Recap, and Restart

Sorry about the late post, but I've been pretty busy. This update is pretty big though, so I've decided to provide an overview of our last week, and talk about next week.

Today, both Russell and I slept 13 hours. Yup, that is not a typo. THIRTEEN hours. We had been going strong beforehand, and there was no reason to think that something like this would even occur. We went to sleep at 6 am, and for some reason, we both woke up at 1:30 pm, having missed our classes, then slept until 7 pm. We both have no idea what happened, but either: we slept through the 6 am alarm, or I didn't actually set it (unlikely). Either way, both of our schedules are completely screwed up now.

So are we done with Uberman-ing? No way. Both of us agree that this schedule is awesome and don't want to go back. Instead, we're starting over with day 1 (starts at midnight tonight). This week has taught us a lot, but I don't think we've transitioned to the new schedule, yet. We're going back into the schedule with much more experience and optimism. If anyone wants to try it with us, feel free to comment below.

Now I'll go into some common misconceptions, pros and cons:

Myth #1: You won't be able to fill up your 22 hours awake!

Both of us have been able to fill up the space pretty well. We thought we'd need a lot of stuff to keep us entertained (Runescape, Settlers of Catan) but we haven't been using them. Maybe its because we have so much work (at least I do) or because we're entertaining ourselves, but we haven't succumbed to boredom.

Myth #2: This sleep cycle isn't possible!

Both Russell and I loved sleeping. We would sleep until 3 or 4pm on the weekends, and probably would every day if we didn't have class. Both of us have been pleasantly surprised by how easy sleeping 2 hours a day was. Honestly, the sleeping 2 hours a day part isn't hard at all; the hard part is not accidentally oversleeping. We both felt the most tired when we oversleep, actually.

Myth #3: You're not spending your time doing work, you're just messing around.

We are not using all of our extra 6 hours to do work, that's true. However, we definitely spend some fraction of that time working. Russell spent 12 am - 5 am working on programming only (although, for those who know Russell, that's probably a bad analogy).

Pros:

• 6 extra hours awake!
• Not having the awful feeling of oversleeping
• Open shower/laundry at odd hours in the night
• Weird dreams (I had a dream about choosing different kinds of soup in a lecture)
• Feeling refreshed after each nap
• Not worrying about sleeping through class (except for rare occasions like 13 hours)

Cons:

• My eyes are probably getting worse
• I get really jealous when people fall asleep in my room.
• I have to eat more (but not a LOT more)

Again, if anybody else would want to try this schedule, comment below and we'll share some more of our experiences. Honestly, I think more people should try it; at the very least, it'll be a very interesting experience that you could tell others. And who knows, it might just change your life.

Day 6 - Nap 3

Jon's been on my case about posting, so here it is.

I think today was the first time we've both not overslept the 10AM nap, assuming Jon isn't sleeping right now. I don't know if it because Jon took an addition 8AM nap and I had practice beforehand or if we are actually getting better at this. Either way, its a good sign.

It seems we both aren't getting any REM sleep yet, probably because we've been oversleeping too much. But I think with the new 'competition' we've created, it should be easier. And by the way, I won at 10AM, Jon at 6AM.

It seems like Jon has been giving a FAQ of sorts for this experiment and apparently will be giving a list of pros and cons later. I think I'll do something similar and give some advice for

someone who wants to try this in the future. This list will probably grow as we continue on.

Advice for future Uber-people:

• Find a partner- Like working out, someone else will keep you on track and persistent.
• Chew gum/eat food - This is one of the easiest ways to stay up and waste extra time. Eating a good meal will cut a good hour out of that block and keep you up too.
• Don't get bored - Easier said than done. But try to find a game or hobby that will keep you occupied. Or maybe even learn something new! Boredom will lead to thoughts of sleep, which are bad.
• Be active - You'll find it is really easy to sit around for most of the day. But you should be active and social as much as possible. There will be probably 8 hours a day where no one else is up, so save your alone time for then.
• Partying - Not recommended. Although seemingly contradictory to the above statement, I am referring specifically to alcohol consumption and late nights. Definitely go to parties, but after some alcohol it is extremely easy to pass out and oversleep. Also, be sure you don't forget a nap because of the party.
• Don't miss a nap- Although I don't know from experience, I've heard that missing a nap can lead to trouble. Don't do it.
• Plan Wisely- Before you start this, look at your daily schedule. Is it even possible to segment your life into 6 separate 4 hour blocks? A well planned nap schedule will make it easier not to miss a nap.

Well thats all the advice I can think of right now. If I think of more I'll post it later or just edit this one.

Still waiting for dreams,

-Russell

day 6 nap 1

Day 5 was probably my worst day in my life as an uber man. My 10 am nap was a disaster, following an awful pattern; I turned off my alarm and somehow made my way back to my bed until 11:30, when Russell came back. If that wasn't bad enough, I also overslept through my 2pm nap, until 4:30. That's 3 extra hours of sleep...I feel like I have to restart my process all over again. I also was not able to fall asleep in my most recent nap, probably due to my extra sleep. And then we had 251 today, which just makes things worse.

One interesting phenomenon - After oversleeping my 10am nap, I could not keep my eyes open during my programming class. I think my body was expected a return to normalcy, which I so rudely disrupted by forcing myself up.

So, Russell and I have made a pact to not sleep through another nap, if we can help it. We're going to have a contest - if one of us gets up, turns off the alarm and turns on the lights, the other person owes him a snack or drink from the vending machine.

