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Alright, by inspiration from a dear friend of mine, I will be attempting to change my sleep schedule once again. Instead of sleeping an entire 8 hours or more at night, I will be taking 20 minute naps every 4 hours exclusively at  2 PM, 6 PM, 10 PM, 2 AM, 6 AM, and 10 AM. This is formally called polyphasic sleep and has other forms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep).

I've just finished taking my first 20 minute nap after waking up from normal sleep at 10 AM. I managed to make myself fall into a near-REM sleep and it almost feels like the dawn of a new day. I will continue to log my experience of getting into this sleep schedule as more naps pass by in the name of science and to hold me towards this new habit.

I'll log my current status for posterity. Feel free to bet on my failure and success in Bitcoins, whether I'll go into psychosis, etc.

 Playlist for my video logs (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL41F3AD2892EE1AD0&feature=viewall)

Intro video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haymB5Wdh0k)

Day 1

---

First Nap, 2:30 PM CST, 11/20/2011

Sleep quality: Logged in the post above.

Current mood: Content.

Current body and mental status: Moderate headache, slight anxiety (normal). My legs are jittery. Hunger and hydration are being maintained at acceptable levels.

(I have generalized anxiety disorder and depression so things such as headaches and anxiety will be considered normal.)

Second Nap (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=52398.msg625523#msg625523)

Third Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Q4tQ0nch0)

Fourth - Fifth Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKSWYoAZuO8)

Day 2

---

Sixth Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVD-TePZdZI)

 Seventh - Eighth Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi1h_RwdVDc)

 Ninth Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_8cmG5M4-DU)

Second Attempt, Day 1

---

First and Second Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zTtNpJSRiI)

Third Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACPWOq_v7F0)

Third Attempt, Day 1

---

First Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zqma4GtQybk)

Second Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbG2oeydUG0)

Third Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt7b3vS5rb0)

Fourth Nap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kh5ZI1MxzEo)

---

Moving to a more gradual method (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aSDRlw8MPcQ)

Chasing the Uberman: 4 hour sleep (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt0DFvov8O0)

You won't be able to keep it up. After about 3 days you're goimg to crash for several hours.

The body needs 2-3 hours of REM sleep just to survive.

It's a fun experiment though, I did it too when I was 17.

Willing to take a bet on that?

Nobody trusts an Atlas bet because you'll just try and weasel out of it like always.

But since you asked, Matthew bets one (1) picture of his penis against a picture of yours.

I'll have you know I have a vagina thank you very much.

Also remember, I am not challenging you, you are challenging yourself Atlas. Lay off the roids.

Fake edit: you'll never MAKE IT

I tried that a couple of times. Each time, I lasted about 3 days, but when I lost the ability to read I became bored and quickly fell asleep. If it's possible at all, I think you'd need a team of people to help keep you awake and active during the whole thing.

Yeah, you've reminded me of my previous experience, Theymos. Hm, this is going to be a mental workout. I am going to need to meditate.

I was thinking the same thing. Staying awake is only somewhat based on will-power. Eventually your body just shuts down when it's not getting what it needs.

@APLHA: I've done lots of crazy experiments when I was 17. Trying to stay awake with little or no sleep, going fasting, marathon running, etc. My favorite mind blowing accomplishment was a mind experiment where I made myself ejaculate by meditation alone. I can't repeat that to this day.

I have always been fascinated by the human mind. I wanted to learn how to control my perception of gravity mentally so that I could walk straight even when my head was spinning in dizzyness. I think it might be possible, but that's probably because I've never studied neuropsychology

If this is actually safe and possible, then someone should make a business where you stay at a "hotel" for a week or two and people help you through the induction phase. I'd pay for that.

Why? What made you desire to do this?

Overactive sex-drive and complete utter boredom?

I was homeschooled in the country for christ's sake-- there is no 'why'.

I had a roomate once doing exactly that, after a few days he looked _really_ bad.
It may be a fun thing to try but I'm sure everybody having actually done it wouldn't recommend it (same goes for most doctors I guess).

Atlas, if you sleep 4 hours a day you can live just fine with naps once in a while, but your life will be shortened. So do this now while you can.

I am hoping my meditation can get me through this...

This is an interesting idea. Are there any examples of people keeping up such a sleep schedule for a prolonged amount of time? Wikipedia only mentions Buckminster Fuller. Out of 7 billion people more than 1 should have managed this if it is actually possible.

