Archive for the ‘Sleep Less’ Category

I was going to use a “Sleepless in Seattle” picture for the image on this post, but it looks way too romantic and most of you would get distracted by the longing eyes of Tom Hanks so I decided against it.

This is why you’ll see sheep jumping over fences above.

Anyway, on to the topic of less sleep:

Recently I’ve been getting occasional nights of 6 hours of sleep. I find that I can probably run on 5.5-6 hours perpetually, while 4 hour nights are only doable for about a week at a time (otherwise I feel a subtle sense of tiredness and as soon as I lie down by body wants to shut off).

The last few nights I slept for 4 and 3.5 hours, and I felt fine. I know what I’ll get 6 tonight though, because I realize that otherwise I’m running myself into the ground.

I have become increasingly interested in wether or not this project will have tangible, detrimental effects on me later in life. As I said before, I feel like the negative effects in the present are far outweighed by the positive benefits of getting more done (so long as I sleep enough to remain awake and creative).

Hence, I’m planning on doing some homework and figuring out what doctors think. I get all kinds of statements from all kinds of people about this sleep project of mine, but I’d definitely want to ask someone qualified.

Until then, I’ll be sleeping between 4 and 6.5 hours per night, and getting a heck of a lot done in terms of awesome research and writing (I’m working on an ebook right now).

I’ll keep this thread alive, however, if anything crazy happens with my project, or if I pick up some good facts or advice from qualified medical professionals about my sleep patterns.

Who needs sleep.

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It has come this far…

I almost wasn’t expecting it – I’ve now been doing this 4 to 5 hour per night sleeping experiment for exactly a month. The experience itself has changed the way I think about and value sleep. It has also completely changed a lot of my sleeping habits – for better or for worse. 

I must admit, I have taken 2 naps throughout this Life Experiment. However, both were under an hour in length.

In addition, I slipped up on setting my alarm and had two nights were I accidently slept in, once for 6 hours, once for 7 hours. To redeem my pattern, however, I slept for only 2.5 hours the night after these slip-ups (I was so tired I set the alarm for “pm” not “am”).

I’m proud to say that I’m not a coffee addict either. I drink coffee only about half the time, and though it certainly does seem to have a noticeable effect – I do not guzzle it. One cup every other day, thats my creed and I’ve stuck to it.

I can definitely say that the experiment has its pros and its cons, so with thirty days experience in sleeping an average of 4.5 hours per night, here’s what I have to say:

Consequences of Less Sleep:

• I often find that by about 10 or 11 pm, my body wants to shut down – plain and simple. It usually cannot deal with sustained activity for more than 20 hours when it is running on only 4 hours of sleep. On more that one occasion this is prevented me from going out at night because I knew I didn’t even feel safe driving.
• When I’ve been awake for 20 or more hours, my nose gets stuffy. It seems odd, but I frequently get the sniffles after these long days. I’ll be up reading or writing and all of a sudden I’ll feel like I’m coming down with a cold. This might also have to do with allergies, though it seems odd that they would all of a sudden effect me at midnight…
• Spending too much time alone in the wee morning hours sometimes doesn’t feel right. Though the time is productive, I’m usually pretty eager to hop up and see my friends when I’ve spent the first 4 or 5 dark morning hours by myself (nobody else is up!).

Benefits of a Sleepless Lifestyle:

• The mornings are free for whatever I please. Waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning gives me plenty of time before any other part of my day begins. Even when I teach private lessons at 6 in the morning, I still have some reading or planning time while I hear the birds trying to chirp the sun over the horizon. If I don’t have any plans until noon, this time provides me with half a day for whatever productive activities I choose – which usually involves reading, writing, planning, and exercise (jogging is awesome right at daybreak).
• A little bit of time makes a difference. Right now I’m working on my reading speed and my typing speed. Getting up ridiculously early allows me to practice these skills on a daily basis. Imagine if you could pick any skill and work at it for 2 hours every single day. Be it stock trading, painting, a foreign language, etc… – you could become FAR more proficient with only a few months of 2 hour-per-day training. With the way I sleep now, I have an extra 3 or 4 hours per day – without feeling traumatic consequences in other areas of my life. Thats a lot of practice time.
• I’m getting used to waking up swiftly. This is a combination of having compelling things to do each morning, and also because my body doesn’t seem to go into full-blown hibernation mode when I only sleep for a few hours at a time.

