This will be a record of personal experiences using this method that may hopefully prove useful to someone other besides myself. The amount of data concerning this method is small in comparison to the Uberman method which is well documented by PureDoxyk. Because of this I am not completely sure of what I'm up against and feel as if I am striding into the unknown. The reason I chose the Dymaxion schedule over the Uberman is because this one is considered safer as it supposedly provides all stages of sleep unlike the Uberman, which provides only REM sleep.
PLANNING
I decided to do this yesterday on a train ride home. As soon as I got home at 7PM I dressed for bed and laid to sleep. I believe I slept for about 20 minutes, but was relaxed the entire time. I have had only 6 hours of sleep the previous day. I wanted to do this in stages by slowly adjusting from monophasic to polyphasic going through each method every other day (siesta, everyman) until I reach Dymaxion. To pass the time I first wanted to write stories, but I was no good and had trouble concentrating. So I decided to play the most time consuming strategy games I knew again, to help me get through the transition period. I decided on the hours to best suit the double shifts at work and social activities. I also regarded ambient conditions.
EXECUTION
I received 5 calls during my nap, which had me conclude I need a different alarm than my phone. I woke up, ate dinner, went to my friends and drank some hot cocoa. I played a turn based strategy game (Civilization 4) as I waited for my second phase. I turned off the computer so as to make the room completely silent and laid to rest at 1:07 AM. I woke up at 1:55 and went to the bathroom, the alarm was left on snooze so I ran back to my room to turn it off. It was 2:00. I spent some time in the bathroom, ate a banana and returned to my room very tired and confused. I checked the time and it was 2:33. I was functioning very poorly. I played the game again until 7:04 AM. I had no trouble staying awake although I was bored with the game. The last hour before sleep moved the slowest. I repeated the process and went to rest. The alarm went off at 7:55 but I decided to snooze in. I woke up with no alarm at 8:37 threw myself to the floor, persuading myself not to continue sleeping. Eventually I got dressed and had breakfast. I felt sick and had a bad voice. I was better at around 10 AM after I ate and watched TV.
The couch was getting too comfy and nothing good was on Discovery so I decided to go upstairs and play computer games until my next scheduled sleep. A Real time strategy game woke me up nicely, but I wanted to continue the game I started the previous night. I started receiving calls, apparently lunch is until 2:00 PM and people though I was sleeping in on a Sunday. At this point I informed most people of my doing to see if we can adjust. The last two hours until 1 PM moved even slower. I accidentally turned off the computer earlier and waited for half an hour standing up. At about 1:07 PM a hailstorm broke out outside which provided a nice white noise as opposed to dogs barking. I fell asleep and woke up several times during the 45 minutes I gave myself. My father picked me up to go to lunch. I was nauseous and confused but that sorted itself out after about 20 minutes.
FUNCTIONING
Basic math gave me troubles. I couldn’t divide 180 with 30 to check the back-story of an athlete with the dymaxion schedule. I have trouble finding proper words to express and have a large appetite. I ate calamari with potatoes, mushroom soup, mixed salad and chocolate cake.
I don't feel sleepy just tired, like I should just sit back and do nothing. Decision making was not impaired, reflexes were delayed and I had increased apathy to surroundings. I am capable of physical labor, but find it harder to do.
FURTHER THOUGHTS
I'm going to go home now and sort the luggage to make the room more comfortable to sleep in. The sun is an excellent energy boost and a warm bed is a death trap if I want to get this done. I read from a fellow noder that things to do helped him survive the transition period. Except for housework and games I don't feel capable of doing much else well. I am especially afraid that I will be incapable of adjusting to my new biorhythm 'till the 31 when my friends and I go to the seaside. I find it hard to fall asleep sitting or next to other people. That is a possible threat that I will have my first day there ruined.
I am still uncertain if it is better to sleep for 30 minutes from the start a suggested or 45 minutes as calculated. i find I cannot sleep longer than 30 minutes when given my scheduled naps anyway.