I was able to get past the 1 week mark doing the Uberman. In fact, I made it two weeks and then slept for 20 hours. However, after that I naturally fell into a pattern similar to The Everman. I sleep in blocks now of 2 hours, with some 20 minute naps throughout the day. I don't do this on any set schedule though, and it's rather chaotic. The most sleep I have gotten in the past month was last night, and it had everything to do with the bottle of wine that I drank. Last night, I got 6 hours of sleep. Usually I get 3, max. My staggered sleep schedule adds up to maybe 5 hours of sleep per day, including nap time. I love my power naps.

That's adrenaline abuse. You'll be dead in a dime.

I tried this at some point, and actually lasted a few months. But my schedule was not consistent enough, so it stayed a bit of a struggle, and I slipped a few times.
I retain the ability to fall asleep in 5 minutes in bright light with background noise if I want to though, so that's nice :)

That's genius. I might pay for that too, if I had time and money.

Second Nap, 6:22 PM CST, 11/20/2011

Sleep quality: I was very tired before this nap. This may be due to my rigid acceptance of this new sleeping schedule; in other words, my subconscious is taking hold of it. I was always keeping my eye on the clock for 6 PM.

Slight dreaming did occur. Traces of DMT were definitely to be found in my thought process. I woke up with a great amount of energy and feels like another dawn despite the nap being only 20 minutes.

Current mood: Content.

Current body and mental status: I recently had two cups of coffee. My body is jittering throughout as normal. The previous headache was caused by caffeine withdrawal and is now slightly soothed. Food intake and hydration is at acceptable levels. Little to no anxiety is felt.

Additional notes: My naps so far have occurred in a sleeping position on a closed toilet in a restroom. My head is either rested against a wall or my forearm which is placed upon my lap. This will hopefully lead to quicker awakenings and prevent sleeping longer than I wish. My 20 minute time limit is also enforced by a pocket kitchen timer with a moderately-pitched beep.

This will certainly allow me to be flexible when it comes to sleeping in public places: I simply take a 20 minute restroom break.

When I tried this, I read that coffee severely messed with sleeping schedules. YMMV.

When I first starting reading the OP, Leonardo da Vinci immediately came to mind. I just Googled it to verify.

I drink too much coffee to cut cold turkey. Let's see what it does. I am getting to sleep when I need to so it doesn't seem too bad.

Sounds like an interesting experiment. I'll be watching this thread.

i think this is an urban legend

besides wouldn't you need to sleep on job or be financial indebendent or work at home or something

maybe even have strange social habits to just go for a nap while everyone is awake and then be

quite alone during the nights where you will be sticking to your screen?????

Relying on meditation to help you though self-induced torture is an abuse of meditation.

Interpreting your question as:
Wouldn't it be rather alone during the nights? Are you planning on spending those times behind the computer?

The answer is: There's a lot of things you can do with ~6 hours per night of being alone. You could do your job (depending on the job), you could go with friends to a bar, you could clean your room, and yes, you could spend that time on the computer, playing games or doing something constructive.

Loneliness. Heh. Loneliness is for women and I am no woman. No sireeee--

Yeah, as I said, I enjoy my own company. Loneliness isn't in my vocabulary. I will be working on a project that's been on my plate for the past month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Q4tQ0nch0

Third nap.

'
you already look like death

It's been a long day. What can I say?

I made a summary video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haymB5Wdh0k

...and a playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL41F3AD2892EE1AD0&feature=viewall

While I agree with your description of this as self-induced torture, I disagree that it is an abuse of meditation. All meditation is self-induced torture; it's how society punishes people, even the worst of them; you're doing a life sentence for being a brutal serial-rapist and your life already fucking sucks because you are in some scary maximum security federal penitentiary...they punish you by putting you in isolation, incidentally, a hugely popular form of meditation. 'Sit and think (or perhaps meditate?) about what you've done' is the only punishment that we really mete out as a society.

Now to digress, I think that any activity can be meditative, but it is unique to the individual and sort of stands off from 'meditation'. If I said I was going fly fishing, you would not perceive that as 'He's going to meditate'.

Now I'm starting to get tired. Let this be noted.

Just ~1 hour to go. Go do something where you have to move. Cleaning stuff works well, or maybe taking a long walk outside.

