The Uberman Addiction

It's really weird, since writing my last article, the idea of the Uberman schedule has really taken hold, to the point that a few of my friends tried to do it.  Only one succeeded.  Even I planned to do it, but decided I would wait until I wouldn't have as much to lose from sleep depravation.  Below is the blog I wrote in preparation about a week ago:

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I suppose I should put a little background info up here so that people know exactly what they can improve off our method or what we did right, depending on the outcome.  As far as I know, my little group of three is the youngest to seriously attempt the Uberman schedule (assuming we do it).  We are all Juniors in high school, and the vast majority of Ubermen are in college or above.  So it'll be interesting to see how this works.  I can't speak for the others, but I hate sleep.  I currently get around 6 hours of sleep a night.  I wake up a little before 6 every morning for school and go to bed around midnight.  Not too efficient, and not too healthy.  Definitely not getting enough REMs.  In addition, I swim competitively everyday for 1.5 to 2.5 hours a day, depending on the day and excluding Sundays.  So that's it, no job at the moment, although I'm planning to start applying soon, and nothing else remarkable to take up my days except hobbies.

In addition, right now is possibly the best time to start the cycle.  We've all finished our AP classes, so we really have nothing to do all day anyway, so we might as well experiment with expanding our waking day.  Several teachers have expressed support, so that shouldn't be a problem, although there will be one section during the day where I will be forced to spend nearly 5 hours awake.  Most successful Ubermen have reported being able to remain awake for up to 7 hours, but that's usually after a few weeks.  We'll see how that goes.

So now I suppose I should throw up my sleep schedule as it is now.  I have everything in military time because keeping track of A.M. and P.M. when there really is no 'night' is going to be rough.  So here it is:

Free >> 2400 - 300 >> 3 hours
Post-Midnight Nap >> 300 - 330 >> 30 minutes
Free >> 330 - 640 >> 3 hours 10 minutes
Pre-School Nap >> 640 - 710 >> 30 minutes
School >> 710 - 1205 >> 4 hours 55 minutes
Lunch Nap >> 1205 - 1245 >> 40 minutes
School & Free >> 1245 - 1530 >> 2 hours 45 minutes
Pre-Swim Nap >> 1530 - 1600 >> 30 minutes
Swim >> 1600 - 1930 >> 3 hours 30 minutes
Post-Swim Nap >> 1930 - 2000 >> 30 minutes
Free >> 2000 - 2330 >> 3 hours 30 minutes
Midnight Nap >> 2330 - 2400 >> 30 minutes

Totals: 3 hours 10 minutes sleep ; 20 hours 50 minutes
That's a net gain of around 3 hours per night, or 21 hours a week.  That's more than a full waking day!  And when I limit it down to 20 minutes per nap, I'll only be sleeping 2 hours a night, with a net gain of 4 hours a day or 28 hours a week.  Pretty good, eh?

So obviously my schedule is not true Uberman.  But it should work, seeing as I've surrounded the hardest parts of my day with more frequent naps.  You might also note that my naps are 30 minutes long, with the exception of the Lunch Nap, which is 40 minutes.  This is mainly for the beginning so that I can ensure that I have enough time to fall asleep.  I don't actually plan on spending all 30 minutes sleeping, but I'm giving myself that gray area to get the ball rolling before I tighten things up.  Uberman isn't exactly an art, and very little is actually known about the schedule, so we'll see how this goes.

Also, I've researched just about everything I can about the art of the Uberman and have come up with a few things that should help me to adjust faster/ make this work.  Below is my personal "Uberman Creed," an attempt to ensure victory.

THE UBERMAN CREED

• If I feel any serious effects from the sleep deprivation (i.e. throwing up, passing out, inability to wake up, etc.), I will stop.
• If, after 10 days, I do not recognize any positive changes, I will stop.
• If I need to I will take an extra nap for no more than 20 minutes.  (This won't provide me with any REM sleep, but I've heard some NREMs can help the transition a bit.)
• I will consume at least 7 servings of fruit and vegetables a day (especially juice blends).
• I will attempt to consume around 100 grams of protein a day.
• I will limit my consumption of fatty foods as much as possible.
• I will limit my consumption of caffeine as much as possible. 
• I will drink at least 75 ounces of water a day.
• I will stay busy.

That last one is crucial.  From what I've read, most of the people that fail fail because they were either not busy enough or focused too much on the future instead of simply living for the present.  I plan to take cognizance tests everyday in math and memorization in hopes of either proving or disproving the belief that cognizance is unchanged from the practical sleep schedule to the Uberman.  We'll see, but I want to make sure that it isn't delusion that convinces me.  I will also be asking my friends and family for their input.  I'm not sure if I'll be adopting this schedule for got or not yet, but I want to make sure that everything I do is documented so that I know for sure what the results are and others can base their attempts off of mine.

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It seems obvious to me now that I was writing off of the high that was created from the excitement of having so much extra time.  I'm looking at things a bit more practically now, and I now understand what a commitment this cycle is.  It really is dangerous if you're not careful, both to yourself and others.