sungazing discovered

Last night, I discovered this thing called sungazing. Some people actually look at the sun. And guess what? Their eyes are fine. There are also some purported benefits to it as well. I could write more about what I found, but if you are interested then you can find out about it by doing some searches, and I'm too tired to write any more now. I just wanted a post to reference when I first heard about sungazing.

If I do it, I will write posts here. If I think about doing it, I will probably write some posts here. If I don't do it, I won't write about not doing it.

sleep

I went to bed very late last night. It was around 1:00. I got up around 8:40 I think.

sleep

I went to bed last night at 0:07. It probably took 30 minutes to get to sleep. I got up at 8:08.

sleep is difficult to count

Last night, I went to bed at 23:30 and again I woke up at 5:00 but stayed in bed and slept more. I think I got out of bed after 9:00 but I was awake for a long time and just thinking. It's hard to quantify exactly how much sleep I got. It took me a little while to fall asleep in the first place. Probably, no more than 8 hours of sleep in total.

early to bed

I went to bed last night at 22:00 and it probably took 30 minutes to fall asleep.
Then I realized I was awake at 5:08. But I stayed in bed for another 3 hours, probably sleeping and waking and sleeping.

it's working

Yesterday, I finished work in the morning, came home, and then went to the supermarket. Then I ate lunch and took a long nap from about 13:00 to 18:15.

Then I went to bed and slept from about 22:30 to 5:50. Almost 7.5 hours. But wait! It doesn't end there! I didn't get up right away so I had a few more dreams. But anyway, I'm up now.

This seems to be working much better than my previous attempted methods. Before, after I finished my 2 days followed by 2 nights of work, I would try to stay up all day or maybe just have a short nap of about 3 hours. For some reason, with the short nap, I was not ready to go to sleep at night and would stay up late and then sleep in late the next day. Or by not taking the nap, I would fall asleep early, like at 20:00, but then only sleep 8 hours at the most, get up for a while, then get sleepy again and sleep another 6 to 8 hours during the day. It was because that first sleep was not long enough to make up for my sleep deprivation and then the second sleep would come during the wrong time. After the 2nd sleep, I was fully recovered but then awake at night again.

I have one more 2d-2n shifts to work this month. Next month, I will have to work 2 days and then have 2 off, and then work 2 nights. So it's going to be a totally different thing.

9 hours of sleep

I slept from 21:00 to 6:00. I awoke at 4:00, but didn't get up, so I could fall back to sleep right away.

5 and 3 quarters

I slept from 21:15 to 3:00.

nap

6:30 to 8:15 nap.

seven and a half hours of sleep

18:05 to 19:05 nap yesterday. And then I slept from about 20:00 to 3:30. (7.5 hours)

almost 6 hours of sleep

I slept from about 22:30 to 4:20. I stayed in bed until 6:00 hoping to fall back to sleep but I couldn't.

5 hours sleep and a dream

I was up past midnight last night. I'm going to guess that it was between 0:30 and 1:00 when I went to bed. I just got up. I woke up before in the night but went back to sleep. I last woke up at 5:53. So I could count this as 5 hours of sleep at least. Combined with the sleep I got during the day yesterday, I should be fine all day and be able to go to sleep at night tonight.

The weird thing is, I was sitting here using my computer and then I started feeling a little bit weird, maybe woozy in the head. While I was noticing that, then suddenly my vision got all messed up. My eyes were not looking in the same place and then everything became quite blurry. So I decide to lie down and if possible, sleep. Luckily, I did fall asleep quickly.

I had another strange dream. I was playing indoor volleyball and then like, eating. And so had to clean up the table. And there were some really weird new rules. And then there was all this wooden furniture on the court and players were cleaning and scrubbing the tables and so the serve became delayed.

7.34 hours of day sleep

I finished work this morning and then slept from about 12:00 to 19:20. Instead of doing like last time where I took a three hour nap and then went back to bed at night but could only sleep a few hours, I am taking a different approach. I think that the sleeping of just a few hours can cause you to get used to that in a way that makes it hard to stay asleep. I don't want that to happen so I'm going to try to just sleep for long periods and hopefully, somehow rotate the schedule back to sleeping at night.