Heh, I was just dancing to Deadmau5...

I've never moved my hips like that before but, heck, it felt good.

No offense but you are the epitome of emo fag in the sense that you blog about your every whimsical fart. You're worse than me sometimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKSWYoAZuO8

Nap 4-5

If you get to tired make sure to get some real sleep.

I am dead serious, last thing we need is for you to die from exhaustion.

BTW: Atlas you need to get a girlfriend bro, I mean that shit with all seriousness.

EDIT: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1393166

"Exhaustion as precursor of cardiac death."

University of Limburg, Department of Medical Psychology,Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Abstract
Excess fatigue is the most prevalent precursor of sudden cardiac death. This state may reflect prolonged tension or heart disease. In order to test the first explanation a prospective study was done among 3365 males, aged 45-59 years. This cohort was followed during an average period of 9.5 years. Exhaustion was assessed by the statement: 'At the end of the day I am completely exhausted mentally and physically'. Among those free of coronary heart disease at the beginning, 69 subjects died because of myocardial infarction. Data were analysed using Cox's regression analysis. The results showed a highly significant interaction between duration of follow-up and exhaustion upon the risk of cardiac death. The hazard ratios for exhaustion were 8.96, 6.33, 4.47 and 3.16 for the first 10, 20, 30 and 40 months of follow-up respectively. Thereafter the association between exhaustion and cardiac death is no more significant. It is argued that exhaustion before cardiac death does not reflect manifest heart disease but that an interaction between prolonged tension and subclinical levels of ischaemia may increase the risk of cardiac death."

EDIT2: You are not a bad looking kid, get off the computer, and go talk to some people who don't have a stupid avatar next to their name. If you have ever listened to anyone in your life you will listen to me now and just shut off the monitor for a few weeks. Come back with a clear mind, and pwn these noobs.

EDIT3: Leave your mining rigs on :P.

Saw in one of your videos that your mom had you turn off the computer, so you reverted to reading Socrates. Here's a book I read twice that I think you would enjoy: http://www.amazon.com/Math-Gene-Mathematical-Thinking-Evolved/dp/0465016197

http://cn1.kaboodle.com/img/b/0/0/18e/1/AAAACwnxq3oAAAAAAY4VGw/the-math-gene-how-mathematical-thinking-evolved-and-why-numbers-are-like-gossip-paperback.jpg?v=1317951519000

's not how it works. You get really exhausted, forcing your body into the different mode of sleeping. This is really rough for a week. If you maintain it though, you get to do it without the effort.

I'll download it tonight for my Kindle.

Don't read at night in the first week though. Surefire way to fall asleep.

Well I was referring to the fact that he can have cardiac arrest if he try's to push himself to stay awake, which CAN happen. Especially if a bunch of stupid people on the Internet are egging him on in the form of "bets" to do it.

I'm pretty sure everyone told him to fucking stop. He's the one wanting to do it.

Also, a 17 year old having a cardiac arrest is highly unlikely. If he was 60 I'd say "don't do it man".

True, maybe I just shouldn't care about people huh? 

You're reading too much into what I'm saying. We're on the same page idiot.

And I think you're reading "to little" into the entire situation.

Good stuff as always from xkcd.  The 28-Hour day:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/28_hour_day.png
 (http://xkcd.com/320/)

The awesome fuzzies and hallucinations you see on day three of this sleep depravation are awesome. Let us know if you see any of those.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVD-TePZdZI

Day 2, Nap 6

I don't see much positive responses in the thread you linked to though.

I've made myself fall asleep quite well. I feel just fine but that might be normal for the second day. We'll see me my fate all in good time.

Sleeping in a public restroom hardly works especially when it's for one person. I got my sleep in but there was a line outside the door. Lovely.

2nd day, 7th nap.

My mood is good, I'm well fed and hydrated. This still seems feasible.

and the time you win by not sleeping is not lost again by thinking, writing, planning, posting, recording ....
about your progress?

As much as I appriciate reading about your progress I really wonder if this sleep schedule is supposed to
work without effort and easy why is there do people that adhere to it - not just adhere to it and thats it.
Kind of like vegetarians or gay folks.

Heh. It is effortless to document. It takes no more than 10 minutes and I feel this needs to be documented for posterity. The value is inherent. I would love to see humanity to sleep less and do more (if individuals wish to).

