Listening to the fat lady

I'd like to think of this as not so much giving up, but reaching what became the logical conclusion of the experiment.

Despite my foolhardy stubborness and resolve, my body has just been fighting against this experiment a little too much for my liking. After my rousing call to arms in the last post, and my certain belief that I would be able to hold strong through the night, I was woken at 7am sitting bolt upright in a lounge in Reception, once again having no recollection of getting there. From my best estimates I must have sat down there a little after 1am and just dropped off to sleep (whilst sitting bolt upright...for six hours).

It doesn't seem to make sense for me to keep pushing it at this point. From what I've read on polyphasic sleeping, the main reason for adaptation not taking place seems to be related to either not sticking to the nap times, or a poor diet. In my case, I have stuck to the times so religiously that at each nap I was sitting with a clock counting down to the minute, and my organic vegetarian diet really couldn't be much better in my opinion. I'd even completely cut out refined sugars before the experiment began, and I never take caffeine anyway.

When I also took into consideration the fact that not one of my oversleeps occured after a nap (that is, sleeping through an alarm), but most of them involved blacking out at some point during a waking phase and waking up in a different place with no memory of getting there, it also seemed that perhaps this wasn't the best thing to be doing to myself.

It's saddening and disappointing to be sure, but I'm happy with my decision to end it here. I realised that I was accomplishing none of what I hoped to - I was virtually unable to read or write due to fatigue, and simply ended up working more hours to stay awake. Part of my goal has been to actually work fewer hours (it's not unusual for me to rack up between twelve to fifteen hours a day here), so to have more waking hours that get devoted solely to work is a bit of a defeat in that sense.

Even more difficult was my huge drop in energy. I've always been quite fit, and during this experiment I went from running and swimming each morning, doing yoga and walking up a mountain each night to one walk a day that rarely stretched to the top of the mountain without rest stops needing to be added. I hate that feeling of fatigue and lethargy, it doesn't suit my mental attitude on any level.

I do know that all of the above would have to be negotiated during the adaptation phase, I just expected that phase to be a lot shorter than it was. I suppose it also didn't help having some really frantic days here that, although I was still able to fit my naps in on time, would have contributed to my overall exhaustion quite a lot.

There are some psychological factors at play too, not least of all the fact I just really miss sleeping next to my girlfriend. Even if she does toss and turn and snore. Aside from that, being someone who has never taken drugs or alcohol, sleep seemed to be the one place I would be able to retreat to in order to deal with any kind of major stress or upset. I've had one of those patches during this experiment, and I noticed a few days later how much it had affected me by not having that space to retreat to. Obviously my brain has its own self help centre that only opens when my consciousness has shut down, and it probably needs that time to operate efficiently.

I will miss the amazingly lucid dreams I was having, although I've just been thinking that I haven't even had any of those over the past week. I don't think I've recalled a single dream since I posted that information about astral traveling, come to think of it.

So, that's it then. Thanks to everyone for the supportive words, and thanks to all the kids on the Trypolyphasic.com forum who gave good advice and support as well. I'll probably keep the blog going, although I may not update it quite daily as I have been. My life isn't really that exciting!

If anyone has any ideas for another crazy experiment they think I might be interested in trying and documenting for posterity, let me know. I'm always up for something fun. I might start working toward an old idea of a "Walk To Wauchope" - a 60km walk along the Oxley Highway that I want to see if I can make in a single day. I probably just need to get a good night's sleep before I set off.