Click here to view today’s sleep log

Last night I had a few beers in the evening, and then went to bed a little later than usual (although I stopped drinking about 3 hours before bed). When I woke up this morning I was very sleepy for the first 5 minutes, but then it eased off slightly but I was still quite tired. I was also absolutely starving!

Work really dragged on today! It should have been a better day than usual as we finally solved a problem that we had been working on for ages, but I felt so tired all day that time went by very slowly.

I was still really tired, right up until the end of the day, and then 30 minutes before my nap was due I perked up. When I got home I ate a slice of ham and then went to bed, but it took me quite a while to fall asleep. I reset the timer once, and then drifted in and out for a while before settling into a deeper sleep. When the alarm went off I decided I wasn't quite ready to get up and went back to sleep, until Yu Lee came in about half an hour later and woke me up.

I felt great after my nap! I was still a bit tired afterwards, but this is expected because I am definitely a bit sleep deprived from not napping properly the past few days, but I had none of the usual post-nap grogginess.

Yu Lee went for a nap after dinner at about 9:00pm, and I woke her up after about 100 minutes, but in the end she got up, cleaned her teeth and then went back to bed.

Now it is 11:00pm and I feel pretty good still. I did a bit of work on my website and have started to redo my bookmarks page to work with the new site. Now I am going to watch Peep Show and go to bed in 2 hours.

Also, I am still using my standing desk to write this post. Earlier on my back started to ache a little from sitting in a computer chair all day, so I have been using the standing desk again.

Click here to view today’s sleep log

Last night I slept an extra half hour because I was very tired. I skipped my nap yesterday because I had too much sleep the night before. I'm not sure if it was the longer sleep or just the sleep dep from the pervious day, but I felt very groggy this morning for at least an hour after waking up. Normally the period between 6 and 7 is one of the best in the whole day, but I was too tired to enjoy it this morning.

At work I was fairly tired, but I was also working on something which kept me from feeling too sleepy.

After work I laid down for my nap, and I reset the timer several times but in the end I got up after 1.5 hours without having a proper sleep. I'm pretty sure I must have drifted off for some of it because it didn't feel like 1.5 hours, but it was frustrating to not sleep properly. I did feel a bit refreshed afterwards though.

After my nap, me and Yu Lee went and picked up a saveloy and chips from the fish and chip shop, and then I met up with a Spanish girl in a bar for a language exchange, and had a few beers in a bar in town.

While I was having my language exchange Yu Lee had a nap. She seems to be napping much easier than me which isn't fair because it was my idea!

After my language exchange Yu Lee picked me up and we went to Tesco which was boring but necessary! Now it is nearly midnight and I feel like I could fall asleep pretty quickly. Hopefully I will nap better tomorrow...

Click here to view today’s sleep log

This morning I woke up at 5:30am as usual, and once again I was dreaming and woke up feeling very alert. This is not necessarily a sign that I'm adapting though - it just means I got a bit of extra sleep last night!

Today I don't really have a lot to report - mainly because I didn't sleep biphasically! I had 6 hours sleep last night, and didn't have a proper nap today. At about 3:00pm Yu Lee had a 2 hour sleep, and I went to bed with her but I knew I wouldn't sleep. I need less sleep than her, so even though we slept the same amount last night I was much less tired than she was. I laid down for 20 minutes but didn't sleep at all.

Now it is 10:30pm and I do feel tired, as 6 hours isn't enough for me when I sleep monophasically. I am not going to go to bed early though. I will make do with 4.5 hours sleep so that I can nap tomorrow, and this week I am going to try and get a bit more routine in my naps.

Today marks the end of my first week of biphasic sleep. Compared to my attempt at the everyman sleep pattern, this week has been wonderful!

A lot of people have said that after 1 week of sleeping on this pattern that they feel fully adapted. I still don't feel 100% alert, and I doubt I am adapted yet. I think there are a couple of reasons for this.

