What’s In Peter’s Head

YOU GET SO GROGGY IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FUNCTION!!!

Three times this week, my daytime circustances have prevented me from taking enough naps (just 1 or 2 each of those days) between my core daytime hours of 7am to 10pm. Not having napped during the day, I didn’t wake up from my nighttime 30 minutes naps and basically ended up sleeping a normal night’s sleep, say 11pm-7am. That must have been refreshing, right?

WRONG!

This is the third of those three days following a full night sleep. It is also on pace to be one of the worst days I’ve had at work since I started doing polyphasic sleep again. Its only competitors are the 4 or 5 other days where I slept through the night and then sleepwalked through the next day.

Perhaps I was just too tired from the days I did get by on only naps, and this is just a carryover from that sleep deprivation? Good idea, but I doubt it’s true. The reason I decided to bite the bullet and go back to polyphasic sleep despite the challenges was that I wasn’t feeling rested despite getting a full night’s sleep! Normal sleep wasn’t cutting it for me, plus I didn’t have nearly enough time to do all the things I wanted, so I decided to try polyphasic sleep again. And not only did I get more time to pursue my interests, I was more alert and better rested during the day than before I started! So when people ask me “How alert can you be if you only sleep a couple hours a day?”, I tell them I’m a heck of a lot more alert than when I was sleeping 7-8 hours a day.

Polyphasic sleep has made my job, my hobbies, my startup, and (sort of) my family better, but everyone thinks it’s so crazy that I feel like I have to sneak around doing it. I mean honestly, the space under my desk is huge and would be a great place to sleep, but I bundle up and go sleep in my car so I don’t get in trouble or get funny looks.

More sleep is not better. Better sleep is better!

EDIT: OK, I’ve been up for a few hours, then took a nap, and now I’m a lot less grumpy.