3 hours

I went to bed at 1:00 and got to sleep but woke up around 4:00 and couldn't fall back to sleep. Just 3 hours of sleep.

slept all day

I ended up sleeping all day today. From about 9:15 until 17:00.
I'll surely be awake all night. I have to work all day tomorrow! This is not good.

sleep

I went to bed at 21:15 and was able to sleep until 2:45. Then I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Right now, starting to not feel so good. Have had a bit of a headache since I got up. Got up at about 4:45 and then took a shower. Maybe I will eat some toast soon and take some bufferin.

nap

14:45 to 16:30 nap.

sleepy but

ok, I have not gone to bed yet. I first felt that sleepy feeling at 5:40, but I don't want to be asleep all day and then be up again all night. I have to work the day after tomorrow. So I am going to try to be awake for as much as I can today. I probably have to take a nap at some point but hopefully not too long of a nap.

nap

16:00 to 17:00 nap.

I had to take a nap which means the 10 hours I slept before was not sufficient to make up for the sleep deficit. Not sure when I'll be able to sleep next. Rotating shift work makes it difficult to keep regular sleep habits.

10 hours of sleep

I slept from 1:40 to 11:40.

nap

14:15 to 17:30 nap.

I couldn't stay awake so I took a nap and set my alarm. I'll probably be sleepy this evening.

24 hours

I just realized, I've been awake for 24 hours now. When you are awake a lot, it's easier to stay awake like this. When you are not used to being awake, it's difficult to stay awake but easier to fall asleep. When you are used to staying awake, it's more difficult to fall asleep or to stay asleep. Your body gets used to being awake even when you are tired. Your body feels that being tired and awake at the same time are normal. If you have a job where you are constantly having to keep yourself awake, then when you are home and about to fall asleep, you get this body jerk that wakes you up. It's really weird and probably not good for you.

Couldn't sleep

I finished working the night shift on Friday morning. Then I went and stopped in at my company's head office in Tachikawa. I stayed there until noon. After that I went home, ate lunch, and got on the computer. If I remember correctly, it was around 15:30 that I gave in and decided to sleep. I got up around 18:30 (3 hrs). I ate supper and then got back on the computer. At 23:00 I was sleepy again, which was a good thing. I wanted to sleep the whole night. I went to bed then but found myself awake at 2:30 Saturday morning. Finally, after 3:00, I decided to just get up because it was obvious I wasn't going to fall back to sleep. I stayed up until at least 4:30. Then I went back to bed and couldn't get up until 12:30. So then I was up ALL night Saturday night. (That was just last night.) I couldn't sleep at all. I started getting sleepy and so at 6:00 I tried to take a nap but I could not fall asleep right away. I needed to get up at 6:30. It was just at that time when I could have fallen asleep, but instead I had to get up. Now it is past 11:30 and I am really tired. But I think I should stay up until evening and then go to bed.

awake from mid-dream

I just slept 9 hours. From 22:30 to 7:30.

I awoke without an alarm but my eyes feel so tired, so heavy. I awoke from a dream where I couldn't get the car I was driving to slow down. I was on a freeway and wanted to exit, but it seemed like the cruise-control was stuck. I had just been to a Sears store and bought a $30 Illinois sweater for under $12. I don't know why I left in a car. I thought I went there on some kind of bike. The only thing I looked at in the store was the sweater and after buying it I realized that I was about to leave the store without my socks and shoes. I don't know why I was barefoot since I hadn't taken them off.

sleep record

I went to bed at 22:45 last night.
I got out of bed at 8:10 this morning.

Let's see... that makes about 9.5 hours of rest.

sleep record

0:40 to 8:08 sleep.

Going to bed at 22:45.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 18

yesterday to 5:05 sleep.

