Polyphasic Sleep: A Procedure

It is often said that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Hasn't stopped anyone from making them, though.

The schedule itself is quite simple: naps at 2:30, 6:30, and 10:30 (Pacific Standard Time). For simplicity of reference, let me name each four-hour period (the nap being the first 20 minutes of the period), as follows:
2:30 - 6:30 am -- Dawn Block
6:30 - 10:30 am -- Morning Block
10:30 am - 2:30 pm -- Noon Block
2:30 - 6:30 pm -- Afternoon Block
6:30 - 10:30 pm -- Evening Block
10:30 pm - 2:30 am -- Night Block

I will have classes mostly during the noon and afternoon blocks (with a scattered few in the morning block). Most of my extracurricular activities fall during the evening block. The other three waking periods... well, for the first time in many years, I will be able to say that I have copious free time, and mean it.

I had been warned of this. Those blocks, especially the dawn one, tend to be the most difficult during the adaptation phase. That is, those are the times when most people attempting the sleep schedule will be the most tired and sleepy, and will really have to fight to stay awake. In this, I have an advantage. In my current monophasic existence, I am significantly more nocturnal than most people are. During finals week, when we had, beyond our scheduled exams, virtually absolute flexibility of schedule, I found myself naturally going to bed at around 9:00 - 10:00 am, and waking up around 3:00 - 4:00 pm. However, I am also partially adjusted to a more normal daytime schedule because the rest of the world runs that way. This means that I shouldn't have any block that is significantly more difficult than any other block. At night, I'm used to being up and about; during the day, as long as I don't fall asleep in lectures, I will have external stimuli helping to keep me awake (including biking to and from class!). I guess I'll just have to sit next to friends with strict instructions to jab me discreetly under the desk when I start nodding off.

Still, once I'm far enough into the adaptation phase I will be so sleep-deprived that I will be in constant danger of falling asleep when I'm not supposed to, regardless of time of day. The literature recommends filling my time with physical and/or stimulating tasks. Things like reading are a poor choice, unless perhaps I try reading while pacing in circles out in the cold. Likewise, I'm not confident that even working on my own creative writing will be sufficient to keep me awake (but I'll try!). (It will be necessary to do homework, of course; I will simply have to find a most uncomfortable spot in which to do it.) What seems most effective, from said literature, are things like exercising and cooking, and I am a) not particularly athletic (and therefore unlikely to kill more than half an hour exercising), and b) unable to cook (well, or without setting off the fire alarms). I plan on making a daily trip to the post office during the dawn block, on my bike, despite the extreme likelihood of not getting any mail. I will also, for the first time in ages, try to eat breakfast, during the morning block. Actually, meal times warrant a separate paragraph (see below), but I digress. My to-do list contains several knitting and sewing projects, which I can do standing up if I need to, and have the additional benefit of painful stimulus (stabbing myself with a needle) if I drift off. I've a long list of rather mundane things to do, such as cleaning my (half of the) room, cleaning up my e-mail inboxes (perhaps too boring to keep me awake), etc. If you have any suggestions on activities to try (especially if you know me in Real Life), comments are very welcome.

Now, regarding meal times... given that I will have more total waking hours, I expect my consumption to increase. Hence, I plan on eating three meals per 24 hours, rather than the two-a-day I had last quarter (as noted above, I am not accustomed to eating breakfast). I will spread them evenly, one meal towards the end of every other block, so that I'll be having breakfast during the morning block, dinner during the afternoon block, and Late Night during the night block (Late Night is a supper/midnight snack type of thing offered by some of the dining halls at our school). Yes, I am completely aware that I've left out lunch; I often skipped lunch or grabbed a bagel between classes in high school. It's probably for the best, considering that my winter quarter class schedule allows only 20-or-so minutes for lunch on some days anyhow. I have a significant stockpile of ramen in my closet, and tend to accumulate fruit in my fridge under the bed, so if I really feel I need it (or if I'm too lazy/tired to make my way over to Late Night), I can eat whenever. I hope I don't forget. I have a distressing tendency to forget to eat, especially when I'm distracted and/or engrossed in something particularly interesting.

Now, to see whether and/or how my brain is being affected by all of this, I will take a brief online short-term memory test at least once a day, trying for approximately the same time each day. I found one I like here. I created an account, which lets me track how I've been doing over time. The best part, though, is that it has different tests using numbers, letters, and words, and hence should yield more thorough results. This will probably constitute the only really scientifically rigorous part of the experiment. The rest of each status report will consist mostly of personal observations (and some whinging, I'm sure).

I go back to school tomorrow. I'm excited!