Sleep Log Week 1

To understand this blog, you really need to read the previous one first: Sleep Experiment.

Everything I read indicated the transition into polyphasic sleep is not enjoyable or easy. You have to essentially sleep deprive yourself until your body recognizes that you're still getting adequate sleep, just at a different rhythm. I decided to make this leap during spring break when there would be far fewer things going on, but started the transition even before the break by getting in the habit of taking daily naps. I'm not sure why nappers are thought to be lazy, but I figured if I was doing this I couldn't let myself be concerned with what others think. I found a couple couches at school, brought a pillow to campus, and began taking a nap or two a few weeks ago.

During finals week I pushed myself farther by staying up later and only getting ~5 hours of sleep at night and relying more on my naps to get through the day. I was pleasantly surprised how well I felt, and found midnight-2 A.M. to be a very productive period. I considered just staying with that schedule, but curiosity really did kill the cat.

Thursday I gave my last review session, had no more tests to take myself, and made the plunge with my wife's modest support. This is now my 4th night, and I'd have to conclude the experiment is working! My weekend sleep hours looked about like this:

Saturday: 3-3:30 am, 6-6:45 a.m., 8-8:45 am, 11-11:30 am, 5:45-6:30 pm, 10:30-11:45 pm
Sunday: 3-3:30 am, 6-6:30 am, 8-8:45 am, 1-1:30 pm, 4-5:30pm, 11-11:45 pm
Monday: 2-2:30 am

It's now 4 am on Monday, and I'll be going down for another nap in a little bit. Crazy! As you can see, I haven't been exact at the timing between naps and have occasionally over slept. Sunday night in particular I hit a wall while playing games at a friends due to the large gap between naps. The 11 pm nap wasn't great, but I'm keeping with the program. I physically feel a lot better when I keep the schedule regular, but it seems there is some flexibility in the exact timing of the naps. My 1pm nap on Sunday afternoon was one of the best I've had: I woke completely refreshed and felt as if I'd been sleeping a long time. Right now I'll admit my head is a bit foggy and I'm not doing great. My worst time of day is the 6-10 am block, but even that will hopefully become productive and enjoyable time soon.

Sleep Experiment

What would you do with an extra 30+ hours each week? Have you ever wondered why we need so much sleep and wished you could do so much more with less sleep? In the past I've tried getting by on less than 7-8 hours of sleep at night, but never found it sustainable. Sure there were crazy all-nighters during finals week, but these were indefinitely followed by crashes and 10+ hours of sleep. I think I finally found a plausible alternative, and am in the midst of a freakin' crazy experiment.

I'm not doing anything illegal. In fact, no outside substance is involved at all. The experiment involves training my body to immediately go into REM sleep (considered the most important of the 5 sleep phases) and bypass the other phases. This results in drastically shorter but more frequent sleep periods. How drastic? I'm currently sleeping for 30 minutes every 4 hours, or about 3 hours of total sleep in a 24 hour period.

I didn't come up with this on my own, but learned of it from a friend here in Chicago. Scientifically it's called polyphasic sleep and this particular version is know as the Uberman Sleep Schedule (USS). Check out this blog for a detailed log of one man's experiment. In a similar spirit, and at my wife's request, I'm going to track my own experience here.

Why am I doing this? Partly because it sounds like a fun experiment. Can I really survive on only 3 hours of daily sleep? How functional will I be? The main reason though is school. My school/personal/family balance has shortchanged the school part lately, and I'd really like to finish my degree on time and get a job sooner rather than later. I anticipate doing a lot of studying, academic reading and research, and data analysis with this extra time.

JJ's 3rd Quarter

If JJ were a company, he'd now be heading into the 4th quarter of his fiscal year. That's how a nerdy accountant sees it anyway. So how was JJ's 3rd quarter performance? Months 7-9 were wonderful, with so many new skills:

• Crawling
• Three teeth
• Pulling himself up on EVERYTHING
• Walking along couches, cabinets, and while holding onto fingers
• Transitioning from 3 naps to 2
• Adding a few pounds a few inches: now 21 pounds (55th percentile) and 30 inches (97th percentile)
• Getting his first toothbrush
• Moving into lots of fun solids (bananas, pretzels, cheerios, avocado, rice cakes, sliced meats, etc.)
• Emerging personality--he has quite the personality!
• Excellent bathtub splashing skills
• Lowering his crib...
• First haircut
  

We love our little Munch' so much. I love hearing him just babble in the mornings, and that excited look he gets when we come in to get him from his crib. There are so many precious moments that we just don't want to forget.

I love you so...

I love you being NICE,
and when you're CRANKY, too.
I love you without liking the NAUGHTY things you do.
My 'love you' DOESN'T change
like the temper of the days.
It's a CERTAIN kind of thing
in many DIFFERENT ways.

I CAN'T IMAGINE life
before you came along...
me there singing senseless,
no MEANING to my song.

Call it MEANT TO BE
or simply blessed fate,
you fill my heart WITH LOVE...
and for THAT I celebrate.

"I LOVE YOU"
"HOW MUCH?"
"SO MUCH."
"HOW MUCH IS SO?"
"WAY, WAY MORE than you know."

Boo Dawg...

So I ran into this clip as I was trying to organize my photos and I thought I would show off my mad skills. This was when Josh and I were dating and he took me to some trampoline place. Anyway, be prepared to be awed by my amazingness.

Merry Christmas from the Madsen's

JJ at 7 months

Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,

This year was full of blessings for our growing family. On May 12, Barbie delivered the perfect son and our lives have forever changed. There were some slight complications with his lungs, so our little boy spent a week in the NICU to make sure everything was fine. We found naming him so difficult! The nurses nicknamed him Trouble, and after a week we settled on Joshua Joseph Madsen. We love our little JJ so much!

Barbie spent nearly half the year pregnant, and kept herself busy with sewing projects and mother groups when she wasn’t battling kidney stones. This fall she enrolled in a few classes at a local college right in the heart of downtown Chicago, steadily pursuing the goal of a bachelor’s degree. She loves it! She has also delved herself into reading, through a local book club group, which has opened her interests into whole new genres. But more than anything she has enjoyed caring for and teaching our new son. She’s a wonderful wife, mother, student, and friend, and I’m so proud of her.

Josh passed his much anticipated core examination, putting him one step closer to a Ph.D. He loves his studies and can’t understand why everyone wouldn’t want a Ph.D. in accounting. He’s finished with most of his course work now, and was quite busy this fall working with a professor on a research paper (something about credit ratings…). The university sent him to Singapore and London as a teacher’s assistant, and we appreciate the help of family and friends who came to help Barbie. Josh was called to serve as the Young Men’s President in our church unit, and has thoroughly enjoyed working with the local youth in ways he never would have expected.

JJ is changing every day and learning so much. He’s growing quickly (already 20 lbs.!) and everyone comments on his cute smile and blue eyes. In November his doctor prescribed a correctional helmet to address some acute flatness on his head, and he’s handled the transition perfectly. He is rolling all over the place and has started getting into everything. We still think he’s the cutest baby in the world.

We’ve had a lot of fun as a family this year. We turned spring break into a “baby honeymoon” and spent a week on the road visiting friends and church history sites. A summer road trip to Utah, Thanksgiving trip to Branson, Missouri, and various activities in Chicago were all wonderful. Mostly though, we’re just grateful to be a family.

We’re grateful to you, our family and many friends, for the influence you have on our lives. We wish each of you a meaningful Christmas as we reflect on the birth of our Savior. We hope you’re year has brought you joy.

Sincerely,

Josh, Barbie, and JJ Madsen

Merry Christmas Barbie