In my last post I covered an outline of my new sleep schedule. In this post, I’ll be summarizing all of the things that I learned in one week.
*Disclaimer* I’m not an expert after one week, but I figure if you were at all interested in my last post this is pertinent information as well.*
First off, thanks for all of the interest people are showing (I’m getting a lot of questions from friends & maybe a few odd looks too).
This past week has been up and down. I feel transitioning to the 3 hour + 3 nap schedule wasn’t really the difficult part. Sure, the mid-day nap for the first couple of days didn’t come easy. Initially I’d have a hard time falling asleep, but with the combination of my ‘black out bed’ and quickly getting tired enough around nap time it became less of an issue.
I’d have to say that for me, the real tricky part was adapting socially. This was an actual problem on Friday and Saturday. I’d be hanging out, or out at an event and I wouldn’t have an opportunity to just duck away for 20 minutes to get a nap in.
Failures
On Friday, after a week of near flawless sleep punctuality (sleepunctuality?!) I miscalculated (or rather, just didn’t plan…) and missed the afternoon and evening nap. Needless to say it killed me, I went to bed at 3:30 and woke at 8. And when I say ‘woke’ I use that term very loosely – think closer to the idea in which zombies are ‘awake’.
Apparently, I’m slow learner because I had a similar experience on Saturday too. I missed the afternoon nap, and was forced to take a break from hanging out with friends at 11:10ish and sleep on the floor upstairs for the evening nap. Needless to say, not the most effective sleep…
Successes
But it wasn’t all bad, in fact, a week that I wasn’t looking forward to at all because of how busy I was going to be work-wise became a breeze. Of course, my circumstances are special and I get the opportunity to set my own hours and tackle projects as I see fit. You 9 to 5′ers might not have this availability… But I bet with enough effort you could make it work as well.
I mentioned having an issue with the day naps and falling asleep earlier. Thanks to good ‘ole problem solving I was able to find a working solution to my issue.
My ‘black-out bed’
I just so happen to have an extra twin mattress that I have laying around for when I have an out of town visitor and what not. I also, just so happen to have a very large walk-in closet at my apartment. So, I followed the logical thought process and made a cave for day naps. I put a fan in there, it’s quaint.
Looking forward
I’m going to continue on, and give a little more care to Friday and Saturday plannings. And use general problem solving to deal with issues as they come. So far, I love it. It’s been up and down, and fairly difficult, but totally worth it I feel.
Have a much more specific question? Post it as a comment and I’ll try and get to it quickly, thanks!