From what I'm reading, I seem to be an exception. Most people would be pretty zombified by now. As for me, I feel normal. I might be genetically apt and/or psychologically honed for this. I only had a small period where I felt tempted to sleep and that was eased with philosophy and Harvard Classics.

Your previous experience with alternate sleep schedules probably helps, and has taught your body to take a decent amount of rest out of those 20 minute naps. Also, being young helps :)
I expect you to have some trouble at the end of the third day though…

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

My guess is that when one really been far even as decided once to use even go want, it is then that he has really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like.

To purport significant meaning and attachment over decisions and wants is to go as far as to deny what life should be truly like: as it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi1h_RwdVDc

Day 2, 8th nap... Starting to feel effects...

of?

Feeling fuzzy in the head yet? Or just generally confused?

My mind is drifting to nonsensical blurbs akin to a salad. I only observe it. This shall pass... It has to pass.

It will pass. Pass OUT!  ;D

Just you watch as I overcome this mere fatigue. It's nothing but an illusion to me. It has no say in my actions. I shall adapt.

I did this for a few weeks last year.

But I stopped it because there is no suitable alarm clock for this using the computer is annoying I tried the phone calender with periodic entries but that didn't work either not loud enough.  

I would be willing to give it another try if you know of a convenient solution ;)

Wait until you start slurring your words and bumping into things.

A tiny kitchen timer has worked for me.

My mental state has stabilized. I can now work again! Huzzah!

Hope you enjoy the book. I didn't know that you could read the first chapter of it for free on Amazon.

Those tick, they stop ringing after a few seconds and cannot remind me when it is time to take a nap.

Ideally there would be something which automatically adjusts the length of the nap if I postpone one, I have a device which could be programmed to do this but I can't find it atm.  ???

Heh, I just remember to nap every 4 hours and one ring is enough for me. I think you need a smartphone.

A smartphone with a Nap APP, that is.

Google Calendar and iCalendar has the functions he is calling for built-in.

I wrote a script that knows my weekly schedule and beeps the internal speaker of my computer at various frequencies. It could also be used for things like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_8cmG5M4-DU

Day 2, Ninth Nap

I have a script that opens this page at a pre-set time: http://onlineclock.net/alarm.html
The script is a bit crude, but simple.


(Actually my script is slightly more elaborate, and interfaces with a serial port to flash my room light on and off. But you probably don't have that setup anyway.)

Sleep (or how to hack your brain) + Dustin Curtis - http://www.dustincurtis.com/sleep.html

This whole project is quite fascinating for me, because I hit snooze for an hour each morning, and sleep for about 12 hours on weekends. I like to sleep too much.

i work from 12-16 hours a day. I seem to need more sleep than my coworkers and it could cost me my job if we were to be really busy for a sustained enough period. So i'm going to look into this, to train my mind to REM more quickly.

I suggest starting much less extreme than this and building it into your lifestyle. Nightshift understamd that an hour sleep at lunchbreak makes all the difference. If you can then eat on the job you're ok. Shift work may help to do more with it. In terms of training perhaps a 2 week holiday might be enough to do it.

Take it easy when training, tiredness is a killer.

Hey. Atlas. You fail? Waiting for that nap 10 or whatever you're on update. (I bet he totally crashed).

I totally crashed only because my timer failed. I am restarting and doing this again. Video coming soon.

:D Good you took my advice no need for a reset LOL  :D

I think you spoke too soon about the kitchen timer being effective then

You know for kitchen timers you're supposed to twist them all the way, and then twist them back to the time you want? Twisting them all the way charges the spring used for ringing.


…Don't look at me like that! Most people I talked to actually didn't know this!

Yeah, I am now on a digital timer. Also, I finished taking my first nap at 2PM.

I broke schedule when I tried to nap at 2AM and wokeup at 12PM. : \

I didn't know this. No wonder my kitchen timers don't ring much!

Holy crap! Thanks a lot!

Go figure, nobody reads the basic instructions on kitchen timers. They usually tell you to turn it past 10 minutes and then move it from there for this reason.

Alpha, I suggest you find a CVS somewhere nearby (or Wal-Mart if they have one) and use their blood pressure machine. Get a base reading. If you continue this experiment, check it again in a few days to make sure you're not putting your body under too much stress. Even if you feel fine, that may give you a warning before your body gives you a more serious one by itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zTtNpJSRiI

Starting the second attempt.

