To perform an experiment with myself

Mk

I think I am going to see what happens with my sleeping pattern when I have no schedule. For a week, I am just going to sleep when I am tired, and wake up when I feel like it, making sure to have no motives behind either movements.

It won't be a perfect experiment, I am not going to remove all clocks, or permit the amount of light and what kind in the house. I've stocked up on food, and have absolutely nothing to do for the next week. I will try not to leave the house at all either.

I've been doing this for a few days with a rough schedule of going to bed before 4 am, and sleeping to around noon. The time has been creeping later and later, probably 45 minutes average per night. Waking up time has never been permitted in my life past 2 pm.

Will this trend of creeping hours of wakefullness keep going? I only need about six hours of sleep, but I usually don't wake up before 10 hours is up (without outside assistance).

How should I go about this? Should I keep a log or something? What will be in it? I know I'll record the time I went to bed, and the last time I remember being awake (I look at the clock a lot, and remember the time before I last looked at it, after I wake up).

Mk.

Also, if anyone has access to this paper, could you please send it to me? Thank you. http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=6774542

Rip S. Tide

Good luck!

Pythagorean

You may be ok on 6 hours of sleep, but I think 8 is the standard.

This may be why you're sleeping 10 hours now. You're body is catching up.

My mother (who is a registered nurse) says that it takes a month to catch up on one night of missed sleep, even though you can never really catch up (whatever that means).

Also, if I let go, that's about where my schedule ends up, bedtime at 4am, wake up at Noon. I'm a night owl! But I may skew results, since I induce THC and niccotine regularly.

Mk

Yeah, that's me. 300 or 400, probably don't fall asleep till 430 or 500.

Ha! THC, such a nice name... really there is nothing much damaging about it.

Sorry guys, experiment is called off. Schedule. I'll do it sometime later.

Moonbear

Yep, that makes sense. If you're more or less allowing your sleep cycles "free run" then waking up and falling asleep a little later each day is pretty normal (unless you're over 60 or so, then it can be just as normal to fall asleep and wake up a bit earlier each day).

Pythagorean, generally, it takes about 2 weeks to fully adjust to a major phase shift, meaning more than an hour or two change in sleep schedule, at least for getting your sleeping back to normal (it probably just feels like a month to your mom who is likely speaking more from experience with sleepless nights either from changing nursing shifts or putting up with you as a kid ). And, yes, your "smoke" exposure can shift your schedule by several hours. Then again, so can sitting in front of this bright computer monitor!

I can dig up references to support all this, but not now. It's past my bedtime.