Uberman sleep without blears

The relatively low success rate for Uberman attempts has convinced me that somebody needs to crack the problem of making it easier to get into. This is a request for comments on a proposed gradual approach.

Summary

1. Analyze your life, and figure out a nap schedule that will work
2. Align your monophasic schedule with the planned polyphasic schedule
3. Start scheduled nap activities, even if they don't result in naps
4. Cut over to polyphasic with a 4-hour core sleep period
5. Try a one-night Uberman push
6. Get core sleep the next night
7. Repeat steps 5-6 for a while, and assess
8. Uberman "Double-push" if all else fails

In more detail:

1. Analyze your life, and figure out a nap schedule that will work

This includes looking at meals - no heavy ones any later than an hour before a nap - and exercise sessions - no heavy sessions any earlier than, say, a half-hour before a nap. If you're in school, this means looking at your class schedule, and maybe seeing if you can move to another hour for the same subject. If you're a parent, well, consider the Power of Prayer? (Ditto for jobs involving travel.)

For your work schedule, this means seeking both time and space for uninterrupted naps. That "space" might end up being the back seat of your car in a shaded part of the parking lot. The time has to be negotiated with your boss, using such arguments as "I'll get here an hour earlier every day, but leave around the same time", leavened with heavy doses of authoritative-sounding reports about the benefits of daytime napping for worker productivity. Bonus points if you literally catch your boss napping during this time.

2. Align your monophasic schedule with the planned polyphasic schedule

Getting polyphasic is hard enough without adding "same-time-zone jet lag" on top of it. If the polyphasic schedule that works for you means getting 4 hours of core sleep and getting up at 6 AM, and your monophasic schedule currently has you rising at 8 AM, start shifting your 7-8 hours of monophasic to that 6 AM wakeup time, maybe in 20-30 minute increments per day. Get there and let it stabilize for a few days.

3. Start scheduled nap activities, even if they don't result in naps

Take the time to lie down with an alarm, sleep mask, earplugs, etc., in your planned nap locations. You don't have to nap, and shouldn't feel "robbed" or ashamed if you don't. Use it as a meditation practice session or to mull some decision, if sleep won't come. Some of these attempts to nap will be successful even on your monophasic sleep schedule.

4. Cut over to polyphasic with a 4-hour core sleep period

When you're getting an average of 2 naps or more per day with some regularity, just stay up until the scheduled start of a 4-hour core period. You'll probably be a bit foggy when you get up at your regular time, but you'll probably increase your nap success rate on that day -- maybe 3-4 naps. Keep at it, and keep a log of your nap successes, fine-tuning your polyphasic schedule over a period of a week or so. If there are nap periods that just don't work, don't use that as an excuse to avoid nap attempts on the schedule you've devised. Be disciplined. If you have discovered that your scheduled 10 PM nap just won't come, and there's a TV program on at that hour that you like a lot, learn to program your VCR, and watch it later.

5. Try a one-night Uberman push

Perhaps around a brightening lunar phase, cut your core sleep period to a short nap. Don't knock yourself out for the remaining 3.5 hours until your next scheduled nap. Go out for a slow, pleasant stroll at night, with headphones on, playing your favorite music. It's summertime -- tell any cops cruising by that you just can't sleep, and it's a nice night, keep an eye out for muggers and walk only in brightly-lit areas if you live in an area with a crime problem, and otherwise enjoy it as much as possible.

6. Get core sleep the next night

Don't try to go to full Uberman from 4-hour-core polyphasic. Get some core sleep.

7. Repeat steps 5-6 for a while, and assess

See how alternating 4-hour polyphasic with nights without a core feels to you. If you start waking up after 4-hour-core attempts, maybe your body is telling you that you've crossed the Uberman threshold. Go to DONE.

8. Uberman "Double-push" if all else fails

However, if you feel loggy after each 4-hour core on the alternating schedule, try a TWO-day Uberman "double push" -- 48 hours with no core sleep, just Uberman naps, forcing yourself up when necessary -- and see if you start waking up spontaneously after that. If this still doesn't work, maybe you should just settle for polyphasic, if it's not too much schedule hassle, or maybe you should just go back to monophasic/biphasic and hope you haven't saddled yourself with a chronic sleep disorder.


This program is about as gradual as I can imagine without getting absurd. I'm going to try it. Gradualism may be the enemy of Uberman, I don't know. Maybe it's just necessarily a boot-camp gauntlet. But it sure seems worth figuring out a gentler path, if one can be found.