Also, Rassah, I'll record my blood pressure when I can.

You mentioned caffeine, in you video.
Do not do it, caffeine has a half life of 6 hours so you cannot go to sleep in Uberman if you have caffeine in your system.

IDK if you have researched this but polyphasic sleep is based on the assumption that all you need to be rested are a number of rem cycles.
The most sophisticated way would be to count them with a device (like a sleep mask with infrared sensors or something) but it works also if you sleep for the scheduled time. You have to fall into rem sleep immediately and if you don't the nap will not make you rested.

One way would be that you could have entered rem sleep is that you don't immediately recall lying down (like in regular sleep) or the way to tell for certain is if you had dreams. Dreams and polyphasic sleep go well together and in the time I established my schedule I had extremely vivid dreams to the point of being Lucid Dreams. At the height of the experiment I had a dream every cycle it was like living a second lifetime, but it gets you detached from "regular people"  pretty quick which is part of the reason I quit.
Take care, done become presumptions once you are there....

Has anybody actually managed to do this for like a year ? I think not.

There are people with a genetic mutation that allows them to function just fine on like, 3-4 hours of sleep. I'll try and find some more information on it. I sure wish I had it...

There is more than that, the basis of assumption is that you only have a few rem phases in a regular 8h sleep. The goal with polyphonic sleep is to trick the brain to go into rem immediately because it "knows" you only will get a short time.
The wikipedia article is full of opportunity trolls, alas "skeptic" references which like to confuse the isse. It's about rem phases, not the amount of time you nap studys linked there are made by the US military to get train their troops for such a situation.

Ironically they do not utilize the phenomena of short rem phases.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACPWOq_v7F0

Nap 3 of the the first day. Second attempt.

IIRC I've seen a research where it turned out polyphasic sleepers actually did a very fast cycle through all the phases, instead of doing just REM sleep as they expected. Don't know for sure though.

I did it for half a year. YMMV

I am sure that one day drugs will be developed that replace our need for sleep. Then we will compete with each other for the right to work 16 hour days for half the wage rate.

There's a hormone called Melatonin which (for most people) makes you feel sleepy and makes you sleep deeper, which means you need less sleep. Something in the order of 7 hours instead of 8. It's freely available in the US. In Europe the dosage you can get over the counter is restricted in some countries.

You should really just sleep like a normal human being instead of trying to fuck up your body because the internet told you it would make you an "uberman".

+1

It's just what people do who have so much time on their hands to avoid actual work.

I guess he fell asleep again...

No he was just resting his eyes.  Unremorsefully. 

Makes me groggy in the mornings, actually.

Yes, passing out wherever you are, whatever you're doing, six times a day is a definite improvement.  Unless you have a job, responsibilities, or a desire to live past 30.

Wait, you're the guy who argues that we'd have a safe and just society if government was eliminated and every man, woman, and child had an arsenal of weapons to threaten each other with, right?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that doing new things and discovering new ideas can backfire if you're unable to tell which ones are completely retarded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zqma4GtQybk

This is the start of the third attempt...

"Strenuous".

Btw, real men don't need alarms.

I wake up 5 minutes before my alarm goes off everyday.

Can you tell me more about it? I'm curious about this stuff.

Take less of it. I sometimes take as little as 0.75 mg.

I don't know much more than wikipedia could tell you, medically, but I can tell you some people think it's total bunk, others say it works great.

I found it to be a nice "motivator," i.e. it's worthless if you want to stay up anyway, because you don't feel "drowsy" the way doxylamine and diphenhydramine make you feel when you first take them, so you can push right through it. It just makes it easier to get started sleeping when I'm ready, for me. It also reminds me that I want to be sleeping, and not up doing something else, because I took it. But a sugar pill would probably serve the same purpose in that case.


I might try this, but I need something to really push me in the right direction, and even 3mg tabs of melatonin doesn't quite get me where I need to be to get started into sleep mode, and still leaves me groggy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbG2oeydUG0

Third attempt, day 1, nap 2....

Surprising, you actually look pretty sharp in this one, even thought you say you're tired.

Just out of curiosity, what are you trying to get out of this? Is it just an experiment to see how it works?

The value is science and me having more hours to live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt7b3vS5rb0

First Day, Nap 3... Third attempt...

