Hey everyone,
This is my new blog that I set up specifically for studying the uberman cycle I plan on doing. This is going to be a HUGE undertaking by me personally and scientifically, so if you are interested, be sure to keep checking my blogs out!
Anyway, I have recently discovered polyphasic sleeping, thanks to my girlfriend finding highexistence.com's overview on it and Steve Palina's in depth report. I am extremely interested in doing this and will be starting my Uberman cycle on June 20th or 27th, depending on a court date that might get pushed back from the 21st for some guy who I caught trying to rob my apartment.
I'm taking a lot of preemptive measures to make sure this works out well. First of all, I'm completely dropping any and all caffeine intake come June 4th. On that day I will also be converting to a mostly vegetarian diet (temporarily). I won't completely stop eating meat, but I will stop eating thick meat (so only sauces with a little meat allowed basically). I'm basically doing this to allow my digestive system an easier time to break down all of my food. I've read that vegetarian's need less sleep, so I hope to take advantage of this for my adaptation period.
I'm also seriously considering a super-cleanse between June 4th-8th of juiced raw veggies and fruits. I've also read into this and it is apparently cleansing for the digestive system and allows it time to get the toxins out. I doubt this will help my adaptation period, but it might speed the effects up that vegetarianism will have on my digestive system and current sleep schedule.
Other measures I will be taking during that time will be conditioning myself to wake up to my first alarm, verses snoozing it one or more times, and setting a rigid monophasic sleep schedule. I usually go to sleep sometime between 11-2 am and wake up at 8:30 am. I work from home, which will make things a bit easier as far as flexibility goes, but I do have employees come into my house and work with me. I will be taking the first week off, but if I don't fully adapt in the 9 days I've alloted myself, I will just have to make do with my energy levels during work.
I already work at like 70% efficiency or less because of my current sleep habits, which is partially why I want to do this. I hate sleeping with a passion. I find it to be the biggest waste of time in the world. 8 hours of literally nothing? No thank you. This is why I work at suboptimal levels and don't ever get enough sleep. I prefer to be awake. I feel like this mindset will allow me an easier adaptation period, but the conditioning of getting 8 hours of rigid sleep will prove difficult for me.
I do have quite a few hobbies I don't have time for in my current life, so I will be able to keep myself busy during the danger hours of what I think will be 12 am to 8 am. These WON'T involve reading, watching TV/movies, or any other activity in which my mind won't be 100% engulfed in something. This WILL involve playing video games, especially first person shooters online. This seems to spike the most mental concentration from me, no matter how bad I will be during the adaptation period. I will also finally pick up writing again. I love writing, but have let it slip due to the immense time sink it takes up in my life. I won't be able to write novels during the adaptation period (need a lot of focus and awareness for that), but expect thorough posts on my feelings about the sleep cycle. I hope to match the depth that Steve Palina portrayed in his blogs, though maybe not quite as existential as his were. I also plan on learning new programs to help with my video game business, Exato Game Studios. Specifically more advance 3d Studio Max and video editing tools. Working out is something else I will do to keep busy. I have a gym very close to me and will use it to walk/run if outside isn't deemed safe. Lastly, and this may not happen because of my current living situation, but I want to re-pick up the alto saxophone. I have a room mate, so this may not fly, but I would LOVE to pick this up again. Been about 10+ years since I played it, but I think about it all the time. It would be fantastic to pick this up again.
This is going to be a test of will, perseverance, mental endurance, physical endurance, and motivation. I don't, for a second, believe this will be easy. This is why I'm taking all of these preliminary measures. I have taken a lot of tips from Steve Palina's life, studied their effects, and will utilize the useful ones here. I believe that anyone can do polyphasic sleeping. I also believe that the people who fail are just not doing it right and need to take more preliminary measures to accomplish it. This is why I want to do this blog. I want people to know how the effects of my new-found vegetarianism will affect my sleeping (verse my avid meat eating habits before), as well as going from caffeine addict to not touching it at all. I want my experience to be not only for personal growth, but for the furthering of polyphasic sleep itself. I do plan on getting brain scans sometime down the road to compare a normal persons brain to mine during sleep, though sadly I can't get one before I start (no time or money for it) to compare. I also plan on making regular-ish doctor visits to check up on my health, after the 6 month marker, since that's when documentation ends.
I have a lot of long term goals for this sleep cycle, so I hope I succeed in even getting past the adaptation period. Please let me know if you have any other useful tips in the stages before starting, as I will gladly consider them.
I will keep you all posted on a day-by-day basis for the actual sleep trials, but for now, the updates will be sparse. I will update with major news as it comes before I start, but it won't be super regular. I will be here regularly though to answer questions.
Anyway, I hope you all find something useful in this and wish me luck!
-John Getty
