10 Day Sleep LESS Experiment

Day Two, Part 2

2009-01-06T16:38:00.000-05:00

Well, I put on the session and started to listen to it. An the next thing I knew I woke up at 10 o'clock in the morning. When I woke up, I felt exhausted. It was a big ordeal to get out of bed at all. My head felt like it was covered by a blanket and I had the worst case of dry mouth. I had to drink a whole liter of water before I felt any relief at all.

The person that stared back at me from the mirror looked horrible; protruding cheekbones, cracked lips, sunken eyes. I looked like shit. After a long hot shower, I felt well enough to eat and only tired, but not exhausted. After breakfast which included two cups of French press coffee, I felt better. Well, better enough that calling out from work did not seem such a good idea. Hey, I get paid by the shift and I need the money.

I did start to listen to another session, but I felt my self falling asleep. So I decided to go out and do some jogging before work.

Hours Awake: 22

Hours Asleep 5.5

Sessions: 2.5

Overall I feel not too good.

Day Two, Part 1

2009-01-06T03:58:00.005-05:00

Well I did the second session and I think it worked better then the first one. This was session that lasted a full hour with a constant 5 Hz frequency. I do not feel any need for sleep.

I did drink a cup of coffee.

I do notice some physical changes in my face. I have shadows under my eyes and my skin seems to be overly oily. Strange.

Hours Awake: 18 hours

Hours Asleep: 0 hours

Hours of sessions: 2 hours

Overall I am feeling really good.

Day 1, Part Two

2009-01-06T00:55:00.002-05:00

Oh okay, it is not really the first day, it is actually almost 1 am on Tuesday, but since I am still up and feeling good I will tell you about the first day. Well I did take the session at around 3pm today and I really did not think that it did anything for me. I felt, not tired, but sort of sluggish. As I am off from work today, I went out into the cold NYC winter and walked around the block a few times. When I got back to my apartment I was feeling pretty good.

After spending the rest of the afternoon tending to some work related stuff, I went out for dinner and a few drinks with friends from work. I got back to my apartment about an hour ago and I still feel pretty good. I will take another session after posting this and see how long i can stay up tonight. I work at 4pm tomorrow so, if I am really tired I can still manage some sleep.

I am wondering if it is better to wait until I am sleepy to do the sessions or to make sure I do them when I am not too tired. My proposed 2 sessions a day 12 hours apart, was not followed on the first day. I will see if I have to adjust it...

Hours Awake: 15

Hours Asleep: 0

Hours of Sessions: 1

Overall, I am feeling pretty good.

First Day, Part 1

2009-01-05T11:21:00.002-05:00

Well, today is the the first day of my little sleep experiment.

I woke up at 10am, after sleeping a good 9 hours. I feel good and cant wait to listen to my first 60 minute session. The problem for the next ten days is going to be when I will listen to the sessions. I think I should listen when I am starting to become drowsy. As I am wide awake currently, I think I will take the first session around 3pm when I have noticed a slight drop in my energy levels.

Wish me luck.

Total hours up: 1.5 hours

Sleep time: 0

Sessions: 0

Binaural Beats Generator

2009-01-04T02:30:00.001-05:00

In order to create my own programs for this experiment I tested a number of binaural beat generators and have chosen Entrainment developed by Gandreas Software. This little beauty of a program allows the creation of binaural beats along with monaural beats, isochronic tones, white noise, pink noise, brown noise, "synthetic surf"as well as allowing the user to creating a very useful panning effect.

In additional to allowing user created programs, Entrainment comes with 20 preset programs ranging from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, providing such options as, Quick Refresh, Recharge, Deep Meditation and Creativity.

All these feature and a native Ipod Touch application along with a price tag of less than four bucks make this a kickass choice for this project.

Correction for Experiment / Sample Protocol

2009-01-03T05:35:00.001-05:00

Just did a little more research and I found out that it is during non-REM sleep where restorative processes take place in the body. According to my list of frequencies, non-REM sleep occurs between 1 - 3 Hz, but deep sleep is at 3.4 Hz. It seems that non-REM sleep occurs four times more frequently than REM sleep. I have also learned that 5 Hz has been found to reduce the amount of sleep needed in a person. It seems that my initial 4 Hz program idea was a happy median, but I want to be specific.

In order to be more specific, I will develop two separate binaural beats programs each of 60 minutes. The first program will be built into 3 sections of 20 minutes each. Each section will be the following:

Four minutes at 4 Hz; slowly changing to:

Four minutes at 3.4 Hz; slowing changing to:

11 minutes of 2 Hz; and finally

One minute of returning to 4 Hz.

This will be repeated three times.

The second program will be 60 minutes at 5 Hz.

I plan to administer the sessions 12 hours apart from each other.

I will update as needed.

Idea for the Experiment

2009-01-03T04:16:00.000-05:00

It is the new year and once again I did not complete my old New Year's Resolution.

This is somewhat of a pattern for me. I decide I will do something, and I start it but somehow dont finish it.

Last year I was going to write a book. But life got in the way. Well not exactly life, but sleep.

See, I am someone who loves sleep. I treasures it; worship it. Ask me what makes a good day and I will tell you a good day is a day where I wake up at noon. I spend at least 10 hours a day on this pursuit and it is ruining my life.

So this year I decided I need to sleep LESS.

Recently, I discovered binaural beats. And more exactly I discovered that binaural beats can reduce the number of hours of sleep needed. How? Well according to the literature I read, REM sleep occurs at the 4 Hz wavelength called Theta. By recreating Theta waves through the use of binaural beats, I should be able to sleep less and still feel rested.

This was the seed of the idea for an experiment.

For 10 days starting on the 5th of January, I will use binaural beats at the 4 Hz level for two hours a day. Hopefully I will be able to reduce my need for sleep.

Is this safe? I don't know. Do I suggest you try it. No. But, I want to see for myself. I will keep you posted.

Here is a link to my other blog dealing with binaural beats in general, in case you are interested.