minimizing sleep…
Thursday, August 31st, 2006So, I’ve been working from home for a little over a year now, and while I do appreciate the commute, the best part of this gig is that the schedule is ultra-flexible. I only have one scheduled meeting a week, and the rest of the work week basically just happens whenever. I mean, there’s more than enough work to do, and yes, I typically do need to be working during the middle of the day, and I have deadlines and stuff, but for the most part, it’s nice to have the flexibility to, say, go for a bike ride in the afternoon or something.. That is, of course, I get my work done, which is cool, cuz then I can chill when I’m typically brain dead (like right after lunch) and work when I’m most alert (late at night, like now, for example).
The most interesting thing that this work flexibility has affected is my sleep schedule. The only time I really have to set my alarm clock is on the weekends, but otherwise I just wake up whenever my body says “wake up”.. And, if I get too tired and lose focus during the day, then it’s cool to just veg or take a little nap for a bit. But, when I add all of the hours of sleep up I typically get during a 24 hour period, it works out to about 5 or 6 hours, and I’ve actually been feeling a lot more alert than I recall feeling when I had to set an alarm before..
So, my typical schedule is something like:
8am - wake up, eat some breakfast and start work…
10am - mind starts to wander, go downstairs and play some MLB 06
noon - go forage for food and chill or (not lately, admittedly) work out or something
2pm - back at work, ok, maybe lie on the couch and rest my eyes for a few minutes
6pm - take bailey to the park and run her around a bit, then have dinner and go out and do something social or play softball or something (or, if I don’t go out, I might fall asleep on the couch for a little bit after dinner)
midnight - back at work, this is when I get my best coding done
3am - force myself to go to sleep, cuz if I don’t, I’ll just keep going
So yah, it’s a little bit of a weird schedule, but it’s been working out for me quite well I think. I get plenty of work time in, and I still am able to fit in work out time (ok, not lately, I’m getting fat) and social time.
Anyway, I’ve never really heard of it before, but there’s this thing called Polyphasic sleep that sounds really interesting… Instead of this kind of ad hoc sleep schedule I’ve been subscribing to, the Polyphasic plan puts you on a specific, regimented sleep schedule of 20 minute naps spaced every 4 hours throughout the day. You end up getting about 2-3 hours of sleep daily.. Sweeeet. Imagine if you had 22 hours of waking time a day… That’d be awesome. AND supposedly you get to eat 4 meals a day on this whole thing (or you lose weight, which could be another benefit)..
Supposedly the main drawback are that it’s actually hard to stick to the schedule and if you go off it, then you get really really tired. (hey, it’s nice hanging out and all, but I gotta go take my 20 minute nap) And, some people actually report that they get bored with all of the extra free time (great, I’m up at 4am, but nobody else is..)
Anyway, There seems to be lots of people trying it though, so hmm.. I’m intrigued.. Maybe I’ll give it a try…
I mean, it’s gotta be better than just popping Provigil, right?
