Changing around my schedule

Since the start of this experiment, I have been able to set my own schedule. I work for myself and setting up meetings with clients is pretty flexible. Lately though, I have been the general contractor on a small remodel, which means that, not only am I working at the jobsite, I am working a number of subcontractors, and making sure that the they have the materials that they need, and that everything is staying on schedule. I was having a problem with my afternoon nap. I can't nap at the jobsite (partly because there is no place that is out-of the way and comfortable, but mostly because there is a perception that people who nap are lazy, and I will have a hard time getting the contractors to take me seriously.)

The phrase "Sleeping on the job" 

does not inspire confidence.

My schedule was getting up at 6am, napping from 1:30 to 3:00pm. The problem with this schedule was trying to match it to my subcontractors. They would arrive at 8, take lunch at noon, and then work from 1 till 4. If I am going to sleep at 1:30, then I need to leave the site at 1:00, and do not get back to the site until they are in the process of cleaning up. Additionally, I was trying to eat with them at noon, so my total work day would have only been 4 hours. For a couple days, I simply switched to monophasic sleeping, because it was easier. Now I am trying a new schedule. I get to the jobsite at 7:00, work solid until 12:30, nap for 45 minutes, return at 1:30 and work till 4:00 and then take another 45 min nap. 

Day 100, thoughts, insights, and overviews.

One Hundred days into the experiment. Something that started out as being a wild experiment has become a normal, routine part of my life. Over the past 100 days, the schedule has become less rigid than the original, both in terms of when I have to sleep, and the amount of time that I sleep for each nap. I can start my afternoon nap anytime between 11:30 and 2:30, although around 1:00 is still optimal. My sleep length varies the most for my afternoon nap as well. Between 40min and 2hrs. I set my alarm for an hour and 30, but since I set it for "vibrate-dot", it will not wake me if I am not ready to get up.

However, I still can not miss my afternoon nap. If I skip my nap, I will sleep through the first wake period (12:30 am to 4:30 am). I CAN force myself to get up during that period, but depending on what I have planned, it is often not worth it. I measure the success of this sleep schedule by how productive I am, rather than just by how many hours I spend awake.

Stuff happens at night.

Things I have learned:

- I don't like to sleep 8 hours anymore. When I wake up from a long night, I hurt. My muscles are stiff, and my back is sore. I can not remember if that was typical, but I think that it might have been. I used to have a stretching routine that I did before I got out of bed. I do not need to do that anymore.

-My morning nap is the most rigid. I go to sleep at 4:30. I enjoy starting the day at 6:00. I do not know if this will slip a bit later as the year moves forward. I live pretty far north, so the daylength varies from 15 1/2 hrs to just under 9 hrs. In the winter, the sun does not rise until 8:30 am. I think that getting up after sunrise is important to resetting the circadian rhythm, but that is pretty late. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

- Injuries and illness require more sleep. I have had an injury to my shoulder, and I have had gotten sick twice since I started this experiment. Each time, I have extended my sleep time substantially. Technically, I have stayed polyphasic, but I have not stayed a short sleeper. On the other hand, this was true even when I was sleeping monophasically - I would sleep more when I was sick. There is interesting research that shows a strong correlation between sleeping less and getting sick more. For myself, getting sick twice in 100 days is more, but my core group of friends who, unbeknownst to them, I am using for a control, have also gotten sick with unusual frequency during the past 100 days. So, it is hard to make any definite conclusions, but it is something to keep my eye on. If there are any other extended short sleepers out there, I would be interested in hearing about your thoughts and experience. 

Because circadian triphasic does not require an "adaptation" phase, I have no problem shifting immediately back to my triphasic short sleep schedule. 

- Over time, I have shifted from a 90 minute cycle to an 80 minute cycle. Perhaps it is a slight adaptation to the routine, or a better ability to fall asleep.

In summary, I still find that I am more productive on this schedule than when I was on a monophasic schedule. I enjoy having every third wake-cycle entirely to myself. While I am not always as productive as I imagine that I could be during that night period, I get a lot of benefit out of spending some time reviewing the previous day and planning the next two wake-cycles. 

Diet and polyphasic sleeping

I was recently asked about my diet and how that affects my sleep schedule. I do think that food - good food - is important, and I can quickly tell when I am not eating well. It becomes MUCH harder to maintain my triphasic schedule. I have come to believe that polyphasic sleeping does, inherently, put some stress on the body, and that can be somewhat mitigated by a good diet and reasonable exercise. 

