cycle #0006

Sleep/Wake: ALRIGHT! I had a dream - AND remember it! Woke up automatically after 18min. Tried to get in a little more REM since I still had 12 more min, but actually with the shorter "sleep" mp3 I didn't adjust for the time, and so the alarm went off 6 min early. No biggie. At least I got one dream in. :) Eyes still feel tired, but I don't feel so drawn back to bed like the last cycle.

Exercise: (06:30) Feel good enough to kick right in to some jumping jacks and push-ups and sit-ups... just 5 min to get the blood pumping... ah.. and SO much more awake after that too.

Food: (06:40) Start off cycle with slice of 12 grain bread, some grapes, baby carrots, and grapefruit juice

Activities:

Blog (see "Extra notes" below)

Clean house (some)

Fixed the alarm timer

Took care of some biz email

UPDATE (08:45): Seems to be a common thing that after I wake up, the first 1.5 hours goes pretty well, but that last hour is just a downward spiral. I can function adequately, but it's like being up 3 hours past your normal bedtime. Gonna take another nap here at 09:00, and then see if I can do 4 hours apart during the day. See you in a few.


Extra notes:

Since I feel pretty good right now let me give a little more data on the experiment. For the last several cycles I've been doing here at home, I'm sleeping in my bed with the light on. I've read having the light might help in waking up, and also with Lucid Dreams - both which are very good. :) During this adjustment phase I don't mind taking naps every 3 hours instead of every 4. The idea is to give my body another chance to try and get to REM in 30 minutes. Besides, even if I DID continue it... that means I'd be sleeping 4 hours a day, rather than my normal 9, so STILL a huge improvement!

I currently have three alarms set up (1) Laptop which plays a soft, phased white noise sound for 6 min.. kinda sounds like shoreline waves... hopefully helps me fall asleep faster. Then silence for 24 minutes, then a very annoying series of sounds. being pumped through a guitar/bass amp with an 18" speaker cone, so lots of power if i need it, but I've had no problem waking up with it set to output level 3. (2) A minute after that my cell phone alarm goes off, this should catch me in case the power goes out (doubtful), and also is good for away-from-home situations. (3) A nightstand digital clock/alarm goes off a minute after that, but I'm nt sure I'd wake up for that if I sleep through the first two. But could be good in case the laptop volume gets turned down for some reason, and the cell phone fails as well. Over-sleeping seems to be the big spoiler, so hopefully I have it well taken care of.