Day 3
This stage was supposed to
be the worst, but I just feel somewhat odd and weak, not tired at all. My eyes
started to hurt, which I attributed to the computer screen so I took a break
from gaming. At least until nighttime, when there isn't much else to do.
May 23
As soon as I exited the
hostel from where I was writing the nod, I marched home and visited my
grandmother along the way. She couldn't believe I had slept for only 2 hours
and looked as I did and I couldn't believe she's walking again. She had a
stroke a while back which paralyzed her right side of the body. She's
recovering, but isn’t taking too many precautions by having a diet suitable for
her diabetes, that gave her the stroke in the first place. It was nice to see
her upright though, but if she put more effort in it, she'd be able to go
swimming with us.
I ran from home from her place. This was surprising for me. I was tired, yet I
managed to run a moderate distance without losing to much breath. This
reassured me that the fatigue is mostly in my head and that my body is still in
working condition.
I managed to just catch my
evening nap, which was most enjoyable. Until 2 AM I returned to my games and
repeated the procedure. I suppose melatonin is still well present in my
brain. I was quite tired all night and counted the hours until morning. During
that time I had an amazing tingly sensation in my brain that sometimes turned
to stinging. It was like fingers tickling my brain and they every so once in a
while pinched. This gave me concerns that my gray matter was deteriorating.
Until now I suffered memory loss and loss of chronological orientation. I am
pushing myself to write this to recollect the memories, which I would otherwise
forget. The night was frustrating and tiresome, I went to bed again at 7:10 AM.
Morning of May 24
I slept in. I have no idea
how it happened but I would have slept through the entire morning if I wouldn't
have been awakened by my grandfather at 9:10 AM. For once, I really did mean it when I
thanked him for waking me up for breakfast. My theory is that I hit the stop
button instead of the snooze on the alarm. I had wonderful dreams of
adventurous voyages and whenever that happens I usually have a reflex to turn
off anything without thought or hesitation. This made me conclude that the
alarm needs to be stationed further away from my bed. I ate eggs, did
housework and finished cleaning my room 30 minutes before my noon nap.
I laid to rest at 1:10 PM,
woke up at 1:55 PM as usual, but for some reason the clock showed 2:25 PM when
I last hit snooze. I felt fine, tired but that wore off quickly, definitely
didn't want to sleep further as I rose. I decided I need a reality check in case
I am perceiving things too subjectively through my sleep deprived brain. I'm
going to get an appointment with my doctor. Our national healthcare needs to be
better used anyway.
So I spent the rest off the
day talking to my other grandmother, the wife of the grandfather that woke me.
Went to the library to do my planned research on the German epic of Siegfried.
I have this wonderful book called Wagner's ring of the Nibelung by Stewart
Spencer and Barry Millington. It has the German text and a translation with
added features, which is better than I hoped to find. So here I am writing this
nod and leaving soon.
FURTHER THOUGHTS
I like sleep and will
probably come back to it after my trip next week. After such a good adaptation
to the dymaxion schedule I am keen on one day trying the Uberman. For now I
believe the Everyman is something I can strive for, but in the end it all
depends on my work and social activities. I'll sleep when I'll be dead, but
that doesn't of course mean I need to get there quicker. My priority is health,
extra time is unnecessary during the night anyway. You can't read or write
without damaging your eyes and computer games are starting to get boring. (I
don't have a personal internet connection)
<!--
@page { margin: 2cm }
P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm }
-->
Day 3 - Ups no. 2 (Day 4 - today)
I have an interesting conclusion planned ahead but
please bear with me after I have you understand I have took a short
break. Yes, yes I basically failed, but have the intention of
retrying if you will tomorrow. On the morning of May 24th, Day 3, I
woke up to the clock stating it was 9:07 AM. Considering I went to
sleep at at 7:10 AM I shortly after concluded by much mathematical
evidence that I have indeed overslept, again. After this I would like
to see you also understand my choices and their consequences. On one
hand, I could throw myself to the floor without hesitation causing my
body to go into wake-up mode the easy way and bare the tiresome
consequences of my disfigured schedule in a day filled with misery
and anticipation of my next napping times. This pretty much should
summarize what happens after your brain realizes it didn't actually
sleep long enough. My other option was to lay my head back on the
pillow and let in to my fatigue. After a millisecond I realized the
perfect excuse for this shameful act of backing out. I had a job
interview on Thursday, therefore I need to be rested. Not that I am a
wuss for ending my turmoil so abruptly, but reason suggested that I
have no idea what my condition is going to be the morning before if I
keep my schedules, so it's best to stick to what I know for maximum
potential benefit. But as I've stated before, the job is a night
shift. Returning to Dymaxion is inevitable and it will begin on
Thursday. I promised my friends I could show them it can be done.
