Day5 (Nap1) & Hypotheses of effects of Hydration on Polyphasic Adaptation

Here is a link to the very FIRST post of this Blog 1st Post of Day1

Day 5 (Nap1)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

2:21 AM

K, so I just barely drifted off for my 12:30-1am nap. Oddly, I keep waking up a little before my alarm goes off (set for ~25-30minutes). I am not willing to assume that sleep-training has started taking place, but it's certainly a neat coincidence if nothing else. So, I got up from the nap, watched the last bit of "The Express" on HBO, and then proceeded to go on a ~1.5mi run to wear myself out. The weird thing is that my legs are very sore. I think that I've figured something out though, and it relates to a topic we all hear and then dismiss: water consumption!

I feel like I've been eating a lot more, and I probably have, than when I was monophasic. The thing is, it hasn't resulted in significant weight gain, probably due to the extra calorie burning that is occurring with the extra hours of wake time. However, I believe that I have not been getting enough water on the polyphasic schedule, due to specific traits that I keep track of (stuff that people might be squeamish about). To that end, I would like to make a recommendation, that I have not seen in my research of polyphasic transitions.

!--> If you are adapting, or have adapted to a form of polyphasic sleeping, I would highly encourage increasing your personal hydration by roughly 25%-33.33% (1/4 to 1/3). The reasoning is this: Water is vital to everyday bodily tasks, and by going polyphasic, we demand more responsiveness from our bodies. Many of us notice marked increases in food consumption, be it snacking or  even smaller but more frequent meal-times. It only makes sense that one should increase their H2O consumption as well.<--!

I will be making a conscious effort to increase my water consumption over the rest of this experiment phase, and will provide details of any responses/discovery that I find and can reasonably attribute to increased H2O levels. My early-stage hypotheses about the effects of increased water consumption are as follows:

1. Better balance of hydration-to-food intake, which will alleviate aches/headaches/restlessness/etc…
2. Potentially could lead to easier adaptation phase as it directly relates to falling asleep & waking up. Simplified= It could be easier/ feel better when trying to fall asleep & wake up if you are properly hydrated for polyphasic needs.
3. If you attempt exercise while adapting, or even afterwards, it seems to make sense that the body would require increased H2O levels to maintain similar levels of fitness/intensity as when you were monophasic.
1. During monophasic life, there were ~8hrs of "downtime" where less H2O/electrolytes were used to sustain energy levels. Polyphasic DRASTICALLY reduces this amount of "downtime." i.e. Polyphasic = more "uptime." lol, literally.

4. It has been shown that hydration, specifically poor hydration, can lead to decreased cognitive ability (slowing of responses, lack of clarity, increased errors, etc…) Perhaps, a leading cause of the symptoms of "brain haze" associated with polyphasic adaptation can be attributed back to lack of proper hydration. If this is the case, then we could all see SIGNIFICANTLY happier/healthier/easier adaptation phases (something I am sure everybody would appreciate).

Realize that ALL of these hypotheses are simply that, and I have no proof or validation that hydration significantly decreases during adaptation or afterward. I am simply applying some exploratory reasoning on the topic. This thought process was initiated by my legs feeling quite tired after only ~1.5mi. Running when I am easily capable of going much further (~5-10mi's) in standard (not even optimal) condition. This worried me, and caused me to examine what could have caused the exhaustion that I felt. Please, if you are attempting, or have adapted to polyphasic sleeping, respond to this topic with whatever insight you have! I feel that this could be an extremely undervalued topic of discussion within the community.

PSA:

Psychological State Analysis ( 1=low --> 5=high)

Feeling of "Tiredness"	2
Hunger	2
Clarity of thoughts	4
Willingness to exercise	3
Willingness to write	4
Memory recall ability	4
Awareness of surroundings	5
Feelings of anxiety	2
Calmness	3
Frequency of odd thoughts	1
Errors of mind/typing	1
Schedule Adherence	4
Productivity	4

In light of the main topic in this post, the PSA seems like a pathetic aspect, but I decided to log it for consistency sake. Also, it's interesting to note that "good" indicators ("clarity of thoughts," "will to exer," etc...) are high, while "bad" indicators were lower. Haha, sounds like a commercial for cholesterol medication ("good cholest. HDL" vs. "bad cholest. LDL"). Realize that I'm 20yrs old, and don't eat meat… I don't know if HDL is the "good" or the "bad" cholest. It isn't an important bit of info for me, so don't be nitpicky and say that I reversed the two (quite frankly, I don't care if I did).