It seems I don't really want to go back to polyphasic sleep. I just slept 7 hours in a row and I don't feel any better waking up than when I was only sleeping 30 or less minutes at a time. It will probably take a half hour to an hour to fully wake up.

6:05 - I have now been awake for an hour, but not fully awake. I can feel something around my eyes, maybe puffiness. It's strange. When I don't have enough sleep, I feel like I need more sleep. When I do have enough sleep, I feel the same.

7:10 to 7:30 and 8:10 to 8:30 nap. I was lying down from 6:45 to 8:37.


21:55 to 22:35 nap.

I don't feel like doing this any more. I think I'll just go back to sleeping however long I feel like sleeping. It's nice to be awake for a long period of time without getting sleepy.

Total for today: 6.5 hrs

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 17

0:00 to 0:15 nap.

1:30 to 2:10 nap.

2:15 to 8:20 sleep. I have a few days off so I've decided to work my way back into polynapping gradually. Maybe it won't work. I don't know. I wasn't awake enough earlier, so I just wanted to sleep awhile. Anyway, I'm doing this polyphasic sleep as a skill that I can use to adjust from night shift to day shift work.

10:06 to 13:42 sleep. After doing some studying, I took a nap to consolidate the information in my brain. I thought it would be only a short nap. You know, just let myself naturally wake up. So far, I've slept over 10 hours today. I will try the same study technique again and see if I sleep for so long.

21:53 to next day.

Total sleep today: 12.75 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 16

from yesterday 23:15 to 5:30 sleep.

Worked all day.

21:45 to 22:14 nap on train going home.
I actually slept past my station and woke up two stations down at the end-terminal station. I had to wait a few minutes for the train to head back. That's the first time that's happened to me.

I will be returning to my short naps.

Total for today: 6 hours

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 15

12:30 to 12:50 nap. The dreams make you feel like you had been sleeping for a long time, not just 15 or 20 minutes.

3:00 to 3:42 nap. This time, I set no alarms. I just intended to sleep for however long was necessary.

5:30 to 8:30 sleep.
14:06 to 14:26 nap. Not sure about this one. I don't know if I slept or not.
17:15 to 17:40 nap.
21:25 to 21:45 nap.

22:50 to 23:10 nap.

Since I'll be working tomorrow, I've decided just to get a long period of sleep tonight.

23:15 to (see the next post)

Total for today: 6 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 14

1:58 to 2:18 nap. This one felt really long. I haven't really paid much attention to how long the naps feel, but during this one I woke up at 2:13 to check my watch. I felt I either overslept or that I must be right close to the end of the nap time. I was surprised to see it was only 13 minutes past. I decided not to get up right away. But anyway, I got up when the 5-minutes-left beep rang. My timer beeps when there is 10-minutes left and 5-minutes left. I have been setting it for 25 minutes lately.

4:40 to 5:50 sleep.

I'll be working today.

13:33 to 14:03 nap.
18:07 to 18:26 nap.

What a day. We've got this alert that comes up every 10 minutes. Just waiting for that alert is not real exciting. So I'm sitting there waiting for the alert and then entering the commands to check the server. There were several hours where I was just falling asleep between alerts. So I got more sleep than what is noted above. I just don't know how much sleep it would add up to. The problem is, I've got no Pepsi to drink at work.

Total: more than 2.5 hours

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 13

Between midnight and 1:00, I was sitting in my chair falling in and out of consciousness. I got some restorative sleep but it's difficult to quantify.

2:30 to 2:50 nap.

6:00 to 6:20 nap.
10:25 to 10:55 nap.

15:00 to 15:40 nap. I think I remember checking my watch and it was 15 minutes past and I was wondering if I was going to be able to fall asleep or not. The timer alarm should have rung at 15:30, but I got up at 15:40 because of a phone call. So I must have slept through the alarm. There must be a stage of sleep from which I cannot wake up.

21:30 to 21:52 nap.

Total: 2.5 hrs or so

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 12

1:40 to 1:53 nap. I think this is all I slept at work.