At night you're either meditating, reading or programming? Ouch! Try doing things that require you to move, or some active engagement besides purely mental. Either physical activities, or gaming.

I guess I could take a walk down the street with my dog every once in awhile. Thanks... you're right.

How are you on your third attempt, yet none of them have lasted longer than the amount of time a normal teenager could stay awake with no naps at all?

The answer to this is obvious: A normal teenager would not try to take 20 minute naps inbetween, in an attempt to reboot his pattern into something sustainable. But I suspect you weren't looking for an answer, but rather an attempt at being sarcastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kh5ZI1MxzEo

Nap 4...

No, I described exactly what happens in polyphasic sleep when it's done "properly".  You shut down every four hours.  If you try to deviate from this, you pass out.  Doesn't matter if you're in line at Wendy's or driving down the interstate.  You've been robbing your body of real rest for days (weeks?) and it has serious consequences.

I don't feel like arguing with people who try to enforce their opinion on others. So I'll just say I support JohnDoe's posts, and am curious to see how alpha will do.

Missed the update on nap 5-6. Bet he fell asleep again.

I know I'll be loading up on tryptophan today. I'll definitely need a nap.

Update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aSDRlw8MPcQ

Uhm, I don't think this gradual thing will work… but feel free to try.

Out of everyone reading this who has actually made any alternate sleep schedule work for over a month?

Anyone?

Me.

Good luck with this but I don't think you will get very far. Even sleeping 5 hours a night is too little for some.

Since I have started to work on day/night 12 hours long shifts, I feel great and fresh all night but sleepy and sick at day.
When I have free week, My bio-rhythm is scheduled vampire-like naturally.
2 years.

Does it count?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt0DFvov8O0

The next step...

And....?

"my father is genetically..."

mutated?


"he has been able to sleep only 6 hours for a good portion of his life"

Hot damn! He's only slept 6 hours in his lifetime? Put him on youtube instead of you.

Interesting though that those with mood disorders (depression, specifically) actually spend more time in REM sleep than do those without mental illness.  Even more interesting is that studies were done where they woke people up during different stages of sleep to record their dreams, and REM sleep was significantly correlated with more nightmares than earlier stages.

Seriously? How did they test such a thing lol


Somehow that's not surprising. The deeper in your subconscious mind you go, the less in control you are.

They tested through EEG.  Different stages of sleep are marked by different electrical wave signatures (e.g. delta waves).  It's as simple as timing how long a sleeping individual's brain emits each kind of wave signature.

Fascinating stuff.

I spent several months in a monastery. We'd eat one meal a day, alternate between sitting and walking meditation, eventually about two hours, up to ten times each. At the end of each lunar month we'd engage in 'determination' which consisted of no sleep for four days. Aside from believing there were multiple entities in my solitary cell, I generally remained sane and healthy.

In my most productive projects, I go through arbitrary work-crash cycles, perhaps 36 hours awake, who knows how long asleep. Though, I can't imagine it working on a schedule. I failed a semester of University trying to sleep less than four hours each night and couldn't separate my own thoughts from the world around me. Stress and lack of sleep are a hellish combination. Isn't that a well documented torture: sleep deprivation through forced standing, flashing lights, and loud dissonant music, until submission?

But trying to sleep 4 hours a night and then failing does not mean that something like uberman can't work. Of course, it's notoriously hard to prove a negative, but still…

On an unrelated note, this is mightily interesting:

Less interesting, considering REM is significantly correlated with more dreams in general .

I wasn't trying to negate it. We're capable of much and we know very little.

A few years back, I had a vegetarian roommate who was a boxing coach and ultimate fighter. He killed any misconceptions I had about the diet. My capoeira had never been better than during the few years I was on a high nutrition vegetarian diet (before moving to the Arctic); I was lighter, faster, slept less, fucked longer, more energy and mental focus than a teen.

Atlas, you mentioned studies proving that meditation was a supplement/replacement for sleep. I suspected that's true, but I'm curious if you have reference sources?

The Burmese Theravada work I was doing assumes that sloth is one of five mental hindrances to be observed, understood, and defeated. I'd used that numerous times since, for example separating the observer from the drunk guy in my body. :) But during retreats I've wondered if the reduced sleep is attributed to less physical work and worries, meditation restoring vitality, or if the whole system is just designed to make practitioner crazy and susceptible to persuasion/transformation.