The first reason is that I think I am still slightly sleep deprived from my everyman attempt. I have already had a couple of 6 hour sleeps, and I think I will probably have another one tonight in an attempt to shake off the lingering tiredness.

The second reason is that my naps have really been all over the place! I have tried napping at lunch time, after work, after dinner, in the evening, with Yu Lee, on my own... Basically I have tried a lot of things but not settled on anything yet. Yu Lee decided today that she is not going to continue napping, and is just going to continue getting up early with me, so I think next week my naps will be more consistent. I plan to take my naps some time after work, and hopefully if I take them at the same time each day my body will get used to them and I will have less trouble sleeping.

I have been keeping a log of how I have felt at each hour throughout the day, using the same scale as for my everyman attempt. Here is a reminder of the scale:

Score	Meaning
0	I give up
1	Microsleeps. Feeling like falling asleep when doing physical activity such as walking.
2	I could sleep at my desk by accident whilst trying to type something if I'm not careful. Occasional microsleeps a possibility
3	Uncomfortable (extremely tired) / very sleepy. Even just sitting down is uncomfortable and/or I have to fight off sleep constantly
4	Very Tired – I could fall asleep in less than a minute. Programming is impossible or at least very difficult
5	Reading would make me fall asleep or feel really sleepy
6	I could read without sleeping but it would make me feel drowsy
7	Normal Monday afternoon after missing a few hours sleep on Sunday night
8	Slightly Tired (definitely don't feel like I could fall asleep). Normally I would feel like this at about 8:00pm – 9:00pm
9	Normal Awake
10	Better than normal

The following table contains the results. Once again the period before a nap is shaded orange, and the period afterwards is yellow/green.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
DAY:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	02/09/12	03/09/12	04/09/12	05/09/12	06/09/12	07/09/12	08/09/12
00:00	Asleep	5	5	5	7	6	Asleep
01:00	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep
02:00	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep
03:00	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep
04:00	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep	Asleep
05:00	6	6	4	6	6	6	7
06:00	8	7	8	6	7	6	8
07:00	8	7	8	6	8	7	8
08:00	8	5	7	6	7	8	8
09:00	8	5	7	6	9	7	8
10:00	8	7	8	7	8	7	7
11:00	7	7	7	6	8	7	7
12:00	7	7	7	6	7	6	6
13:00	Asleep	8	8	7	8	6	Asleep
14:00	7	5	5	7	8	5	7
15:00	8	7	7	6	7	7	8
16:00	8	7	6	7	6	7	8
17:00	8	Asleep	7	7	6	6	8
18:00	8	7	8	7	7	6	7
19:00	7	8	8	Asleep	7	Asleep	7
20:00	7	8	7	8	5	7	7
21:00	6	7	6	7	Asleep	7	6
22:00	6	5	5	7	7	8	6
23:00	6	6	4	6	6	6	6
Mean:	7.28	6.53	6.60	6.47	7.05	6.58	7.17

If you compare this to how I felt on everyman, you can see that my alertness was a lot better this week, despite my sloppy pattern and lack of adaptation. Hopefully next week this will improve even more!

Click here to view today’s sleep log

Last night I decided to give myself 6 hours sleep, to try and pay off some of my sleep debt. I woke up at the usual time, but with almost no grogginess at all! I also woke up from dreaming again, but I can't remember what I dreamt about.

This morning was really good - me and Yu Lee went out for a 24km (15 mile) rollerblading session which was really fun. When we got back I made us a tuna salad for lunch, and then I started to feel drowsy so I went to the bedroom to sleep.

Unfortunately, today I didn't really sleep very well for my nap. I definitely dozed off for some of my nap, but I didn't sleep the full 90 minutes. I felt somewhat refreshed afterwards and not groggy at all, but I'm sure this is because I just had a light sleep, and it was nowhere near as satisfying as my normal naps.

This evening I feel a bit tired again, and am not sure if I will go for 4.5 or 6 hours tonight.