Then after work, I slept on the train from Mitaka to Tachikawa. About 15 minutes, I think. I was at Tachikawa until about 14:00. Then I continued home and slept maybe 20 minutes on the train.

15:25 to 18:10 sleep. I was supposed to get up after 30 minutes. I had set my timer and my powerful alarm. I can't believe that I slept through the alarm. That thing usually scares me.

18:40 to 19:05 nap. I had decided to get a few more Zzz's.
21:05 to 21:40 nap.

Total: 4.5 hours

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 11

Around 3:00, slept for a few minutes. Wasn't trying to, but needed it badly.
5:53 to 6:03 nap.
11:10 to 11:35 nap.
13:30 to 13:55 nap.
15:40 to 17:00 sleep.

I think I slept on the train on the way to work. Perhaps 15 minutes.

Total: 2.5 hrs

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 10

3:00 to 3:25 nap.
6:21 to 6:51 nap.
11:30 to 12:00 nap.
14:30 to 15:00 nap.
15:55 to 17:00 nap.

On the train to work, napped for maybe 15 minutes, around 19:50.

Total: 3 and 1/4 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 9

1:30 to 2:00 nap.

I will be working today.

6:15 to 6:45 nap.

12:30 to 13:10 nap.
19:10 to 19:40 nap.
21:50 to 22:35 nap on the train going home.

Total: 3 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 8

1:05 to 1:35 nap.
5:00 to 9:30 sleep.
10:30? to 13:00 sleep.
14:15 to 14:50 nap.
17:40 to 18:10 nap.

Total: 7.5 hrs

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 7

I have to go to work today, and I realized that with my current timings, the naps would not occur at convenient times, i.e. lunchtime. So I decided to try giving one longer sleep period before work a try. I hope this will get me through the day longer and then I will return to 30 minute naps.

So, I slept from 3:30 to 6:30.

12:00 to 12:13 nap.
15:15 to 15:51 nap.
16:05 to 16:39 nap.
21:55 to 22:10 nap on the train going home.

Well, the 3-hour sleep did not help me avoid sleepiness at all. Two 30-minute naps would have been just as good or even better. But it did allow me to get away from the computer and allow my muscles to relax completely.

Total for today: 4.5 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 6

3:00 to 3:30
8:10 to 8:40
13:00 to 13:30
17:00 to 17:30
22:30 to 23:00

Total: 2.5 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 5

4:00 to 4:30 nap. I awoke before the alarm, so no problem there.

10:00 to 11:00? nap. It seems I got up after a half hour nap and then I must have been sleeping in the chair.

16:00 to 16:30 nap. I was out to the store just before, otherwise I would have taken this nap sooner.

21:40 to 22:10 nap.

Total: 2.5 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 4

3:18 - getting ready to nap starting from 3:30. Don't feel overly-tired or anything. Slightly feel drowsiness ready to pour over me. Actually, I barely feel sleepy. But I suspect my body knows that the time to sleep is coming. Have to take an antacid for my stomach.

3:30 to 4:00 nap. Waking up is difficult. Falling asleep was not too bad. Although, when I lie down, my skin gets itchy in some places. It's a little annoying. When my timer alarm started ringing, I didn't realize right away that it was time to get up. I feel like I was very much deep asleep. Now if I could just get my body awake. I think I need to wash my face.

9:30 to 10:00 nap. Easy to sleep. Difficult to wake.

14:05 to 14:35 nap.
15:58 - Since my last nap until 15:40, I was sitting in my chair in front of the computer fighting the sleepy demons. I could not get awake, so I was sleeping while sitting in my chair and occasionally waking up a little and trying to snap out of it. It seems I am at the same place I was on Day 2. Actually, I was fine before I went to sleep. But I did decide to take my nap early because I almost fell asleep while using the computer. I thought that was a good sign that I could get to sleep for a nap. Well, I will go outside for a walk in the sunlight now.

18:00 - Well the walk was good, except my ankle is a little weak. I need to get more exercise, I know. Sitting back down and using the computer, I'm getting sleepy again. I guess the best thing to do is to stay awake until it's time to nap again. That is because it is so difficult to wake up from the naps now.

