A common problem that I, as well as most college students face all the time, is not having enough time to do everything that you wish you could- socialize, eat, write that essay, read that book, and in my case, make that movie. And the thing that we like to devote the least time to, sleep. But sleep is pretty much inescapable. Sure we try to battle off the symptoms of drowsiness with red bulls, late night movies and adrenaline rushes, but ultimately, we will not be happy, or healthy for that matter, if we aren't sleeping properly.
My boyfriend, Damon, recently began doing research about healthy sleeping patterns. In the process he began to become very attracted to the idea of polyphasic sleep. Polyphasic sleep, I would soon learn, is a sleep pattern consisting of taking 6 20-30 minute naps each day, on intervals of about 4 hours. This pattern is in opposition to the normal monophasic pattern, which is getting all of our day's worth of sleep in one 8 hour session. Polyphasic sleep has been utilized by various politicians and artists who (though perhaps a little eccentric and possibly insane) were all great geniuses who were masters at partitioning their time. When you do the math you'll see why. If you are taking 6 20-30 minute naps every day, in total you are only sleeping 2-3 hours. Unhealthy? Actally, no. If you got two hours of sleep in one chunk every night, than yes, this is very unhealthy. But breaking it up into chunks and getting sleep in small portions every time your body needs it is an entirely different matter. In fact, it has been said that polyphasic sleep is one of the healthiest sleep patterns out there. . If you think about it, it makes sense. Polyphasic sleep patterns are common in both babies and in animals in nature. Furthermore, polyphasic sleep trains your brain to enter REM sleep (the most important phase of sleep, the one in which you dream) as soon as you begin your nap. The idea began to seem more appealing to both Damon and I. Healthy sleep, more frequent dreaming, and more time to do things in waking hours? What reason is there not to try it? Plus, as we are both film students, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a documentary about something that the general population has never heard about.
So, we began doing more research. Apparently sleeping habits are very difficult to break. The first few days are the hardest in changing your routine, because the body is very bad at falling asleep quickly enough to have naps with a sufficient amount of REM sleep, and of course your monophasic tendencies will rebel against the change. We decided that our nap times would be 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 10pm, 2am, and 6am. It is very important when training your body into polyphasic sleep to stick to a very specific schedule, and make sure you don't oversleep on your naps. It is also very important that you eat more than you normally do when you begin polyphasic sleep. Because you are awake more hours you need more sustenance and nutrients to sustain you and help keep up your energy. You also, of course, have to make sure that you are mentally active at all time in order to stave off drowsiness.
Last night we began our first 24 hour napping cycle. We took our first nap at 10pm, and right off the bat we went off schedule. We slept right through the alarm I had set for 10:30 and woke up at about 12:15. And when we awoke we were very drowsy. It took about a half hour for me to feel fully awake again. Then, when we took the 2am nap, I wasn't feeling very sleepy. It look me about 15 minutes to fall asleep and so I woke up from it with very little rest. I got hungry in the middle of the night and ate a small snack and tried to drink a lot of water. When we took our 6am nap we, again, overslept, waking up with a start at about 7:10. Hopefully the next 12 hours of napping go better. It will be impossible for us to adjust to a new sleeping schedule if we do not stick to our commitments and to the plan. Right now I feel a little sleepy, a little tired, and a little hungry, but overall I'm doing fine. Tonight will be a lot tougher I think. I'll continue to update this blog as things occur. I guess we'll see how the next 24 hours go!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Cat Planet
When I was in elementary school I had a friend named Phillip Gibbons. Now Phillip was one of those friends who I call a friend now because he clearly was, though at the time I thought he was my worst enemy, the weird boy who chased me around the playground every recess, the boy who I told on when he tackled me even though I goaded him on.
Phillip was a bit more eccentric than the usual first or second grade child though. Because you see, he was actually a king from the Planet Cat, sent to Earth in order to seek out a new bride for the cat throne. His previous bride, he informed me, was a pink furred cat named Feline Fluffball Fluffy. He once sang me a song about her that I will never forget:
Feline fluffball fluffy, she's the one! We had eight kittens! Feline Fluffball Fluffy!