BTCurious, that link reminds me of recent research that suggests a huge number of people previously considered vegetative actually have mental clarity. They didn't communicate with their eyes, but with different regions of the brain. They were asked to imagine, for example, playing tennis if the answer to a question was false, and asked to imagine following a map or rotating three dimensional objects if the answer was positive. Because these thoughts activate very different regions of the brain, the researchers were able to scan their answers in real time. I'll find a link, so we'll be prepared if Atlas goes comatose (http://www.economist.com/node/16374508?story_id=16374508) on us.

I almost killed myself in a lucid dream.

To this day, I honestly and fully believe that I would have also died in real life.

Ooh, interesting. Thanks for the link!

If I jump off a building in a lucid dream, and then fly away, then I will do the same in real life.

You got any more information on this diet, by the way?

Actually, that was what I was going to do, sort of.

Quick back story -- I had only had one lucid dream prior to this one when I was around 11 or 12.  I became lucid, wanted to fly, flew for 15 seconds or so, then woke up when it got overwhelming.

This 2nd time, I was about 23, and when I became lucid, I wanted to conduct a series of tests (I actually tried calling my real-life friend from my dream cellular phone).  In the lucid dream, I was standing on top of these 50 foot bluffs overlooking the beach/ocean in Santa Barbara, CA where I had attended college for a few years.  Being conscious and knowing I was lucid, I thought to myself that I wanted to run to the edge of the bluffs, jump off, and fly.  But, when I ran toward the edge, an extreme sense of doubt stopped me.  At that moment, because the dream felt as real as real life, I knew that if I jumped off I would fall.  I still believe that because of my doubt of being able to fly, I would have fallen and killed myself.

I don't recommend it recreationally, but if you have the (mis)fortune to be treated with Lariam (Mefloquine), you'll likely have lucid dreams ever single night of its month half-life, as well as open-eye 'lucid' hallucinations during the day... among other less pleasurable complications.

Nice I went to SBCC for awhile.  For a community college they have an amazing campus and really solid CS program.

All the quinine derivatives give you absolutely insane, sometimes lucid, dreams. I used to look forward to taking my malaria medication for the two or three days of dream-pandemonium.

I lucid dream just about every time i dream, It's awsome being able to bend the world to my will! Half those times I'm conscious of my sleeping body laying there like being in bed.... like being in 2 places at once.

I think you mean that you lucid dream unremorsefully. Dream humility is for slaves and pussies...the same poons that can't make women orgasm with their gaze.

Found this... might be interested:

http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm




His co-workers noted that Edison actually slept far more than he would like to admit. Clearly, he would carry sleeping little as a badge of honor. He catnapped a lot, and his nap cots have been preserved to this day in Edison museums. By no means could I though find any credible evidence that Edison's napping complied to any regiment other than "nap when sleepy", which usually turns out to match a biphasic pattern. The most reliable information I could find about Edison's sleep was his own diary kept only for a short time while approaching the age of forty. From this diary we can learn a lot about his sleeping habits. He seemed rather obsessed with getting a good night sleep as his day would often start with notes on the quality of sleep. The better he slept the happier he seemed. That's quite the opposite of what polyphasic proponents claim. Instead of maximizing waking hours, Edison would rather maximize the hours in which he could use his well refreshed mind. And that's exactly what seems most rational from the point of view of physiology of sleep, mental hygiene, and productivity.

What's the deal with this? And then you somehow ended up in Greenland of all places? That shit sounds way more interesting than Atlas' daily failure (but in a good way).

I do rape, pillage, and plunder in those dreams sometimes..... i'm a bad man in my lucid dreams..... i won't even make an excuse for it; i'm just a bad man in dream world

(Greenland's an incredibly meditative place)


Atlas is only 17. If he can focus his mania, doesn't get locked up in a hospital, drops a tab of acid, then I expect he'll lead a life of beauty.

Appamāda!

No kidding.

Atlas, you totally bailed again. Why do we even bother giving you credit when you keep letting us down? You said you were going to try a new schedule, but you haven't updated anything. Such a quitter.

Maybe he's hibernating.

Hibernation would be a new schedule.

lol

Now there's an intelligent response.

I read a news article recently which said that some people are genetically required to sleep more than others :(
How inefficient....

Let's kill them. They are valued less.