I have tracked my foods periodically for years, so I know that I typically eat 40/40/20 as far as carbs/fats/protein. However, those are not targets; the only macronutrient that I target is protein. I try to get at least 55g a day. I am a flexitarian, and do not eat much meat AND I do a calorie restriction diet for longevity, I have to be conscious of getting enough protein, without a disproportionate number of calories.

I do a CRON diet (Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition). I also kept a journal on my diet for a short while, so you can see specifically what I tend to eat. I track my diet about twice a year with nutrition-tracking software, to make sure that what I am eating at least gives me the known nutrients. This is important because with fewer calories, nutrition packing becomes more problematic, and like most people, I get into habits with food, making things that are quick and easy. So I check periodically, and adjust my diet when needed.

An important part of a complete breakfast.

Of course, I avoid caffeine after the first hour that I am awake, although I have a cup of coffee just about every time I get up.

I avoid overly processed food. I don't think that would have any direct effect on my sleep, but I believe that it has a direct effect on my health. I tend to agree with Michael Pollan's basic rules of health eating: "Eat food, mostly plants, not too much". I believe that my health has a direct effect on my ability to do triphasic sleeping.

I avoid alcohol. I find that more than one serving of alcohol will interfere with my schedule. I fall asleep easily enough, but do not wake even if I set an alarm. I also try to avoid foods with a high insulin index, except right before cardio-type exercise. I find that they make me tired about 40 minutes after I have them. It takes me longer to fall asleep if I just had some, and I tend to "oversleep" by about 20-30 minutes. 

Determining your optimal nap length.

If you are doing any sort of polyphasic sleep, or for that matter, even monophasic sleep, it is beneficial to wake at the end of a full sleep cycle, rather than have your alarm interrupt a cycle. Waking at the end of a cycle means that your mind comes easily out of REM and into consciousness. There is reason to think that you get only minimal, if any, benefit from cycles that are interrupted and that interrupted cycles contribute to sleep deprivation.

There are a couple of ways make sure that you are waking at the end of a full cycle. Probably the best available method is to purchase a Zeo. This device not only monitors the depth of your sleep and will awaken you during your lightest sleep, it also maps your sleep cycle and creates a hypnogram. Since the Zeo determines your sleep depth directly from your brainwaves, it is by the far most accurate method of tracking your sleep outside of a sleep laboratory.

Kitten don't need no Zeo.

A second option is a new app for the iphone. Sleep Cycle uses your movements to determine which sleep phase you are in and then wake you at an appropriate time. At $.99 it is much more affordable than the Zeo, if you already own the iphone. 

Which I don't, because I live in the boondocks and I only get cell service through US Cellular. I also have not sprung for a Zeo, so I came up with a frugal, low-tech method of determining my optimal nap length. I found an alarm setting that would wake me up, but ONLY when I was already in a very light sleep. My alarm is my cell phone (an old clunky one) set on Vibe Dot Dot and tucked under my pillow. When I was first trying this schedule, I would set 4 alarms spaced 2 minutes apiece. Each alarm will ring three times, 9 minutes apart, so I would get a vibrating alarm every 2 minutes over the course of 35 minutes. When I woke up, I would note the time, hone my sleep schedule that way. I started out with 3x90 since 90 minutes is a typical sleep cycle. After measuring for a few days, it turns out that my evening and morning sleep schedules are 80 and my afternoon nap is 55 minutes. These are still just averages, and not as good as using the Sleep Cycle app or the Zeo. My actual nap needs seem to fluctuate a bit depending on exactly when I got up from my last nap and the time that I went to sleep for my current nap. So, sometimes, I will be a bit off from my schedule. That inevitably seems to mean that I will not wake naturally and will need my alarm. On the occasions that I do use my alarm, I am often a bit groggy, but if I get up, have my coffee and move around a bit, I can shake it off. I think the only way to not have an occasional groggy "morning" is to either be very consistant on your schedule, or to use a Zeo.

Day 60(ish) update.

Over the last month, I have had some mixed results. During the beginning of the month, I was observing my nap times pretty strictly, falling asleep faster and had dropped my schedule from 3x90 a day to 3x80 a day, and then occasionally 2x80 + a 45 minute nap for the afternoon nap. I had plenty of energy, mental alertness, and physically felt great.

Then on May 20th, I badly injured my shoulder in a fall.

Reenactment of my injury.

