Polyphasic Day 2

So the past 24 hours have been a pretty big mix of ups and downs. To start things off, last night went decently until my 6:40 nap. At about 4:00 I became so tired that I started dozing off and got up to walk around and must have walked around the kitchen table for 50 minutes waiting for my next nap to come; nothing I could do would keep me focussed or awake. Finally my 6:40 nap came and it was fairly decent; I slept a little and then I dreamed a little bit as well. When I woke up it took me over an hour for the fog to actually lift and for me to be able to focus but it quickly came back. I must have dozed off a dozen times this morning in my 7-10:40 awake time. I'm sure the fact that my parents refuse to turn the heater on when the house is like 40' didn't help much either. I even dozed off while holding a portable heater in my lap this morning. My mom then came in and started yelling at me when that happened and how stupid this was, how it's unhealthy, I should go to bed, etc.

By 9:00am I was too tired and had run out of stuff to do so I decided the best thing to do would be to add an emergency nap. I figure the real goal here is to make my body go into REM sleep instantly so it doesn't exactly matter when I take the naps, that is secondary as long as they are 20 minutes each time. Adding an extra nap looked safer than risking oversleeping later at 10:40 so I laid down for another 20 minute nap and woke up quite refreshed at 9:30. The problem with this was that it was very close to my next scheduled nap and by the time 10:40 rolled around I was not very tired but managed to sleep a little bit anyway. My uncle came by around 11 and that make staying awake easier but the freezing cold house made me not want to move very much so I almost fell asleep while he was still here.

The next nap was much more productive, actually felt much longer than it was and after that I was quite awake. I then went off to church and right before the service started I found a lone couch to sleep on. That nap was very rejuvenating as well and I got up instantly but towards the end of the service I started to doze off. I then went to diner with some friends and came back to my house a half an hour late for my 10:40 nap so I went and took it and woke up very refreshed again.

Being around people earlier certainly helped pass the time easier and made me focus less on how tired I was. Right now I feel very alert and awake but I can feel the fatigue coming on when I slow down for a second or just relax. I am not sure that the tough part is exactly behind me yet, but the fact that I am starting to dream just a little bit and am very alert right now is promising. A friend also dropped off his old PS1 here at my house and that will give me something to do later. It should help me a lot because sitting in one spot at a computer desk all night long isn't healthy nor does it help me stay awake. Oh also, I have noticed that skittles help keep me awake. I think it is the fact that I get a small sugar rush and there is no long-lasting effect like with caffeine. Every time I started dozing off I popped in some skittles and bam! I perked up again. If I have a hard time waking up after this next nap I'm going down to wal-mart and stocking up.

See yall tomorrow...whenever that is,

-Graham