Comments on: Uber-Vogel Sleep, Day 1: Insights Already

By: Kevin Vogelsang

Kevin Vogelsang — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:25:03 +0000

One thing I'm not sure about is whether or not I should give myself a little time to get to sleep during my rest periods, particularly this early on. getting to sleep that quickly is pretty tough. Thus far, I haven't been sleeping during most of my naps, and just haven't been sleeping, which of course isn't the point. But maybe that's really the only way to go about it.

By: Kevin Vogelsang

Kevin Vogelsang — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:16:13 +0000

Thanks, Bryan. One of the things I like about being on this schedule is that there is a strong incentive to avoid caffeine and alcohol to not break the highly structured schedule. I've never really drank coffee, and I'd like to avoid alcohol for now.
Good points on the diet. I know you love a good diet.
And you're right, no one should feel like they need a 22 hour day, only problem is that I have a lot of stuff I just want to do. The other thing is that I'm always willing to spend time with friends and almost always do. Having the extra time may actually help with that if it. At least over the last 2 days, it seems to. I've got plenty of time to do all the more “work-like” stuff I can tolerate.

By: Kevin Vogelsang

Kevin Vogelsang — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:25:03 +0000

By: Kevin Vogelsang

Kevin Vogelsang — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:23:28 +0000

By: Kevin Vogelsang

Kevin Vogelsang — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:16:13 +0000

By: nickwan

nickwan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:55:47 +0000

The only thing I recommend is be as strict to the method as possible. I believe Bryan tried as hard as possible to stick to the regiment of 20mins/4hrs and more or less felt just sleep deprived after a while. On the other side of this are people who try to mod this schedule in ways. Case and point, bryan and my old friend dj. To "fit" it to his schedule (in hs) he made it so he got 10 mins of sleep between class breaks and was on the 20min/4hrs only part of the day. Although it did add up to the right amount of sleep, it once again led to the same conclusion of just being reallllly tired. His second attempt, 14 days long and more successful, was in the summer. What helps is if you can get someone to do it with you. I was up at the wee hours with him, keeping him occupied so he wouldn't oversleep (certainly common in the later days if you aren't careful).

Unlike Bryan, I think this cycle is great for someone who believes they could utilize that extra 6 hours of time you gain through this. I personally don't know the risk/reward stuff Bryan and yourself might know about the physical aspects of this cycle on your body. Seeing how you work out and are physically active for your supposed downtime, i don't know how long it'll be before your body adjusts to the physical toll you might exert on it. In retrospect, your mind will adjust before your body does from each time my friends have tried this. Throwing in more exercise might be positive or negative... And that might be the area I agree with Bryan on -- your body isn't going to like physically working an extra 6 hours a day if you choose to throw in more exercise to pass the time. At least not in the beginning. Who knows.

I really hope you get to the 21st night with this!! Can't wait to read days 3-7. :)

p.s. if i can find dj's log he kept, i'll post it somewhere for you to get at. good luck!

By: bryanhernandez

bryanhernandez — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:45:00 +0000

Great job on making it this far. And for the record, I think the shit will really hit the fan at about day 4 or 5, and you'll have to decide whether or not you can, or more accurately, want to continue.
Now I'm not trying to be a negative nancy here, but I think this sleep cycle is just plain bad. REM sleep isn't the only important sleep phase, especially for an athlete. To be fair, I once tried this because it sounded too good to be true, but alas, I chose friends over work. Which brings me to my next point, that is, very normal things can break this cycle. You have to live in a cage for nothing to interfere such as friends, but more realistically, caffeine or alcohol, which will almost certainly quaiche the cycle. I don't know how resilient the cycle is once you've been on it for a while, and you're solidly sleeping during every nap, but I wouldn't be surprised if a slip up really messes things up.
Falling asleep. Caffeine will quaiche; remember that because it rhymes. Everyone is different, but there has been only one period in my life when I've been able to fall asleep when it's night, and get up at a normal working-person hour without feeling tired. It's when I stopped having caffeine as a regular part of the diet. I wasn't a fiend, but apparently a little everyday was enough.
Unquaiche your diet. Certain people will be able to relate to this and others won't, and it may seem surprising, but having even the slightest bit of allergen in your diet/environment can have very adverse effects on your health in general, sure, but also your sleep cycle. Allergens invoke, almost entirely, innate immune responses. This is shitty because you're body responds to this in a HURRY, producing antibodies, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and whatever other inflammatory cytokines it feels like quaiching you with. How does this affect your sleep schedule? It makes you tired! Tired as fuck. If it's something that's happening all the time, it'll run down your body to the point to where you feel like you could sleep all the time....if you in fact ever get to sleep with all the caffeine you're drinking to feel unsluggish and "productive." The immune system, in particular, is one of the most sensitive to changes/lack in/of sleep. And it probably goes without saying that getting sick will fuck this cycle up too.
My last point is that no one should feel like they need a 22 hour work day. If you need compartmentalization, which highly agree with, and are fortunate enough to have workday flexibility (see ya finance), then do just that. Break up your work with athletics or cooling out with friends. It's helps a lot for me.

And with that, I wish you luck, Kevin. If you pull this off for any substantial amount of time, I'm already impressed.