I immediately started sleeping more. This was not a conscious decision, but an immediate bodily response to the pain. I still stayed polyphasic, and I was still waking easily at roughly the regular times, but I was basically laid up on the couch and spent my time reading and drowsing. On a related note, last month I received a note from Piotr Wozniak, who told me that my post on sleep not being needed for muscle is untrue, and that while they are able to repair themselves during any sort of low-activity/rest phase, the catabolic and anabolic cycles are hooked onto the undisrupted circadian cycle. Breaking one's night's sleep disrupts those hormonal changes and results in a slower recovery from exercise and injury. I have not looked into the science of this yet, but experientially, it seems to be true.

During this period of recovery, I did intentionally do some standard triphasic 3x90 days. For example, I have been driving up to see my Grandmother every other Tuesday, and it works well to drive up during the night, take a nap, visit, nap, and then drive back. But my priority has been on healing my shoulder.

While it is not yet better, it is now (mostly) not in pain, and I have moved back to my triphasic sleeping pattern. One of the things that I enjoy about this pattern, as I have said before, is how easy it is to slide back and forth between circadian triphasic and the more typical monophasic pattern. The triphasic does seem to get more efficient the longer that I (rigorously) on it, but the immediate gain of only sleeping 4.5 hrs is very nice.

Averaging 5.0 hours/night.

I have been tracking my hours using "Sleep Tracker". The interface is easy and quick. The gap in the data is from my 5 night white-water canoe trip, and the following 2 days where I had switched to a (semi) monophasic pattern. Overall, since April 5th, I have averaged 5.0 hours a night. 

A little inconsistant, but getting there.

You might notice that on the 22nd of April, I shifted my morning nap from 5:30 to 4:30. That is because, with the lengthening day light it was starting to get too bright, and had concerns about my circadian rhythm being reset by the morning sun. 

I also notice from looking at this chart, that there is a clear penalty for inconsistency. For example on May 7th, I did not get home from a party until 1:00am. I functioned fine throughout the day, but paid for it last evening, sleeping 2 1/2 hours even though I went to bed at my usual time. On April 24th, I did not get my afternoon nap until 5:30pm, and slept through the night on the 25th. A short afternoon nap on April 19th is followed by a long evening nap.

I would likely have stronger gains (shorter overall sleep times) if I stayed more consistant. On the other hand, the inconsistencies arise from a desire to not let my schedule completely dictate my social life. In general, I am apparently willing to pay the average 10 days/year (.5 hrs/day) penalty to have an active social life. 

It will be interesting to see whether I can make my sleep schedule more consistant in the future through better planning, or whether these inconsistencies are going to naturally arise from my priorities of interfacing with the real world.

Delicious fiddleheads

I always enjoy this time of year. Spring is really, truly here. The earth smells alive and things are starting to green up. The apple trees are just starting to leaf out and the trilliums are in full bloom, but what has me all excited is that the first fiddleheads are up. For those of you that are not from New England, fiddleheads are a spring delicacy. While many ferns have the tightly coiled shoots that look like the decorative carving that adorns the end of the fiddle, when Mainers are discussing fiddleheads, they inevitable mean the young ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris. These are commonly wild-harvested in late April and early May.

I think that these ferns are one of the most underrated perennial edible. They transplant easily, they have no natural pests, and they are very low maintenance. They grow seasonally to about 5 feet tall and will spread to about 6 feet wide, although you can plant them about 3 ft on center and they will do better, shading out all competitors. The fiddleheads are delicious. They tastes something like spinach or asparagus but with a deeper, woodsy taste from the tanins. The important thing to keep in mind when you are looking to plant them is that they are riparian and require a place that is wet to very wet in the spring. They do not have to be wet all year, although they can take it, and they are not drought tolerant. They like part sun or dappled sun. In full sun they tend to be out-competed by grasses. They are often found in the company of blackberry brambles, and they grow well together as long as the brambles reigned in every few years.

a fiddlehead recipes to get you started:


Scollops and Fiddlehead Medley

1 pound fiddleheads
6 ounces linguine, uncooked
6 cups water
1-3/4 pounds fresh scollops
1 tablespoon oil
2/3 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced (wild mushrooms are fantastic with fiddleheads)
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Bring about 3-4 quarts of water to a boil for fiddleheads. While waiting for water, prep other veggies.
Boil fiddleheads for 10 minutes, drain and set aside.
Put on water for pasta. Saute onions and mushrooms until about half done. Add other vegetables and braise. 
Cook pasta as directed. 
Add herbs, scollops and fiddleheads to the braise.
Serve hot on pasta and dash with lemon.

Serves 6.