, please at least compose yourself a little before leaving us a message. Your sobbing and freaking out does not make calling you back a tantalizing prospect!!)
*sigh* Better get to it, then.
17 devoted students of Roshi accepted this page in 0.455 seconds without moving, or saying a word.
Today in class I was nodding off at 1:30, and could barely keep my eyes open (see: heavy eyelids, unfocused vision, etc.) until 1:50 or so. Too bad I can’t take my nap then! I have it set for 2:20, when class gets out. Or 2:30.
Sigh.
45 might be another ‘magic’ number with regard to sleep cycles.
It’s almost exactly twice as long as a 23 minute nap, and just half as long as a “normal” 90 minute sleep cycle. I would venture to guess that polyphasers are delving into another 23 minute nap instead of waking halfway through a 90min sleep cycle. I mention this because 45 mins into a normal sleep cycle would land the sleeper in the realm of ‘deep sleep inertia’.
My nap oversleeps end up being around 45 mins as well. While my core oversleeps tend to be 90 mins or 3 hours extra, also in increments of 1 sleep cycle. I don’t suppose this is just coincidence, but maybe I’m just trying to make sense of something that isn’t there.