So far I’ve been three days on the uberman schedule and it seems to be working very well. I’ve heard it’s easier to adapt the second time around–I’m finding that to definitely be the case. I’ve been hitting pretty deep sleep at almost every one of my naps. I think my last attempt coupled with my chronic college nap-taking over the past year has conditioned me to be able to fall asleep faster. It helps that I’m taking 5 to 10 minutes to ground myself and relax before I lay down to take the naps. The only times I haven’t been able to fall asleep successfully were when I was in high-energy environments (e.g. hanging out with friends)
Last time I tried uberman it took me 3 days to get to a state where I was exhausted enough to pass out on the fly. This time around I feel much better. I’m not any more tired than I would be sleeping 5-6 hours a night, but I’m still able to fall asleep in under 5 minutes pretty consistently. There are definitely more swings in energy than monophasic. 1 hour ago I was feeling about 30% functional. Now I actually feel 100%! I can tell that my thoughts are a little more unfocused than they would be if I were completely well rested, so I’m probably only running at 80%, but I feel top-notch! Considering I’ve had a grand total of about 6 hours of sleep in the last 3 days, that’s unbelievable!
I believe there are two main factors contributing to the success so far: 1) I’m physically used to sleeping at weird times from my last uberman experience, 2) I’m doing activities that are mentally or physically very active and that I love doing. Coding up this website has been exactly the kind of obsession I needed to stay focused for 3 days without pause. Yesterday I went to an African drum circle and dance group (I was on the dancing side.) Last night at around 4:00 am I even worked out and stretched (still feels like the same day–it was only 5 hours ago.)
While I have been falling asleep quickly, waking up has not been easy. I only woke up before the alarm went off once. I haven’t been able to remember any dreams either, although I must have had them. The strangest experience so far happened two nights ago. I was getting ready for my nap as usual and I was especially tired and out of it…
Next thing I know, I’m standing next to the desk, holding my phone (which is also my alarm clock.) and it’s 20 minutes after my nap. I literally could not remember the last 25 minutes or how I had gotten there. I thought I had zoned out and forgotten my nap, so I went back to bed. As I lied there dazed and confused, I realized that I must have already taken my nap, turned off the alarm in my sleep, and then woke up standing and holding my phone, but I couldn’t even remember taking the nap in the first place. It was really bizarre.
4 Comments
African Drum Circle/Dance? That sounds both crazy and fascinating.
Wow, I forgot that being on uberman means that you’re basically always awake. It seems like this time around it’s a lot easier, though.
Yeah, it was certainly both. It had the high-energy stomp-on-the-floor-and-throw-your-hands-up stuff. It was a bit more gymnastic than I expected… Don’t go to African dance circles wearing jeans.
I’ll try to avoid such a blunder, thanks for the tip.
Now as for whether I’ll ever have the opportunity to go to one, period…