A few weeks ago, Ryan decided he was going to try out a version of “polyphasic sleeping”. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the idea behind polyphasic sleeping is to get the same amount of REM sleep (the sleep that you actually need) while minimizing your non-REM sleep so that you get the same amount of rest but spend less time sleeping. There are several different versions of polyphasic sleeping; in the most extreme version you only take 4 naps (30mins each) spaced every 6hrs so you only sleep for 2 total hours per day. Ryan decided to try the least extreme version to see how it worked: you sleep 6hrs per night and then take one 20min nap sometime during the day. At first I was pretty skeptical but I was excited after a few days because it meant that Ryan and I got to stay up a little later but we went to bed at the same time and we got to spend time together in the mornings. Normally he is still asleep when I leave for work so it was a nice change.
The hardest part of this type of sleeping schedule is finding the time to take a nap. I can't really take a nap during the work day (and I only take a half hour lunch so I can't really do it then either). The next best option is right after work. Which works ok, as long as we aren't planning on going for a run right after work. If we were to try to take a nap and then go for a run and then eat dinner...it would be so late by the time we ate! So, sadly, I think Ryan is already giving up on it. I tried to convince him to run before work with me and then we could nap after work but he doesn't like running in the mornings. Now I guess we're back to trying to find a schedule for running, sleeping, etc that works for us...
Ryan also found a really neat product (that i really want!) called WakeMate. It's basically a soft bracelet that you wear at night that monitors your sleep to see when you are in REM sleep. Then you set an alarm for the morning and it will wake you up no later than the alarm time but up to a half hour earlier based on your REM cycles - the goal being to not interrupt your REM cycles. It looks really neat and isn't that expensive but it's always out of stock! For anyone who's interested here's what wikipedia says about polyphasic sleeping (there are also some great blogs out there about it):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleepAnd here's a link to the WakeMate that I really want: http://wakemate.com/
The hardest part of this type of sleeping schedule is finding the time to take a nap. I can't really take a nap during the work day (and I only take a half hour lunch so I can't really do it then either). The next best option is right after work. Which works ok, as long as we aren't planning on going for a run right after work. If we were to try to take a nap and then go for a run and then eat dinner...it would be so late by the time we ate! So, sadly, I think Ryan is already giving up on it. I tried to convince him to run before work with me and then we could nap after work but he doesn't like running in the mornings. Now I guess we're back to trying to find a schedule for running, sleeping, etc that works for us...
Ryan also found a really neat product (that i really want!) called WakeMate. It's basically a soft bracelet that you wear at night that monitors your sleep to see when you are in REM sleep. Then you set an alarm for the morning and it will wake you up no later than the alarm time but up to a half hour earlier based on your REM cycles - the goal being to not interrupt your REM cycles. It looks really neat and isn't that expensive but it's always out of stock! For anyone who's interested here's what wikipedia says about polyphasic sleeping (there are also some great blogs out there about it):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleepAnd here's a link to the WakeMate that I really want: http://wakemate.com/
