I read a couple other sleep journals and forums before I started doing this, and noticed a few people mentioned blackouts from sleep deprivation while trying to adapt during their first few days. Fortunately I have not encountered anything of the sort, and in fact, my rate of overall tiredness has been markedly less so than other people seem to go through. I firmly believe that my easy acclimation is due to my constant familiarity to an already fucked up sleeping pattern. Yes, I’ll go with that.
Also discovered this cool gadget: http://myzeo.com
I’m really interested in getting one, but $200 is a bit out of my price range. I think I will save up and get it for my “christmas” present this year. Yes, I don’t buy gifts for people, I get them for myself >:O Sure saves a lot of unnecessary holiday spending and I end up with swag I actually want. Last year I purchased a Kindle for around the same price, and I got something the year before, though I can’t remember what it was, so it’s become a yearly habit to get myself something in the $150-$200 range for the winter holidays.
My alarm sound for the first two days was the Super Mario end level sound, you know, when you jump on the flag. On the third day I got tired of that and switched it to the growing sound when you get a mushroom. Today I decided I wanted to use a Tetris techno remix I’ve had kicking around on my computer for the last decade. Amusingly enough, it starts out with a computerized voice saying “Let’s play some tetris, mother fucker”, so that’s the first thing I get to hear when waking up :V Here’s the file so you can download it if you want it just for shits and giggles. Let’s play some Tetris, mother fucker~
What do I use for an alarm? My netbook, and Xnote Stopwatch (http://www.xnotestopwatch.com/). I use the free version because I’m too cheap to pay for it right now. But I’ll probably eventually buy it. It’s a useful program, and I use it for timed fiction writing as well.
Anywho, onward.
TUESDAY AUG 9
10:00-10:30
Laid down, but didn’t fall asleep. I just didn’t feel tired. But I figured the best way to condition myself to want to sleep at these specific times is to lay down and close my eyes even if I’m not sleepy. Skipping naps like this seems to really fuck some people up, but it hasn’t really had much effect on me except an increased tiredness in the hour or two approaching the next nap. Remember, I’m accustomed to frequently going 20-26 hours without sleeping, then crashing for 12 or more. This is nothin’.
14:00-14:30
Nap. Dreamed. Woke a little tired, but not too bad.
18:00-19:15
Nap. Oops. Oh well this was my fault. I moved the folder that had my alarm sound file, by accident, forgetting that the file was in there. So of course when Xnote hit 0 and started upwards again, it failed to launch the sound and just silently counted upwards. I overslept by roughly 45 minutes, and felt groggy for about a half hour afterwards.
19:30-22:00
Ate some ramen and watched an episode of Voyager. About fifteen minutes before the end of the episode, I was suddenly having a hard time keeping my eyes open. Really weird. It wasn’t the same as tiredness. My body wasn’t tired, and my mental faculties weren’t diminished in any way. My eyes just refused to stay open, but I managed to make it to the end of the episode which was almost exactly at 22:00, and I remember enough of it that I wouldn’t need to rewatch it. I excused myself for a nap.
22:00-23:15
Son of a bitch. I know I HAD fixed my alarm and added the sound file again, but I must not have pressed OK, because after oversleeping by about 45 minutes AGAIN, I checked and it still had the old file location. I’m kinda pissed. At least it seems that 45 minutes is the max I’ve overslept so far, which isn’t bad.
WEDNESDAY AUG 10
3:30-4:00
Delayed my nap for an hour because after two 75 minute naps, I was not really tired. I did manage to doze for maybe five minutes near the end, but I feel no different.
6:15-6:45
Not much of a nap, but more of a “rest”. See below for notes.
___________
Today was no harder than yesterday, though I wouldn’t say it was any easier. I feel relatively normal, which is subjective because I’m used to always feeling a little tired. I’ve also noticed some interesting things happening.
Have you ever noticed that when you’re laying in bed ready to sleep, and you’re thinking, and as you start to get drowsy and doze off, your totally coherent thoughts gradually become a constant stream of nonsensical gibberish until you either slip into a dream or become unaware? It was a common occurrence for me if I was exceptionally exhausted. But now I get that as I’m preparing to fall asleep, even if I’m not drowsy. If I’m having trouble falling asleep, I’ve noticed that if I concentrate on not thinking in words and just pay attention to my breathing, I can stir up the mental gibberish. Even if I don’t actually fall asleep, these random strings of words streaming through my consciousness seems to do something beneficial, possibly both memory and rejuvenation related. But then again, I’m no sleep specialist, so don’t take my word for it. I could be drastically mistaken.
Also, you know sometimes you drift off into sleep and have one of those falling dreams that jolts you awake? It’s called a hypnogogic jerk. WELL. During the same stage of “conscious, but with mental gibberish”, I also seem to do this sometimes. It feels almost exactly like the falling dream, except with less surprise and no adrenaline rush, because I’m awake and it’s come and gone so quickly. I’ve never actually experienced that spasm while being fully conscious before. It was kinda weird. And because this is happening before I’m actually asleep, I’ve not had one yet wake me up.
Also important to note, I’ve been drinking mountain dew all day. I haven’t noticed any side effects, but I’d have to test consistently over a few days. That may or may not be the cause of my oversleeping two naps in a row, or it might have just been me being an idiot for moving my files around.