Josh and Tana's blog.

tired

2010-02-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

so today we worked a lot.

the day started with our morning run. three days in a row so far. good for us. then when we got back i climbed up into the attic to measured the space where i'm going to put plywood down to use as storage. i had to move stuff around and was up there for over an hour, so that was tiring.

next tana and i went outside to cleanup a little bit. long story short, i spent a couple hours out there as well. it felt good to work outside. after we finished that, suzanne arrived home and asked if we wanted to walk the dogs with her. we took the dogs up to long canyon trail and hiked for about 1 1/2 in the hill.

by the time we arrived home i was pretty tired. i ate some dinner and when i sat on the couch i passed out.

so we will probably be going to bed pretty soon and get rested for tomorrow.

We can still blog

2010-02-02T01:34:00.000-08:00

I may not be doing the crazy sleep schedule anymore, but i can still blog about our life. I guess that is one good result of the experiment.

Well not a whole lot new is going on. Tana and are are training to do a mud run...which is exactly what it sounds like. We will basically run a 5k through a partial mud, partial road course with mud obstacles along the way. it's supposed to be pretty fun. we want to enjoy it as much as possible so we are getting in running shape.

We are currently reading I John, the entire book, every day. Francis Chan challenged everyone to read it everyday for the month of February, so we decided to try it. that started today.

so yeah, i'll try and update every once in a while.

Day End

2010-01-28T02:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, so i think i'm done with this experiment. So soon you ask? yes, so soon. There are quite a few reasons why, but basically i found out everything i wanted to know about the Uberman sleeping schedule. Is it possible? Maybe. Sure. you can probably do it for a long time and have no problems, but you are not going to be on your prime. Also, there are a lot of claims as to the possibilities of polyphasic sleep, and i'm not sure if they all pan out. I though it would be fun, which at times it was. but there were a lot of not fun times as well. i know i didn't give it the "full adjustment period", but i don't think that would have changed anything. It is a pretty big inconvenience and I'm just ready for it to be done. i can tell i am not functioning at my highest level, and i don't think that will get any better over the long term. so yeah, it was fun, thanks for reading. i will miss all the extra time though!

Day 4

2010-01-28T02:09:00.000-08:00

A lot can change in a day. I keep going back and forth as to whether or not I think I am progressing through the adjustment period. At times I fall asleep right away when I take a nap and wake up feeling refreshed. Other times I struggle to fall asleep and wake up not refreshed at all. And it doesn’t seem to matter what time of day it is. It really messes with my head because I want the hard part to be over so I can experience the sleep schedule fully.

The past 24 hours have been about the same. Sticking to the schedule has not been hard. We did make one mistake. When we woke from our 4:00 pm nap we both were pretty tired and decided to sleep another 30 minutes. That was a bad idea. When I woke up it was the worst feeling ever. I felt tired for the next hour and a half. Sleeping the extra 30 minutes allowed me to go into a deeper sleep phase and when I woke I was in the middle of that phase. Because I slept longer I decided to skip the 8:00 p.m. nap. I was not tired so this worked out.

Tomorrow should be interesting. It is the first day we have plans outside the house while on the schedule. Ideally I would have liked to have been fully adjusted before we had to go out in the real world, but we will make do. I don’t know how we will react to having to sleep in other places other than our bed.

Overall things aren’t terrible but I’m hoping we adjust a little faster because being groggy for most of the day is getting old and discouraging. It could make for a long 2 weeks…

Day 3

2010-01-27T01:51:00.000-08:00

Has it been a day already? Well the experiment seems to be moving right along. Besides mistakenly sleeping 2 hours from 6-8 this morning, everything has been on schedule. There is one point of note and that is that Tana has decided to join me in this experiment. Unlike me, she is beginning during the day, taking her first nap at 12:00 pm. I started by taking my first nap at 12:00 pm. She had trouble sleeping during this first daytime naps as she was not tired at all. We will see if this start time effects her first night with limited sleep.

The days do seem to be blending together at this point. I continue to think in 4 hour chunks and about what I am going to do to during that time. My mind and body still have not fully adapted to the schedule as during the daytime I feel much more awake than during the nighttime hours. It will be nice to have someone to talk to at night. Our company will definitely help with the boredom.

There was a first today. During the 8:00 pm nap I did not sleep at all. I’m really not sure what to do. Should I stay in bed until I fall asleep or reset my alarm? I just continued with my schedule as if I had slept. Should I make up the lost sleep at my next nap time? At 12:00 am nap I did sleep a little extra, both for my sake and for Tana’s. I will most likely let her sleep a little extra this first night to help her get acquainted to the schedule. After all, I overslept my first night as well.

