Days 5 & 6

Day Five June 19

I just woke up after over sleeping. The sad thing is, even though I was in bed for another 85 minutes I don't feel any more rested. I should keep this my mind for any other time I feel like laying in bed longer. I didn't sleep any the entire 85 minutes but I'm sure I was asleep for the majority of it. At first I was enjoying the warmth and comfort, then I my eyes felt heavy and I was doing the long blinks. Eventually I fell asleep, only to be woken by the sound of my own snore. I jumped up and looked at the clock while mentally thinking that it was a good thing my sinuses are a bit blocked to cause me to snore and wake myself up. It was 6:54, damn. I am not entirely sure how I feel about this slip up. I suppose it seems to go along with the day yesterday. I don't really feel frustrated and disappointed, but I more feel a sense of calm. Which may have to do with the fact that in 24 hours I will be on an airplane flying out of New Zealand. I also feel a bit sleepy. Though that only started while writing. I suspect that if I got up and did something physical I would feel more awake. Another note I need to keep in mind.

I have been thinking about the reasons behind trying polyphasic sleeping. People have been asking me and I have been having to come up with answers. Sometime I say things that I didn't realize and on occasion I say things that I realize aren't entirely true. It isn't something I need to do so I have more time, I already have an ample supply. If I were studying or working a lot great, but I am on a traveler's schedule with nothing that is particularly pressing me for time. I am curious how this will affect time zone changes. I fly to Fiji tomorrow then two weeks later I will fly to California. If I manage to maintain for my entire time in Fiji it will be cool to make the jump to California time. The way I see it as just one click in the rotation. New Zealand time is ninteen hours ahead of California time, or five hours behind but a day ahead. I reckon that if I just get on California time immediately I shouldn't have a problem. It will be like losing one block of time (with an extra hour thrown in there) so instead of taking a nap at 21:30 New Zealand time I will just go to sleep at 1:30 California time (it will actually be 20:30 New Zealand but that's okay).

Back to why I am doing this. Yes, curiosity with time zone changes. Extra time, meh. I don't need it but I'll take it. It is more a of a personal challenge. Ever since I heard about it I have wanted to give it a go. It sounds like such a neat idea. It also sounds so productive to have such an abundance of time. I am finding however that I don't feel like I have an abundance of time. I am only sleeping for three hours less per twenty four hour period. Instead of the feeling of extra time I am feeling a bit weighed down with the nap schedule. I have to constantly think about when I am doing things to ensure I get my next nap. I would like to explore other schedules, though rafting is going to be an issue. Too bad I didn't remember I wanted to do this while I was hanging out in Wellington.

The naps for today went okay. I slept a few extra minutes for the nap number one and for nap number three I was a bit late to laying down. By the time midnight rolled around I was pretty tired. I managed to stay awake until 1:00 at which point I decided to go to sleep and wake up at 5:00 instead of 5:30.

Day Six June 20

My idea to wake up at 5:00 instead of 5:30 didn't work out so well. I have been known to do this thing in my sleep. My alarm goes off and I my mind only becomes conscience enough to turn it off then returns to dreamy slumber. This happened when my 5 o'clock alarm went off. I knew it was bound to happen at some point. I woke up again at 6:00. Thankfully I only over slept one hour, but this schedule thing isn't working out for me in an ideal fashion. Nap number went: easy. Nap number two was in a hammock. At first it was a bit difficult to sleep because of the cold factor, but I managed. Nap number three was in the car on the way to the airport and it was not very restful. Nap number four was interrupted three minutes early due to it being time to board the plane. Nap number five is scheduled for forty five minutes from now. The plane was a bit late to depart so I am unsure what time we will arrive in Nadi, but we were scheduled for 21:20. I reckoned this could either be great because I could walk off the plane and go to sleep in one of the gate areas, or it could be terrible because I'm on an aisle seat we'll be taxiing and disembarking and the people on the inside of me will want to get going. Then of course something else altogether could happen. See what happens.

It has been very helpful to have supportive people around me. The people that have been around for this first handful of days have been great. They inquire how the polyphasic sleeping is going, they remind me to have a nap, the encourage me to get going to my nap if they know it is time and I am trying to do something else. If they had been negative about it, telling me to sleep a regular monophasic sleep schedule I would have had a much harder time keeping to the polyphasic schedule. I feel like my biggest obstacle at the moment is my desire to sleep longer. This desire is constantly battling with the desire to continue the effort. I like sleep. I function much better on a night that consists of eight hours of sleep than I do on six hours. But I also like to challenge myself. I know that if I continue with this for at least a month in total I will be happier for it.

I ended up missing nap number four. The plane was getting close to Nadi, too close for time to nap. I tried to stay a bit early but with such a close end to the flight people started moving around a lot and I kept thinking about not being able to sleep the whole nap so I wasn't even able to doze off. I reckoned I could just find a spot after I got off the plane. With customs though I didn't meet up with my friends on the other side until just after 22:00. At that point it felt like it was too late. So we caught a taxi to the hostel and now I'm taking care of online things until it is time for the sweet bliss of sleep. I have 55 minutes left until I am laying in bed.