21:50 to 22:20 nap. I awoke before my timer alarm rang and then realized that it was almost time for it to ring so I must have gotten my sleep. The sleep seemed to have gone by quickly, but at least I did not have to wake up while deep asleep this time.

I realized this could be like the movie Groundhog's Day. Every time I wake up, it's not a new day. It's the same day. Another thing I have observed is that I'm using the computer too much now. I usually spend all my time on the computer but now I have so much more time. I have to try to limit my keyboarding and mousing.

Total approximate amount of sleep for today: 3 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 3

I lied down for a nap from 22:00 to 22:30.

And again from 1:37 to 2:02. I think I did not get much sleep from this one.

Napped from 5:30 to 6:00. I didn't fall asleep quickly. I would like to fall asleep within a couple of minutes but I'm not at that point yet.

Another nap from 10:30 to 10:55. After 13:00, I became very sleepy and so started doing nothing. That led to almost falling asleep in my chair at my computer.

Decided to take my next nap at 15:38. With timer alarm set, got up 30 minutes later from a deep sleep. Felt like I slept for quite a long time. Hard to fully awaken from. I forgot what I was dreaming about. That's what usually happens with the use of alarms.

Took a nap from 21:30 to 22:00. I was sleepy prior to this time but when this time came around, I was not sleepy. But I decided I don't want to put the naps any further apart than 6 hours from the start of the previous one. I didn't know how well I would be able to fall asleep. I think I fell asleep within 5 to 10 minutes. I think I did not sleep so deeply. I'm not sure how beneficial this nap was. But I did sleep and that is what counts.

Overall this day was not too bad. Perhaps the next 24 hours will be worse. We'll see. This is probably more like a day 1 or something since I had slept too much yesterday and not enough the night before. Not sure how much that set me back. I guess it couldn't set me back any further than to day 1, which is essentially starting all over. As a temporary side effect of this adaptation, my ability to compute numbers and such which involves holding things in your short term working memory, has been seriously hampered. Since I don't follow any schedule for the naps, I keep trying to figure out how many hours I have been awake since the last nap or since the last nap began, and I keep having trouble figuring it out. Well, one problem is that I wrote 15 on the paper but it looks like a 16. Anyway, as you would expect from a person who is sleep deprived, I am not too sharp and I am easily irritated by noise.

So I am just going with the 30 minute nap times and I will try to sleep every 6 hours, or sooner if I feel that the nap before was not of quality. I will change my writing style from the next post. Instead of always writing in the past tense, I will create a draft and write down things as they occur along with the time of entry. So then at the end of the day, I will publish the post and there will be exactly one post for a day. I will set the post time to the actual time of publishing the post. Normally, if the time is not manipulated, a blogspot post is set to the time that the writer began writing the post. So if a writer takes two hours to finish a post, the time would be set to when he started and not when he finished creating the post.

Total approximate amount of sleep for Day 3: 2 and 1/2 hrs.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 2

I took a nap from 11:15 until 12:00. Then I had 2 grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. I couldn't fully awaken myself so I decided that I would try sleeping for 90 minutes, which is 1 full sleep cycle, in hopes that I would feel good after that. So I slept from about 12:30 for 90 minutes. That didn't make me feel any better. So then I started debating with myself whether I should continue this polyphasic sleep experience or not. Soon the debate was over and I lied back down. I got up at 17:50 for supper.

Obviously, the period at work in which I couldn't take a nap was too long. I have the next 4 days off, so I'll see if I can continue this sleep experience and get my naps when I need them.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 1.5

I went to work last night. I didn't get the nap on the train that I thought I would get. After getting off the train and exiting the station, I ate at KFC and then walked to the workplace. It took about 30 minutes to walk, I think. I can walk faster though.

