Day 4: Flop

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Now we get to learn how well trying to adapt to Uberman works when you are put in an environment that is inflexible time-wise and restrictive space-wise -- I have a 2-leg flight from Portland to Mexico with an ~50 minute layover.

As mentioned in my previous post, I had to sleep in an airport on the benches for the 6am, and was not able to fall all the way asleep except for short periods (lets call these unsleep naps). Little did I know that this was only the beginning of a long line of such naps.

Pretty much, the plane ride was a disaster. Being confined to a small area and then forced to move herd-like at specific times does not promote positive sleeping habits. The first plane ride began almost immediately after the 6am nap (which I took 10 minutes early to make room for the bording schedule) and took until about 9am. I unluckily got the middle seat and couldn't do my usual stretch routine to keep myself awake, and had to combat drowsyness 98% of the flight (the 2% that I didn't was when the stewardesses were handing out drinks. Orange Juice for teh win). I did end up sleeping some amount of time (I would guess an hour, but I don't know when I actually fell asleep) by accident and this caused the next two naps to be unsleep naps too. For future flights I would suggest starting a conversation with the people sitting next to you, but my circumstances this flight were not the most promising. On one side was my sister who went to sleep as soon as she got to her seat, and slept the entire flight (hibernator habits like these just accentuate my position and give me a little love-boost for Uberman). On the other side was a little old italian-looking lady who followed the Emergency Procedures booklet with rapt attention, catholic-crossed herself multiple times during takeoff, and clutched her purse for the entire flight; I wasn't much interested.

The second leg of the flight (after the layover) began at 10:11am, so I had to delay my 10am nap by about 10 minutes. I use my Blackberry as my alarm, and since cell phones are not allowed in flight I put it on vibrate and hid it in my sleeve. This nap had less unsleep than the first (meaning I spent more time unaware of my surroundings) but it was still not nearly satisfactory. The vibrating-wrist trick worked, more or less. The rest of the flight I was able to stay awake by reading dry yet interesting books (because I tried fiction too and it phails at keeping Hunter awake), filling out paperwork that said I wasn't bringing illegal drugs and wasn't trying to steal the job-market, and by leg-drumming/head-bobbing to good music.

We had shifted into a time zone that was +1 hour from PDT so I had the option of sticking with my old time, or syncing with the local time. Uberman seems to be much more flexible than people say it is, so I decided to sync when a chance for the 2pm nap came up after renting a car and before arriving at lunch. This nap also was strongly unsleep. Whether this was caused by being crammed 4-wide in a 3-person back seat, by the constant chatter (and frequent mentioning of my name which tends to instantly ruin any focus I have on sleeping) of my siblings, or by the shifting of 1 hour I don't know.

I swam in the ocean and had no trouble staying awake (finally!) until my 6pm nap which was another experimental flop. I tried lying on one of the lounge chairs on the beach without earplugs or anything. The sibling-chatter and other distractions made for another unsleep nap. I'm unsure as to how good or bad the unsleep naps are. The 4 hour period following unsleep is usually more drowsyness-ridden, but I don't feel all that tired and any physical activity will dispel the drowsyness for a short while. I don't notice any other changes. Learning from my previous experiences, my 10pm nap was on a couch in a quiet room. I slept for the whole thing.

The waking time leading up to the 2am nap carried the usual and expected increasing sleepyness as the night wore on, but all of the proceeding paragraphs were written during this time and I was not nearly so tempted to drop off as I had been earlier. Unfortunately when it came to the nap it's a different story because I slept until about 3:30am... Can I not go a day without messing up the schedule?! My alarm was even running the whole time. I guess I didn't have my phone close by enough.

Drowsyness continues up to the 6am, but I found wireless and interesting enough topics to keep my interest. Good news to report is that I had had my first dream that I remember. That means REM is happening. I wouldn't be surprized if the REM has been happening and I just never remembered the dream, or the unsleep messed with that.

In summary, today had some lapses in-between naps, and it had some poorly scheduled naps. Next we see how this affects my adaptation period and if my nearly pain-free adaptation is all just an illusion. ('Pain-free' because most of my waking time is spent feeling energetic and capable, and there are only few negative effects on my typical wakeful attitude. Never mind that I've messed up a few times; those do not govern or represent the majority of my polyphasic experience.)

Also, I can confirm that flamingos stand on one leg while sleeping.

;hunter