Another North American Holiday

6:27 p.m.
I apologize that this one is going up so late but it’s the first time I’ve had some time with the computer.  I was going to have a late afternoon rest period but I was tired around 1:30 so I went to sleep at 2:00.  I had a little difficulty falling asleep but I think it went well.  I was also tired in the morning around 9:00; I don’t know why.  I’ll see tomorrow if I’m still tired in the morning.

It's America's Independence Day

A big shout out goes to my American friends to the South.  It’s their Independence Day so I hope they enjoy their day of barbecues and fireworks. Up here in Canada it would be a perfect day for that so I hope the weather is good down there too.

Overall today has gone well.  I worked most of the morning away and am about to head out to the gym.  I’ll see if I can throw another post up late tonight with my finished art work attached.

The End Of A Day, The Beginning Of Some Art

My work station, for now

12:31 a.m.
I’m not too tired although I fell the tiniest bit drowsy.  It’s so small that I even considered not sharing it but I did.  Because I care.  With this lack of tiredness that I have been experiencing I started another work of art.  I had meant to take a picture of it as I was priming the board but I forgot so below you can see my temporary work station (dining room table).  This work is about half done and so far I’ve spent half an hour on it.

Overall today has went well.  Church in the morning and my family went out for lunch and then I was fortunate enough to have a lazy afternoon and caught the CFL game between Calgary and Montreal.  I have felt pretty good today.

Tomorrow I think that I’ll start the real physically demanding work in the yard and outside so that will be interesting to see how my body reacts to running on little sleep while physically working a lot.  I hope I have some interesting results for once.

Art Work Is Almost Done. New Cycle?

Almost done!

4:17 p.m.
I had my afternoon sleep period at 2:00 today and it went well.  I went to sleep within minutes and even though I felt a little groggy afterwards I was still refreshed.  As far as this morning went however, I was slightly tired up until about 9:00 or 10:00.  I’m not sure for the reasoning behind this as the mornings have usually been a time of alertness so far.  I don’t think that this was a sign for concern as it was only a slight drowsiness and I functioned completely fine.

This morning I got a lot of stuff done.  I did some work for my dad, I almost finished the art work that I had posted earlier in the blog and I also updated the blog a bit.  I don’t know if the sleep cycle has given me a new mentality or it just allows me to get more work done but for the amount of work that I have completed I am very satisfied.

I have no side effects to mention although I had been thinking and since this biphasic sleep cycle has gone so well and the transition has been relatively easy, I might be able to try another sleep routine later this summer.  I would like to try something that has even less rest in it.  I am thinking of the dymaxion cycle.  For information or an easy to understand graph, go here.  This cycle looks to be the most extreme as it calls for four 30 minute naps a day.  That’s a total of two hours slept a day.  Hopefully that will provide a greater challenge.

Let me know what you think of these ideas!

Post Game Update

12:39 a.m.
I got back from the football game around 11:00 o’clock and I was never once tired at all.  This could be because the two friends that I went with and I were in a bit of a silly mood and we kept each other awake well enough. 

The game was enjoyable even though our somewhat home team got destroyed 44-16.  It was embarrassing but still a good time.

As promised I worked on a project tonight; one that I have been putting off for months for no real good reason.  I will post a photo of how far I am tomorrow if I can find a single camera in this house that works. 

The first play of the game!

I think when it’s said that these types of sleep cycles make you more creative, they refer to the arts that depend on a spontaneous element.  By that I mean music and sculpture or painting.  If the art however needs serious thought and preplanning (writing a novel, realistic art) it becomes much harder to do at night.  The reason I say this is because A couple nights ago I attempted to continue a story I had previously started.  My brain couldn’t continue the story fluidly and I gave up.  Tonight however, at about midnight, I worked on the visual work that should be posted soon.  I found that I was much more creative, took risks more often and added an edge that otherwise could have been omitted. In summary, I think these sleep cycles help art that relies on emotion and reaction and hinders art that is dependent upon forethought and precise requirements.

Lastly I would just like to comment on my physical and mental state.  There is nothing significant to note.  However I feel that I am more alert tonight than I was last night.

Pre Football Game

3:23 p.m.
I’m about to head out to Hamilton for the third time in three days.  Today it’s to catch a Canadian football game with my friend.  We are going to see the Tiger-cats play and I’ll be getting picked up in about ten minutes.

My afternoon rest period went fine.  Initially I was worried because it took about ten minutes to fall asleep but I eventually dozed off and only awoke to the sound of my alarm.

This morning and afternoon I started some art and I’m excited about that.  I’m considering opening another page on the blog for my artwork that I complete during this experiment.  I have heard that these sleep cycles are supposed to make you more creative.  We’ll see.

I know it doesn't look like much now but hey, I just started

Still no side effects.  I only hope that tonight and tomorrow morning go along as scheduled.