So then my next nap was from 21:15 to 21:40. After that, I didn't get another nap at work. Left work at 9:00 this morning and took the bus to the station. Waited for my train and got on it at 9:22. It was full. I couldn't sit down until the next stop which was about 10 minutes later I think. Then I got a nap on the train for probably 25 minutes. I woke up because of some little kid who screamed so loud. Then the train came to a stop at a station. I didn't think it was mine, but I looked out the window and everything looked familiar. It was my station! I thought maybe it had only been 10 minutes. I couldn't recall any of the previous stations. I was surprised that I was lucky enough to not go past my station. My neck was a little sore from the sleep.

I will need another nap soon. I still haven't fully awaken from the last one.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 1

Since my last post, I went to work, worked all night, until 9 am. Then walked to the train station. Arrived there by 9:30. Took the 9:35 home. I slept only a very brief nap of 5 to 10 minutes on the train around 10:00. I expected to sleep longer but it didn't work out that way.

I got home about 10:30. I tried to take a nap at 11:00. I set my timer for 30 minutes and my alarm clock for about 11:40. 8 minutes later the alarm clock rings!

So then I tried it again at 11:30. And again, the alarm clock rang after 8 minutes! A second attempt foiled, so I checked the instructions. Found out, I should set the alarm time by winding the needle counter-clockwise.

Got real sleepy before noon. So I prepared my alarm clock and set my timer again for 30 minutes. At approximately 12:30, my timer rang and so I got up. Everything as planned.

I ate instant ramen and two slices of toast for lunch. Drank some milk too but it was not delicious. Although it said low-fat, it seemed too thick.

Then while downloading language files from the internet, I began getting sleepy around 15:00. I kept myself up until 16:00 and took a 30 minute nap. This time I woke up within the last minute, just before the timer was ready to ring.

Waking up from both naps was hard. The second one much more so than the first. I will be going to work tonight. I will surely catch a nap on the train. I'll have to transfer once as the train will come to a terminal station, so it will be safe to nap on the first leg of the journey. On the second half, it would be risky to fall asleep as I would run the risk of going past my final destination (station). From there, I will walk to work.

I think I will eat at KFC. I always have a chicken fillet sandwich when I eat there. This I will do after getting off the train.

Sleep Record

Yesterday, I got a light nap of 10 to 15 minutes on the train. I got home about 22:20. Then I got really sleepy at 2:58, so I got to bed by 3:10. I almost fell asleep in 5 minutes, but then had one of those involuntary movements that snaps you out of it. So I readjusted my sleeping position to sleeping on my back and then I fell asleep within a few more minutes. I slept pretty well until 10:14. I didn't get up as that is way too early because I have to work tonight. From then I was sleeping and waking up all the time. At last I got up at 15:10.

Sleep Record

Last night, I got home at about 22:40 and went to bed at 23:40. I think I probably fell asleep around 00:30. I got up at 6:30. I have to work today.

Sleep Record

I went to bed last night at 22:40. I think it took a couple of hours to get to sleep. My body kept waking me up. I always sleep on my side and as I would fall asleep I would suddenly move (like a person trying to stay awake while driving). I got up at 6:30 this morning.

Today I will be working a 12-hour day shift.

Sleep Record and New Alarm Clock

Yesterday, I stayed awake all day. I didn't take any naps. So I was awake for 28 hours and 40 minutes.

I went to sleep at 21:40 and woke up 9 hours later, which was 20 minutes ago. It was 9 hours because that is what I had planned to sleep for. I had planned it for that number because of the 90 minute sleep-cycles that I have learned about. I had set my alarm for about 6:45 and I awoke 5 minutes before it rang. I had lots of dreams last night. I awoke several times during the night and checked my watch, then went back to sleep. I cannot say for sure though, that those times were at multiples of 90 minutes. But it is hard to calculate when half awake, and I didn't want to think too much about it for fear of fully waking myself up.

Yesterday, I bought a timer and an alarm clock. The clock is an analog clock with metal bells. It has 3 volume settings: Min, Mid, and Max. It is loud! At the store I tried the Max setting to try it out. The store is a noisy place. At home, the Min setting is just as loud as the Max setting at the store. This is the kind of alarm clock that could wake the neighbors, even if you live next to a cemetery.