So back to Day 3, I woke up at 15:03 PM just
around 8 hours of fine sleep there and guess what, I was tired. Yes I
couldn't believe that the Dymaxion was responsible for this and it
possibly wasn't, more about that later. I ate a classic pizza, which
was awful, but I detest talking rudely about food (even garbage like
fast-food), so I'll just say it wasn't that tasteful. I forgot about
hydration which may have been the cause for my inability to regain
strengths. I'm sorry I just didn't feel like cycling to town, typing
on a keyboard or thinking. I went to my friends house, watched three
good movies I would suggest to anyone: A night at the Roxbury, The
boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The notebook. With emphasis on The
notebook, because it made me cry and it has a lot of messages I
support. The boy in the Striped Pyjamas is good to pass the time, but
it isn't great. I have to read the book to see just how much of a
shame the movie was. It's just anti-Nazi propaganda like all the
other war films. I think we got it by the end of 1946 that the Nazi's
were bad and didn't do nice things, this film just tells us that
again except that it made me consider the possibility that the SS
Officer guards at the camps were actually Englishmen with their
revealing London accents. If you are a reasonable and mature person
with adequate historical education you will probably gain nothing
from it. I ate a piece of strudel at my friend's place (real good
strudel at that, challenges even the one made by my grand mum). Went
to bed 2:20 AM.
Day 4
Well I slept 'till 2 PM so northing's changed with
me. Made me seriously consider re-entering the Dymaxion schedule
today regardless of the interview. Later I had breakfast, beef,
sauerkraut soup with beans (not even sure of our name for it -
enolončnica) and my grandmother's strudel, yay. That just made me
hungry, haven't eaten since and it's almost 7 PM. So I went to my
computer and tried to get even with Montezuma for declaring war on me
so suddenly, but in the end I just got stabbed in the back by
Charlemagne who thankfully only has a large land force and lacks a
powerful fleet. I'm playing as Munsu Mansa, leader of the Malinese in
Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword, because I find it more of a challenge
to achieve anything close to the European players. Now I have
standards Africa deserves and am being constantly harassed for my new
technological breakthroughs and the control of local oil. I'm also
about to create the internet in an area near SAR.
After I realised war was inevitable I decided to
deal with that some other time. Went to the library and started doin'
mah thang. Once I got it all clear with my hommies from Maribor about
the trip I soon had to leave 'cause the library was closin' yo. So I
moseyed down to the nearby hostel where I am now and will soon be
working, jeah.
FURTHER THOUGHTS
The Dymaxion schedule was completely harmless to
me so far. I realized I functioned no differently than when I was
fully rested to my wishes. If anything I'm more up-for-anything than
I would remember myself be on Dymaxion. I take back my words about
the extra unnecessary time during night-time. I now suddenly find it
hard to squeeze my ever progressing game time into the day. I'm
either under the psychological effect that when something you rarely
play is fun or am revisiting my addiction to computer games which I
ended by moving away from my capable desktop computer in the first
place. Well, resuming the attempt at Dymaxion, which I suppose you
will call it, tomorrow. Remember the danger is all in your head, your
body is protecting itself from extraordinary conditions.