Power Month Update: How I sleep only ~4.5 hours a night.
Last week I posted about how I was starting to experiment with polyphasic sleep and in addition to this, how I was motivated to include some other daily habits as part of the month. I wanted to post an update and let you know how it's going!
Power Month is essentially a month where I complete all the daily tasks that I know are good for me, but that I have avoided in the past. For me this includes daily Exercise, Meditation, Gratitude Journalling, while at the same time getting my work done and having lots of free time too.
In addition to this, I'm sleeping only 4 ½ hours every night with 2x 20 minute naps for a total sleep time of around 5'10". This is part of the "Everyman 2" Polyphasic sleep cycle and so far I'm enjoying it.
However, I've been making some mistakes! I found a Polyphasic Sleep Discord Community and asked them about my schedule. They pointed out numerous mistakes that I now have to fix.
Firstly, I've continued to use caffeine which interferes with the different sleep cycles, so that has to stop unfortunately... I'll be switching to decaffeinated coffee after tomorrow.
Secondly, I've been moving my naps around, which is a big "no-no" as my body needs to stick to a strict schedule. So I've adjusted my Power Month schedule as shown below.
One other thing that the community advised me on, was that it can take up to a month to get into the rhythm but I should expect it to get easier after a few weeks.
I've also decided to include cold showers into the PowerMonth - very interesting so far... I'll do a separate blog post about later this week.
NEW Schedule:
01:00 - 05:30 | Core sleep.
05:30 - 06:00 | Decaf coffee then 15 mins exercise, (pushups, squats etc).
06:00 - 06:15 | Cold shower.
06:15 - 06:30 | Meditate.
06:30 - 07:00 | Gratitude & planning session.
07:00 - 10:00 | Work time, (incl. video/blogs/moderating/Crypto charts). + 2 hard-boiled eggs
10:00 - 10:20 | 20 min nap.
10:20 - 11:30 | Free time. (including 2x hard-boiled eggs).
11:30 - 12:00 | Breakfast salad, (incl. supplements).
12:00 - 19:00 | Free time. (incl. healthy snacks)
19:00 - 19:30 | 20 min nap.
19:30 - 20:30 | Free time. (incl. dinner)
20:30 - 22:00 | Free time.
22:00 - 12:30 | Work time, (incl. video/blogs/moderating/Crypto charts).
00:30 - 01:00 | Reading
Interesting daily schedule. I remember being shocked when Napoleon Hill revealed that he could produce 45 minutes of top-level creativity and writing. Much of his time was preparing everything - his sleep, meals and reading - to create the state of mind required for that 45 minute session.
I will write out my ideal work flow through the day... i find the more hours I sleep, the longer and better my creative and productive ‘zone’ lasts. And I am generally happier and nicer to be around when I get lots of sleep.
Keen to hear updates on your experience
It was quite a journey but I decided to end this aspect of Power Month and may re-attempt at a later time. I posted a blog about it if you wanna check it out :)