I also had a hard time staying awake last night and I made it till 3 am. I decided to take my core sleep between 3 am and 6 am since the recreation center opens at 6.30 am. I wanted to work out, then have breakfast and then go to work.
When I woke up after 3 hours of sleep, I really had to force myself to get up. I felt tired and just wanted to go back to bed. Of course, I didn't, but got ready for exercising. I biked to the recreation center and as soon as I arrived there, I was feeling great. It felt like I slept the whole night and I was not tired anymore and did not yawn at all. I was able to work out and did not feel weak. Since this was my first workout after half a year, it was clear that my muscles would be sore for at least a day or two.
After more then 1 hour of workout, I went back home and had a healthy breakfast. In general, we decided to eat more healthy food, since the first days or maybe even weeks would be hard for our bodies. We stocked up on vegetables and fruit and also monitored the amount of water we drink per day to make sure we get at least 3 liters.
Starting with my arrival in the office at 9 am the rest of the day just felt amazing. I was awake and alert all day and took my naps at 11 am because I had a meeting at noon, then at 4 pm and at 10 pm. When waking up from a nap, it was really hard to tell if I actually slept. I knew, that I was dreaming and after my first nap I remembered 5 different scenes from my dreams. When I was sleeping monophasically I could only rarely remember what I dreamed. After the nap I felt rested and alert again, even though I wasn't sure if I actually fell asleep. I could concentrate on my work and did not feel sleepy at all.
I noticed one very interesting thing, when I was reading a scientific book in the afternoon. Usually, when I was a little tired it occasionally happened to me that after reading 3 paragraphs for example, I realized that I didn't know what I just read. I had to read the passage again to finally absorb it. Now, I read 3 chapters of the book and did not lose track a single time. I absorbed every sentence, had no problems understanding the subject matter and did not have to read a single line twice. I was really surprised and I am going to further observe this during the next days.
When surfing the internet and reading about sleeping again, I stumbled upon a very interesting thing called "
binaural beats". The electrical activity of our brain can be very different depending on what we are doing or feeling. Each frequency of the so called brainwaves has a state of mind corresponding to it.The following frequency ranges give a short overview (Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats):
| Frequency range | Name | Usually associated with: |
|---|
| > 40 Hz | Gamma waves | Higher mental activity, including perception, problem solving, fear, and consciousness |
| 13–39 Hz | Beta waves | Active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration, arousal, cognition, and or paranoia |
| 7–13 Hz | Alpha waves | Relaxation (while awake), pre-sleep and pre-wake drowsiness |
| 4–7 Hz | Theta waves | Dreams, deep meditation/relaxation, REM sleep |
| < 4 Hz | Delta waves | Deep dreamless sleep, loss of body awareness |
It is possible to stimulate the brainwaves from the outside by sending two different sine waves to the left and right ear, respectively. If these waves have the right frequency difference, the brainwaves will synchronize to this frequency and therefore the brain will be found in the associated state. we found this iPhone app, which is specifically made for power naps:
The app features two different programs, one for the daytime and one for the evening. The daytime program starts with a descending delta wave pattern to induce sleep, followed by a constant delta wave sleep stage. The final stage is a waking sequence that gently introduces higher frequency, ascending beta waves. The evening program lacks the waking sequence and therefore won't be used by us, since we still have to be awake and want to be productive for 5 or 6 more hours after hour evening nap.
From now on, we started napping with headphones on. The difference was huge. I fell asleep after only a few minutes and eventually realized, that I was awake again. I kept my eyes closed and did not get up, since my nap time was not over, yet. After approximately one minute, the brainwave cycle was over and the alarm went off. I got up and I felt just great. The nap felt like a usual 8-hour sleep at night, but with the huge difference, that I did not feel sleepy when waking up. I was already in a state, where I could immediately go back to work and be productive. I was intrigued!
Besides the iPhone app mentioned above, this one might also be of interest:
This app features 25 different brainwave cycles including "Espresso Shot", "Motivation Boost", "Euphoria" and "Deep Sleep". We tried some of them and they really seem to work. For example late at night, I was really struggling again and tried to stay awake until 3.30 am. At 2 am, I used the "Focused and Alert" cycle and was able to focus on my work again.
For the night, I decided to sleep with headphones again to use the Daytime Power Nap cycle and set the duration to 3 hours. I wanted to figure out, if I could tell a difference between sleeping with and without brainwave entrainment.