After day 7, I'll put up a list of benefits and drawbacks of the past week, so look forward to that.

going to get a free soda soon,

-Jon

day 5 nap 2

Hey all, just an update on my side of situation.

We've seemed to slip into a pattern in our naps. Our 10 am naps are by far the hardest to wake up from. Surprisingly, I've had little trouble waking up during any of my other naps. However, the 10 am nap is a different beast all together. Yesterday I woke up at 10:05 am and went to put on my contacts...Russell said he saw me leave, then I came back at 10:30. I had (and still have) no idea what happened between those 25 minutes; I think I may have fallen asleep in the bathroom. I was so tired/flustered that I forgot my wallet leaving, and then realized that I didn't even put on my contacts! This episode scared me a lot, especially considering how tired I was after. However, I managed to regain almost all of my energy back with the naps afterwards.

I'm slightly concerned about the number of vivid dreams I've had so far, namely 0. In fact, I don't think I've had a real dream yet. I don't know at which point dreams are supposed to occur, but I apparently haven't hit that part yet, which means that my transition period could be longer than I expected. However, I fell asleep for sure in every nap in day 4, which was definitely a step forward. I may even adjust my timer from 30 min to 25 min, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

On the bright side, I ate a full and hot breakfast for the first time since...a really long time. I can' believe I've been missing out; I guess I never truly appreciated breakfast before.

I've been thrown off on some of my daily rituals, such as:

1) My phone is constantly never charged enough

I usually plugged my phone in before I sleep to get a full charge. Now I use my phone as my alarm, so I charge it when I sleep, which is now 2 hours instead of the usual 8.

2) I'm not sure when I should brush my teeth

I feel like brushing my teeth before and after every nap is slightly overkill...so I've just been doing it at two random points in the day.

3) I don't know when to shower

This problem isn't too bad. I've started showering after my 6am nap.

4) I don't know when to take off my contacts.

This might be just laziness on my part, but taking my contacts off and putting them back on 12 times a day is a bit much. I usually leave my contacts on for the day naps, and leave them off during the night.

My 10 am nap is coming up, I hope I can wake up in time.

Still waiting for crazy dreams,

-Jon

day 4 nap 0

We've officially finished 3 days. Well, I have...Russell's hit a particularly difficult stumbling block (aka oversleeping by 6 hours). My energy level is not as bad as I expected, I'm feeling a bit more tired than I would otherwise, but not a zombie-like state, as other people have explained. I've also been able to stave off boredom, by doing 251 homework and bananagrams, among other stuff. Other people say I've been moving more slowly and look more tired, but I don't feel that different.

My mind has basically adjusted to this new schedule. I live in 4 hours blocks now, rather than day/night. The night blocks seem to last a lot longer than the day ones, mostly because its dark and everyone else is asleep. Now that I have all this time, it's hard to remember those days when I had such little time to do "activities."

My body hasn't adjusted quite yet. I had a string of 3 straight deep sleeps, but no dreams (as far as I can remember), and I lost the streak on my previous nap. After each of the 3 deep naps, I felt really tired for 30 min after, then fine after that. However, I've been falling asleep much faster than I had before, breathing really slowly and deeply at the beginning of each nap helps a lot.

I've been eating a bit more; I stocked up on chips and snacks for those late nights. However, I'm not craving anything weird, or eating ridiculous amounts.

Speaking of Russell, he came back after a party for his nap and made me wake him up. Upon waking him up (which took a bit of effort), he ran out of our room and disappeared for a good ten to fifteen minutes. I got a little bit worried, so I looked for him. He was taking a shower (random?), then he came back, said "Good luck waking me up!" and went back to sleep. For the next 6 hours. I couldn't wake him up, even when I was yelling at him. After he finally woke up, he had no recollection of showering (he thought I was making it up). To his credit, he's not giving up, and has jumped right back into the schedule. Props.

starting to get really hungry,

-Jon

Day 2 - Nap 1

We just woke from the 2AM nap and honestly it has been getting easier to get asleep and wake up (other than the fail at 10AM). This most recent nap was not as deep at the 10PM one (maybe because of the people talking outside our room), but it definitely was more refreshing than yesterday's.

The hardest segments are coming up, we'll see how bad 6-10 is today. Jon and I have been playing Settlers of Catan online to keep us entertained and its been working. The hardest part about the early block is thinking about sleep. If we can't keep ourselves distracted our minds will wander to the possibility of sleep, and that will only make us more tired.

We'll see how long it takes us to adjust,

-Russell

Day 2 nap 0 - only 6 days left...

So this is officially the end of day 1. Other than the momentary slips (I overslept the 10 am nap by 2 hours, Russell overslept by 5), we've stuck on schedule. I've had 8 naps so far, Russell 9. Our most recent nap was probably our most successful, I think it was the first time we both dreamed. I don't remember much of mine, other than me waking up from a dream inside a dream (inception-like). I'm guessing the dreams will start getting intense soon.

Energy level: Pretty good, actually. Better than I expected. There was a really rough stretch from 6 am to 10 am, which would explain the oversleeping.

Eating: I've been slightly more hungry. I ate breakfast for the first time in a while, mostly because it helped me stay awake.

The days have been blending together. Night and day are not separate anymore, and I'm living in 4 hour segments. It's a really weird but interesting experience. Supposedly it only gets worse from here...we'll see how we hold up.

Until tomorrow...

Jon