How did you manage polyphasic sleep in high school? Im in college in the uk (which is equivalent to the last two years of high school) and i have a weird timetable, but i an very interested in getting into a polyphasic sleep cycle
It was difficult getting into it. I started over Summer (which I definitely recommend) and it took… let’s say a month to become 100% adapted. I had some setbacks along the way so it might only take a week or two, it all depends on the person.
I started by reading everything I could about polyphasic sleep. There are a handful of forums where people talk about their experiences, advice or tricks to help, different schedules, things like that. I’m sure you’ve probably checked out many of these already but http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/ and http://www.reddit.com/r/polyphasic/ in particular were very helpful to me. I also started blogging about it, which sort of helped me personally in sticking with my goals. It’s sort of a mental trick to keep you feeling responsible, I guess? Anyway.
So after reading all of that crap and getting lots of advice, I planned out an exact schedule on paper that I knew would work with my high school classes. I think I chose a 90 minute core nap at night with various naps throughout the day. Then later I decided to try the SPAMAYL schedule in order to get myself used to sleeping during naps faster. I figured I could always add a core nap later, but adapting is easier if you throw yourself into a strict schedule. SPAMAYL is incredibly flexible; you essentially take a nap whenever you’re tired.
So, I stuck with it for about 2 weeks (this was over summer, so I was free to take naps whenever). However, I noticed personally that I kept oversleeping at night by taking a 4.5 hour nap exactly. I decided that since I was sleeping that way anyway, this was the best option for me. Although I was sleeping maybe ~6 hours each night (not a dramatic change from how I had been sleeping before) I noticed the benefits immediately. I had tons more time to do homework or dick around on the internet. More time than I even knew what to do with, really. It actually became challenging for me to find things to do at night while I was awake. I learned languages, read every book I could find, did homework and projects way in advance. It was great! I told everyone I could about how awesome I felt. I was eating healthier, getting up early, and had more energy throughout the day.
When school started, my final schedule was a core 4.5 hour nap anywhere from 9pm to 5am, a nap right before 8am, one during school (optional), and one right after I got home. The trickiest part was napping during school. My high school bus came at 8am and I didn’t get home until 4, and it was sometimes difficult to stay awake for that long. I ended up eating my lunch during class and taking my nap during lunch in a secluded spot. It was my senior year and I was a good student so my teachers were content to let me do pretty much whatever. It worked, aside from the few occasions where someone mistakenly woke me up! Then I would be really grumpy for the rest of the day. Sometimes I couldn’t nap for whatever reason, but it always worked out.
The only downside I saw was that if I had missed my lunch nap I couldn’t really do anything after school, because I had to take a nap as soon as I got home or else I would be tired and miserable. My schedule was pretty flexible, but high school can be a random time and we had classes one after the other. Still, I’d totally recommend it.
In my own experience, I started out thinking I would be sleeping in a very textbook way, but ended up forming a more custom schedule based on my own physiology instead. I still got lots of benefits, and I’m sure the time benefits would only increase if you took more naps. Less time sleeping means more time being awake, learning things! Also, I don’t know what your schedule looks like, but if you have at least 30 minutes between any two classes, I would definitely try to fit a nap in there.
My advice for you? Ok, here goes:
1. Take a core nap. There are schedules without core naps (Uberman, SPAMAYL) but these schedules make it difficult to stay awake for long periods at a time, which you will probably need if you are in school. Also, it helps just to separate one day from another.
2. Stick with it for at least a week. It’s going to feel miserable that first week while you adapt to being, essentially, sleep-deprived. I personally felt like a zombie at times, like I would sit on the couch and the world would just fly by me while I stared at nothing.
3. Don’t worry if you don’t sleep through your naps. Relax, it happens. What’s most important is resting. Even if you lie with your eyes closed for half an hour and feel stupid, don’t get back up, even if you don’t feel tired at all. You have to train your brain a bit so that it knows this is your designated sleep time.
4. Set multiple alarms. Seriously, this one is so important.
5. Listen to your body. If you keep oversleeping at a certain time, if you’re craving a certain food, if you get hungry at weird times, try to figure out why. And if it’s an easy change to make, do it!
6. Find a mentally stimulating hobby. Staying awake at night can be difficult or boring, especially if everyone you know is asleep. Try taking up a new hobby, something that’s not too difficult to do when you’re tired, but still keeps your mind occupied. Try learning a new skill or language. I chose learning Norwegian and the Dvorak keyboard layout, both of which kept me occupied for hours at night. You could also try cooking or writing with your non-dominant hand. Anything, really, but try to avoid passive things like watching videos or movies, because you could easily go to sleep during a slow part.
