Use your Feet to help your Sleep
Here's an odd tip out of the blue, that I've actually been doing for years and just realized (at 4:30 a.m.) was actually a tip!
Need help teaching your mind/body what is sleep-time and what isn't? Use your shoes!
It's quite hard to fall asleep in your shoes. It feels "wrong" to pass out while fully dressed. It's easier to get up and walk around, go outside for a second, or pop into a non-sleep-friendly area (like a basement) when you're wearing shoes; and it's almost impossible to go to bed without taking them off first.
So use your shoes! When your alarm goes off, put them on right away (and anything else you have to put on in order to wear them, like pants or socks), and leave them on until it's time to go to sleep again. Use street-shoes or boots for the best effect, as opposed to tennies or slip-ons.
UberTip: Clothes in general are helpful clues for your body about waking/sleeping times, so feel free to incorporate changing clothes into your routine however much it helps you. However, people on "Uber" schedules (Uberman/Dymaxion/Tesla) often eschew the concept of "sleep clothes" altogether, since changing in and out of jammies six times a day gets a little tiresome! …But if that's you, remember it's still helpful to develop some ritual for changing your clothing to indicate sleep-time — even if it's only to take off your shoes while you nap.
Er, don't do what I did at first, and wear the same clothes for three days straight, though! If you're on Uberman/etc., it's a good idea to change all your clothes every time you shower — remember, you put 20 hours of living (and possibly also six naps) into them a day!
(Got other tips? Send them to puredoxyk@[samething].com and receive public gratitude for them! ;)
Awesome creative-commons-licensed shoe image by Paul Stevenson.
7 comments
Sounds like a good plan unless you are like me, and try to wear shoes as little as possible.
But I do but on my sleep shorts even when I take a nap.
I just started everyman today, and the naps are giving me a boost, but I've got a job interview on Tuesday, and I am debating dropping this attempt if I get the job, since I won't have much control or my nap schedule on a week to week basis.
Any advice is apreciated.
Hello! I've been reading over your blogs, particularly the ones following your attempt at Uberman and the subsequent adoption of Everyman. You write beautifully! It's so entertaining to read ur stufs :). I'd love to do Uberman myself, but the schedule is definitely not ideal at this point in time. Also, I think I'd need much more self-discipline than what I currently have :P.
Do you have any more information online on your first 6 month Uberman experience? Or is it all in your book? I'd imagine it'd be real interesting to read about, 'specially since no-one had ever done it before (referring to the 20 minute nap every 4 hours). Kinda like being the first person to skydive.
Thanks again! Keep up the awesome writing :D.
PS sorry if this double or triple posts, but your server appears to be shitting itself every time I post something…
No problem! The server error actually doesn’t prevent your post from going through; that was just you being in moderation because you’re a new poster. It won’t happen again, now. ;)
Thank you for the compliment! I discuss the first Uberman experiment in various places on this site (looking through the “polyphasic sleep” category is probably the best way to find them); but yes, there’s a lot in the book about it, too!
The unfortunate thing is, I didn’t realize until much later that I *was* one of the first people to seriously do Uberman long-term. Maybe I would have kept better records if I had…or then again, maybe it would have intimidated me too much, if I’d known!
Thanks for the comment(s)! -PD
Hi, Nico! I admire your shoelessness; I did that for a while and really enjoyed it, myself!
If your interview is Tuesday, and you get the job, you’ll probably start in a week or two, right? Which means you’ll have enough time to juusssst about get adapted to Everyman, and then you’ll have to quit! That would suck, to not even get to the really good part. …Then again, you will have had the experience of adapting, and you’ll know what being on Everyman is like (for the most part), so if what you’re looking for is just an experience of it, rather than the lifestyle, it could still be worth it. And of course, if you *don’t* get the job, at least you have the upside of the extra time until you do get one!
Hope that helps some!
PD
Shoelessness seems as if it would be a quality common to the polyphasing type. I've become quite interested in the "barefoot debate" of late and I wonder how many polyphasers run barefoot.
Recent Runner's World article for the shodden: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-240-319–6728-0,00.html
I'm finding myself increasingly shoeless, too. I'm fortunate that my work lets me wear sandals. (I get weird looks if I try to walk around in my socks.) The other day, I went to "Avatar" and not long after sitting down, I just took my shoes off out of habit! :^)
Nevertheless, that trick of taking my sandals seems to help tell my body that it's time to calm down and go to sleep. That ought to be in the next revision of the book for sure!
Wow, thanks for this PD! I always put on clothes when getting up from my nap, but never shoes. Can't wait to test this one out! =D
Raap!d