Save 12 hours A Week Sleeping + 4 Tips On How To Fall Asleep Fast
Update: We have been doing this for 2 years now, here is an article about our 1 year update.
Let me guess:
You stay up later than you plan
You occasionally can’t fall asleep right away
You are super busy in the mornings before work
You wake up tired
You get tired in the afternoons
Biphasic sleep has solved ALL of those – We sleep 12 hours less a week.
After 2 months of working 60 hours a week at the Day Job, spending time eating dinner, trying to find time to work out, have family time with Mandy, and playing an
occasional Video Game… Mentally I needed a break. Something needed to change.
We tried out out Biphasic Sleep – Sleeping two times a day instead of one, 8 hour sleep. Its hypothesized this was the way humans have slept before the invention of electricity. This has the benefit of saving 1.5 hours a day but getting the same number of REM cycles(deep sleep).
Here is a list of plans we read up on:
The Original Plan:
- 1.5 hours of sleep after work
- 5 hours of sleep at night
- This would give us 10.5 hours more time to be awake.
- Goal time to nap is 6 PM every evening. This allows us to nap between 1 PM and 8 PM.
- Goal core sleep is 12:00-12:30 AM until 5:20 AM.
Week 1 – I was not adjusted. Tired after waking up, tired after 2-3pm.
Week 2 – I was still not adjusted. All the articles said I should be feeling fine by now.
Week 3 – I was about to give up. However, this was by far the busiest week yet and even though I wanted to quit, we never had a chance.
Week 4 – I had begun to feel normal again.
Now at this point, I was working just under 75 hours a week, and I had been able to maintain my Video Game/ Wife/ Workout lifestyle. Wasn’t any more tired than normal.
After 3 months, we found the 1.5 hour nap was difficult given evening invitations or commitments. We researched another schedule.
The Winner:
- 20 minute nap after work
- 6 hours of sleep at night
- 12 hours extra per week, and a bit of flexibility on when we nap.
Took 3 weeks, but we have LOVED this. Same high energy as ever. I feel even more energetic in the evenings than before. We’ve even taken naps and people didn’t notice we went missing. I don’t see myself ever changing.
How to fall asleep quickly:
- Have a before sleep routine and don’t break it.
- Stick to similar hours for sleep, always set alarms, stick to similar on weekends. Especially for first 3 weeks.
- Mandy’s tip: focus on breathing to prevent you from thinking
- Best Tip: Quickly find a position to sleep in, close your eyes, don’t move, don’t open your eyes, just wait.
My Sleep routine is:
- Bathroom
- Set alarm
- Lay in bed on my back enjoy the feeling of the bed for about a minute
- Turn
- Close my eyes
- Don’t move until my alarm goes off.
After a missed nap + Notes:
If we missed a nap, we usually slept an extra 90 minutes the next day. I would not recommend missing a nap often or sleeping in during the first 3 weeks.
Caffeine is not recommended, I was guilty a few mornings. I don’t recommend using caffeine after noon if you are taking evening naps. I also don’t recommend more than 1 cup of coffee.
This strangely made dieting more difficult, being awake longer meant more times for my mind to wander and think about food.
I also do Math
Sleep optimization is only one way to optimize your life. Check out our Calorie Per Dollar List, Caffeine Per Dollar List, Water Per Second, and more.
Fun, fascinating, and will improve your life.