Overall I’d call this habit of 4.5 hours of sleep per night FULLY IMPLEMENTED. I’m excited to see where else this project takes me, and if I alter it over time.

Here are some bits of wisdom I’ve picked up through living sleeplessly. These ideas might be of use to those of you looking to taper down your sleep, or those of you who just want to be more alert in the early morning:

Sleepless Wisdom:

• Having plans for the early morning hours makes waking up so much easier - I find that when I give myself some fun an exciting tasks for the morning (which I do regularly), getting up swiftly is easy
• Move around after waking up – Getting up and stumbling over to the computer to check emails or turning over to read a book is usually a ticket to slumbersville all over again. When you get up and focus on those things you’re eager to do during the day, take some deep breaths and walk like you do when you’re awake (the pre-coffee “zombie shuffle” only puts you back into Zzzzz-mode).
• More on body language - This is huge for me in this sleepless experiment. I notice that when I slouch on the couch or lay down to write or otherwise put myself into relaxed positions, my body takes the hint and my eyelids get heavy. When I sit up strait and walk with my head up high, its as though my body and mind associate this with alertness, and they respond accordingly.

If this gets too easy I might do an entire week on only 3 hours of sleep per night.

I’ll be updating this Life Experiment in another month’s time. Maybe I’ll have bags under my eyes by then… 

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I’ve been doing this 4-5 hours of sleep thing for four weeks now, and honestly, I haven’t noticed a fragment of a difference from my previous experience on 7-8 hours of sleep. In fact, if there’s been any change at all, they’ve been POSITIVE changes:

1. I blast out of bed far more swiftly than I ever have.
2. When I do go to sleep, I don’t toss and turn, I’m out fast.
3. I am awake for an additional 3 to 4 hours each day!

Seriously, its hard to see why I ever slept for 8 hours.

At the same time, I have this odd feeling that this MUST come back and bite me at some point, everyone tells me it will and my entire life I’ve heard that we need a solid 7-9 hours of sleep per night to function at our best.

Well, we’ll just have to see about that. If I end up developing permanent raccoon eyes or find myself hollucinating, it might be time for a nap :}.

I’m starting to think about it like this:

If I work on my reading / typing speed for 3-4 extra hours a day, how will that affect my ability? If I study behavioral psychology for an extra 3-4 hours a day, how will that affect my understanding? I have SO much more time to allocate, and since I don’t feel drained this is perfectly good time for studying. I feel like if I lived like this and used my extra hours to study finance, I could start a Scottrade account a confidently buy and sell within 6 months or so.

Its 3 or 4 EXTRA hours. Mind boggling, but in the coolest way.

But UNITL THEN it seems like frankly… I’m getting more juice out of life by NOT SLEEPING.

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A bed? I don't even know what those are for!

Life Experiment: Sleep Less

I’ve always had a slight aversion to slumber. I wouldn’t call myself type – A, I’m not a stressed out fellow, but I like doing things, I like striving towards my meaningful objectives.

Recently I’ve had more exciting, meaningful objectives than ever. After waking up a few VERY early morning to teach private Brazilian Jiu Jitsu lessons, I discovered that I could run a whole day on 2 hours of sleep no problem.

Then I realized that I could sleep for only 4 hours after sleeping for only 2 hours the night before.

Then I got to the point I am now, where I sleep somewhere around 5 horus per night, and I love it.

As a disclaimer, you may have you get yourself PUMPED on some very compelling objectives in order to do this, but I found that its actually quite easy. Now I get to stay up SUPER late and study philosophy, work on inquiry, sing karaoke at the bar, or type up exciting new blog stuff!

Honestly I feel like my ability to write isn’t all that hindered by my lack of “recommened” sleep hours. I also don’t feel less efficacious in exercising. I’m not even drinking coffee daily.

Hey, this Living Experiment might crash and burn, but I’m going a couple weeks now and feeling strong!

Ironically enough I’m actually about to write my to-do list for tomorrow and pass out. I promise I won’t sleep for muct more than 4 or 5 hours, though.

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