Da Vinci Sleep Schedule - Polyphasic Sleep

January 21, 2011 - Chris Reid

I have recently concluded a very informal sleep experiment, of which I was the sole participant. Because of my transition from the IT field to Internet marketing I have been able to adopt a much more flexible schedule. I have found that working into the wee hours of the morning suits me well as there are far fewer distractions. The only real difficult part has been the unexpected client meeting or some other event that I was unable to anticipate, throwing my sleep schedule askew.

Starting out I would stay up for longer and longer durations and then clock 3-5 hours of sleep. This was maintainable for a few weeks before I started to become worn out. I then increased the number of hours I was awake until I hit the 36 hour mark. I would catch my second wind around 22 hours and really hit the wall around hour 30. There was a noticeable decrease in cognitive function around hour 20. I would then sleep for 6-8 hours and start the clock again. Obviously I had no illusions about being able to maintain a schedule of this sort but I wanted to see what happens on the outer edge of sleep deprivation.

This is where it got interesting. The second 36 hour cycle was the first time I realized that I could actually "wear out" my mind and it would become noticeably silent. The normal cacophonous medley of hundreds of competing thoughts, feelings and intentions was nowhere to be found. It was quite startling to realize that my mind had actually crashed. The only conscious thought that I was aware of was that there were no other conscious thoughts. This is the only time in my life that I can recall my conscious mind being silent. Over the years I have tried unsuccessfully to achieve this with meditation, likely due to my halfhearted engagement of it.

The second item of interest was the observation of visual artifacts that did not exist. Yes, hallucinations are one of the byproducts of sleep deprivation. As an aside, I happened to be reading Douglas Hofstadter's "I Am A Strange Loop" during this period. The subject matter coupled with a lack of sleep provides for a potent mind fuck. There were several more experiences that are noteworthy but they are all of a personal nature that I will not be sharing. Perhaps at a later date I will see how far I can push my "awake" state, but for now this will have to mark my outer limit.

The 36 hour sleep schedule only lasted for about a week. It was just too difficult to maintain and I'm sure not very healthy. This now brings me to my initial intent of experimenting with polyphasic sleep. I began with a 12/3 cycle, 12 hours awake and 3 hours asleep. The brief amount of research I did before hand had indicated the biggest killer of this type of schedule was the WAF. I am fortunate enough to have a very understanding and patient wife, although I was certainly pushing the bounds of that understanding and patience around the end of the first month.

After a few days of acclimating to this sleep schedule I found it to be very appealing. There was a discernable increase in my ability to sit behind the keyboard and crank out code hour after hour, and have it be coherent. In addition I rarely experienced the end-of-the-day crash that I associate with a traditional sleep pattern. Over the weeks I tweaked this schedule a bit. At times increasing/decreasing the hours awake vs. asleep. I also experimented with dividing the day into three 8 hour blocks with 1.5 hours of sleep between each. This only lasted for a few days before I went back to the 12/3 schedule. Ultimately I abandoned the entire enterprise because it was too difficult to maintain. I would love to revisit this in the future after I have removed a few annoying hurdles, most of which revolve around work.

To conclude, polyphasic sleep is definitely not for everyone (Obviously there aren't a lot of people that can try this anyway). The greatest benefits seem to be a slight reduction in the amount of sleep necessary and a reasonable increase in one's ability to engage in analytical based pursuits for longer periods of time. While I thoroughly enjoyed playing around with what is colloquially referred to as the "Da Vinci Sleep Schedule" it is, at the moment, too difficult to adhere to. The difficulty is almost entirely due to "life" events that are only able to be diminished/removed by retiring or becoming independently wealthy, or at least wealthy enough to leave the rat race.

Credit Card Junk Mail Reply

January 20, 2011 - Chris Reid

I found this little diddy while researching the current round of abusive business practices that banks are engaging in. I happen to have just received a credit card application that will be rewarded with this response.

I wish the American public would send a much stronger message to these arrogant, abusive grundel monkeys. A good place to start would be eliminating their use of credit cards. I well understand that many businesses need a line of credit to be able to operate. However, I struggle to come up with a legitimate reason why your average citizen needs a credit card. The recurring thought always comes back to an individual's need for immediate gratification. This seems to be a social parasite that our society has full-on embraced. It certainly isn't helped when our public servants make fiscal policies that are more akin to a drunken patron ordering a round of lap dances at the local whorehouse.

Credit Card Application Reply

I Won The Lottery! - Euro Services Lottery Scam

January 10, 2011 - Chris Reid

It is a shame that people fall for this type of nonsense. These asshats actually took the time to print and then mail me a letter. From my pal Bill Morgan at Euro Services in London, England.

Lottoteam Promotions - Lottery/Sweepstakes Scam

The Phoenix

January 9, 2011 - Chris Reid

Much like the mythical bird that is reborn periodically this website has died a thousand deaths. I have recommitted myself to actually maintaining it on at least a weekly basis. I hope to start aggressively building the "Atheism" section in the coming weeks. There is a bounty of great resources that I have aggregated but not yet had a chance to publish in a useable manner.

Cosmological Constant Not Fine Tuned For Life

January 18, 2011 - Slashdot

A common argument one might encounter in intelligent design or the arduous process of resolving science with religion is that the physical constants of our world are fine tuned for life by some creator or designer. A University of Alberta theoretical physicist claims quite the opposite when it comes to the cosmological constant.

The Prospects For Lunar Mining

January 17, 2011 - Slashdot

With the discovery of vast amounts of water on the Moon, some frozen in the shadows of craters at the Lunar poles and some chemically bonded with the regolith, interest in lunar mining has arisen among commercial space entrepreneurs. Paul Spudis, a lunar geologist, has suggested a plan to return to the Moon, which features, among other things, robotic resource extraction and the deployment of space-based fuel depots using lunar water even before the first human explorers return to the lunar surface.

The Frontier Is Everywhere: NASA Promo Video Will Inspire You

January 11, 2011 - The Huffington Post

YouTube user "dameswe" made this absolutely inspiring promotional video for NASA after feeling frustrated with the space agency's inability to market its crucial and astonishing mission to the public.

What Americans Really Need to Know About Religion

October 6, 2010 - The Huffington Post

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth followed the recent release of the Pew Forum's survey of Americans' religious knowledge. The news that, on average, most of us know only half the answers to questions on the Bible, world religions and religion in civic life reveals (pick one) a lax commitment to diversity; a blind spot in religious education; our fear (or at least our willful ignorance) of people not like ourselves; or yet another failure of the public school system.

Banks Breaking Into Occupied Homes In Foreclosure To Change Locks

October 6, 2010 - The Huffington Post

In their zeal to complete foreclosure proceedings, some banks send representatives to change the locks on properties in foreclosure, even as they remain occupied. The incidents of lock-changing pile further skepticism on a process recently plagued by scandal.

Oil Spill Panel: White House Blocked Federal Scientists From Releasing Worst-Case Scenario For Gulf Disaster

October 6, 2010 - The Huffington Post

The Obama administration blocked efforts by government scientists to tell the public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could become and committed other missteps that raised questions about its competence and candor during the crisis, according to a commission appointed by the president to investigate the disaster.