When I woke up this morning, I probably would not have gotten up except that I knew that that loud alarm clock was about to go off. So I got up. I didn't turn it off. I wanted to hear it again and see just when it would ring. Since it's analog, the setting is not precise. The manual says it will ring within 5 minutes before your setting to within 5 minutes after.

Sleep Record

Today, I slept from about 10:30 until 17:00 which is the time my alarm was set to ring. I will be working tonight.

Sleep Record

Yesterday I worked until 21:00 and got home about 22:30.
I went to bed around 3:00 and last woke up at 15:00. I then got up at 15:28.
Tonight, I will work from 21:00 until 9:00 tomorrow morning.

Background Information

Since August (9 months and 27 days now), I have been working a 12-hour rotational shift schedule. I work 12 or 13 times a month (usually). 6 times during the night shift and 6 times during the day shift. All shifts are from 9 to 9. That is, 9 am to 9 pm or 9pm to 9 am. For the purpose of this blog, I will not use the am/pm system and instead I will use 24 hour notation. Today (26th), I worked 9-21 (9:00 to 21:00).

What does this rotational shift system do to me? It makes me have to constantly adjust my sleeping times. How can I do that? By forcing myself to stay awake until the proper time to go to sleep. If I finish a shift in the morning and don't have to work another night shift, then I will usually need to change my sleep time back to normal before my next day shift. So, I try to stay up or sleep only a little during the day, so I can go to bed at night.

At least twice a month, I stay awake for more than 24 hours in order to adjust my sleep time. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I cannot or do not want to stay awake so long. Just this past week, I kept myself awake all day so I could go to bed in the evening, sleep a long time and get up in the morning. However, I could not get up in the morning. Whenever I wake up, I have no desire to get up. I had no requirement to either. So I did not get up and just went back to sleep. Then I wake up many times but never get up. So, where does that leave me? Right back where I started! Being awake all night and sleeping the next day. Exactly what I was trying to overcome by staying awake for so long in the first place.

When I have off from work and then return to a day shift, I usually cannot get much sleep the night before. Several times, I have felt sleepy at the right time, lie down, sleep only a brief period, maybe 10 minutes, then awake and start thinking. Then I can't get back to sleep. At other times, I have gone to sleep and then woke up at 2 in the morning. I have to get up at 6:30 but I will be awake from 2 to 5. There was one time last month that I only got 2 hours of sleep. And remember, I work 12-hour shifts! But actually, I made it through the day fine that time. Unlike when that happened to me in August.

I remember the first time that I could not make the adjustment. I got just 2 hours of sleep probably. After lunch I could not keep my eyes open. I felt horrible. These days, the only difference is that it's gotten more difficult to sleep but easier to be awake.

So, how do I feel when I get lots of sleep. Not any better. I never wake up feeling like getting up. I usually wake up several times in the night. I don't sleep on a bed. I have a hardwood floor with a thin Japanese futon that is filled with feathers. On top of that I have a blanket, and on top of that I have a sleeping bag. I want a bed and a mattress but I have an idea for a wall bed and until I can build that, I won't have a bed.

Normally, I prefer to sleep for about 9 hours. If I don't get up and just lie in bed awake, after about an hour I will get a headache. However, when I am sleep deprived, I can sleep 12 hours. The longest I have stayed "in bed" is 18 hours! I never thought I would be able to stay in bed that long, but with the sleep deficit, it's no wonder. Of course, I could have gotten off the floor whenever I woke up but I don't have the motivation to do so. Needless to say, it's an awful lot of down time.

Basically, the point of this post is to say that I am tired of adjusting my sleep schedule all of the time. Three months ago, I found out about polyphasic sleep. If I can convert to that system, then I won't have the ongoing problems that I now have, which I just described above.

The start of a new blog.

This officially marks the beginning of my Sleepy Head blog. It's 2:18 am now and I have no idea why I'm not sleepy.