He attempted to woo me several times, offering me a ring with a spider on the top, which I wanted desperately but could never take because I refused to agree to being Philip's cat queen. So we resorted to our daily routine of being lifelong nemeses. I would run through the playground, flinging myself wildly under play structures if I wanted to hide, or else slowing down from exhaustion just enough so that Phillip could catch me. Phillip would tie his jacket around his neck and scream "Cheetah speed!" when he made chase, hissing through his teeth until saliva spilled from his mouth and clawing the air in front of him with arms outstretched, as though hoping to gain speed by pretending that he was a quadruped. He would often call down the powers of this cat agility in order to traverse the monkey bars and fall on all fours any time he fell off. He would also look through secret files in his lunch box being sent to him by those still residing on Cat Planet.
Sometimes I think about Phillip and how he provided the most vivid and most entertaining memories that I have of my elementary school days. I never noticed it then, of course, but now I marvel at how consistent he was with his behavior. Cat Planet was never a whim for him. For the two years that I attended school with him, it was always the same routine. While the other boys in school obsessed over Batman, and Spiderman, and Transformers on capricious intervals, Phillip's dedication to his beloved Cat Planet never wavered. I've always wanted to see Phillip again, see what he's grown into and see if he remembers as well as I do the epic battles that took place between us. I think if I could go back and watch any part of my life, as a third party, that is the time I would choose.
Phillip was a bit more eccentric than the usual first or second grade child though. Because you see, he was actually a king from the Planet Cat, sent to Earth in order to seek out a new bride for the cat throne. His previous bride, he informed me, was a pink furred cat named Feline Fluffball Fluffy. He once sang me a song about her that I will never forget:
Feline fluffball fluffy, she's the one! We had eight kittens! Feline Fluffball Fluffy!
He attempted to woo me several times, offering me a ring with a spider on the top, which I wanted desperately but could never take because I refused to agree to being Philip's cat queen. So we resorted to our daily routine of being lifelong nemeses. I would run through the playground, flinging myself wildly under play structures if I wanted to hide, or else slowing down from exhaustion just enough so that Phillip could catch me. Phillip would tie his jacket around his neck and scream "Cheetah speed!" when he made chase, hissing through his teeth until saliva spilled from his mouth and clawing the air in front of him with arms outstretched, as though hoping to gain speed by pretending that he was a quadruped. He would often call down the powers of this cat agility in order to traverse the monkey bars and fall on all fours any time he fell off. He would also look through secret files in his lunch box being sent to him by those still residing on Cat Planet.
Sometimes I think about Phillip and how he provided the most vivid and most entertaining memories that I have of my elementary school days. I never noticed it then, of course, but now I marvel at how consistent he was with his behavior. Cat Planet was never a whim for him. For the two years that I attended school with him, it was always the same routine. While the other boys in school obsessed over Batman, and Spiderman, and Transformers on capricious intervals, Phillip's dedication to his beloved Cat Planet never wavered. I've always wanted to see Phillip again, see what he's grown into and see if he remembers as well as I do the epic battles that took place between us. I think if I could go back and watch any part of my life, as a third party, that is the time I would choose.
Ambrosia
What a curse to be given
To not know
To not believe
What to all others stands out as unquestionable
To spew poison from your mouth without knowing
To ensnare with the deepest recesses of your iris
To break the very things you so desperately try to touch
To seek a friend
To find a suitor
To burn the hearts of those you fondly cradle in your thoughts
Immortal love you have to give
But why can they not see it?
Rose tinted glasses provide visions of passion
False assurance
Someone to sip the sweet nectars of their accomplishments
To caress
To confess
Pastel drapes drawn over cookie cutter windows
Shuts out foul air
Shuts in foul air
Sweet breeze forgotten
Everything or nothing
Is this flattery?
Starving children cry at burt fingers when their plate is too hot
Steaming ambrosia loses charm
When none can indulge in it’s nectar.
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