From now until the 4th Jan there’s a rewarding task I may do. I won’t go into the exact details of what it is, but I’ll summarise the main points and answer any general questions if relevant.
The point is I need to be up and ready at xx:00 for every single hour from now until 23:00 04 Jan. At that point I’ll have to set up an automatic task, wait for it to complete and then shut it down, this can take anywhere from instantaneous up to 60 minutes. I cannot trust anybody else to set up the task, it must be me. On the occasions where it completes quickly I can use that time to get a quick doze, that would be all the rest I’d get. My active involvement takes about 30 seconds, but I do then have to keep an eye on the screen until it completes.
I know, you’re not a doctor, or if you are you’re not my doctor, advice is worth what I paid etc. but is this kind of sleep pattern going to be doable for about 10 days, obviously not long term?
How much concentration and attention to detail will you need during those tasks? My guess is that if you need some precision you’ll be unable to make it happen after a few days.
I would bet a million bucks that after 3-4 days, you fall flat out asleep while waiting for a task to complete.
Normal sleep cycles are about 90 minutes. You’re looking at no full sleep cycles. No way.
Does this have anything to do with The Dharma Initiative?
You could start your research here: People Are Sleeping in 20-Minute Bursts To Boost Productivity. But Is It Safe?
There are many different polyphasic sleep schedules, according to the Polyphasic Society, but one of the most popular involves a longer “core” sleep anywhere from 90 minutes to six hours, supplemented by 20-minute naps. The length of the core sleep and the number of naps varies, but people on this schedule spend a total of three to seven hours asleep. Another schedule consists only of 20-minute naps spaced throughout the day, totaling two to three hours of shut-eye per day.
Well, the results are inconclusive. After a couple of days I had got used to the short but often sleeps, and wasn’t feeling sleep deprived at all. On the 8th day though I accidentally transposed the time of the alarm (01:55 instead of 10:55) and slept for 8 hours, ruining the perfect record. I was having no problems before or after, and the transposition is the kind of mistake I’m capable of making whilst at full capacity. However, since there was that one reset sleep I won’t know if I could have made it.
I completed my capstone paper in professional school doing that. Less sleep, actually. It sucked. -1, Do Not Recommend. If you like your hallucinations, you can keep your hallucinations, etc…
How much professional achievement/money are we talking?
And now I see you’ve actually done it. Congratulations!
I cleared over £1000, however it would have been nearly double that if it had been perfect.
Today I happened upon Tehching Hsieh: One Year Performance 1980-1981, in which the artist attempts to do, for a year, what the OP was trying to do.