The 8:00 pm nap aside, my sleeping does seem to be more productive. I’m falling asleep pretty quickly and recovering from grogginess fast as well. Every once in a while I will feel really tired and wonder why the heck I am doing this. Since I have started I have never felt fully refreshed, just rested enough to get by. I sometimes get excited thinking about when I will be done and can sleep a full 8 hours…

Day 2 part B

2010-01-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

[if you are new to my blog please read two entries to get caught up.]

I wasn’t planning on writing again so soon but I need to update what has happened.

I knew the 4:00 am to 8:00 am gap would be the hardest. I never really recovered after the 4:00 am nap. When I woke I felt I had slept for hours but was still tired. I struggled keeping myself awake until 6:00 am, when I caved. I figured I’d throw in an extra 30 minute nap then continue my schedule like normal at 8:00. I set my alarm for 6:30 am (or so I thought). I woke at 8:15 am, effectively sleeping for over 2 hours. Believe me, it felt nice, but I’m afraid I’m undone all the work of the previous 30 hours or so. I will continue on, but I think oversleeping made things worse. I’m so tired right now I hate my life. There is no activity exciting enough to distract me. My eyes are really sore from being open so much too. I hope this is the worst of it.

Day 2 - read intro first

2010-01-26T03:02:00.001-08:00

I plan to write at least once a day. I meant to write the first post before I actually started but that didn’t happen, so I’ll describe what has taken place so far.

I chose to start my sleep schedule at 12:00 am on Monday, 1/25/10 (Sunday night). I had taken a nap earlier in the day kinda as a head start knowing I was going to be tired later on. I took my first nap at around 12:10, already missing my allotted time. I wasn’t all that tired and had trouble actually sleeping. By the time my alarm went off I hadn’t slept much so I decided to hit the snooze. Bad idea. Tana woke me up at 1:00 am. I drug myself up. I felt completely exhausted and honestly the experiment almost ended there. I did not want to stay up but I somehow did. I felt tired but kept myself busy the next couple hours. I know that boredom would be my enemy so I had made a list of things to do, both productive and fun.

My next nap was at 4:00 am. Again, by the time I took the nap, I was not tired and it took me a while to get to sleep. When my alarm went off at 4:30 I had hardly slept at all so I hit the snooze a couple times. I found myself waking up at 5:15. So far I’m botching this whole thing. Getting up this time was even harder than before, but I managed. I know the first few days are the roughest.

From this point things went pretty smoothly. I am struggling with falling asleep right away, but with each nap it seems to come more quickly. During the day I didn’t seem to have issues with tiredness, though I did hit a wall around 1:30. When I felt tired, Tana and I started some activities and I was fine again.

I can already tell I am recovering faster after each nap. It usually takes about 5-10 minutes after I wake from my nap before I feel fully awake. I still feel a sense of tiredness but as long as I don’t dwell on it I’m good to go.

I did have a slight headache that I felt was caused by lack of sleep. I took some asprin and it passed.

It is currently 2:45 a.m. on day two. I have only slept 3 ½ hours in the last 27 hours and I feel ok. The 12:00 am and 4:00 naps will be the hardest I think. It is dark out and I have to train myself not think this is time to sleep. It doesn’t help that everyone else in the house is sleeping and I have to limit my activities to relatively quiet ones. I have found that planning something exciting for directly after my nap helps me mentally to want to get up. After all this blogging I think I will reward myself with some video games after the 4:00 am sleep.

I’m interested to see how I do tomorrow. I have a feeling my body is going to want to crash or shut down from shock. From what I’ve read adjustment time can be anywhere from 3 days to two weeks. I’ve told myself I’m committing to at least two weeks, but I hope to do longer it my life allows. Thanks for reading. I appreciate any questions of comments.

Welcome Back Introduction

2010-01-26T02:59:00.000-08:00

OK, so let me explain what I am doing (or trying to do, I should say). Awhile back I stumbled upon this idea of alternate sleep schedules and it intrigued me. I thought it would be cool to try it, but at that time it wasn’t really practical with a 9-5 work schedule. Well guess what? I’ve been unemployed since December so I figured this is as good a time as any to try this.

First off, I decided to take this opportunity to blog my experiences. I have been wanting to update my blog more frequently and now I have the time to do so and something to write about.

I’ll try and sum up everything I have researched preparing for this. Basically there are two types of sleep patterns, monophasic and polyphasic. Monophasic is you basic 8-hour block of sleep once a day. Polyphasic is breaking up your sleep into multiple smaller naps throughout the day. There are different variations of polyphasic sleep patterns. The one I am attempting is known as the Uberman sleep schedule. The Uberman schedule is one of the most extreme because you sleep a mere 2 hours a day. I’ve modified it to sleep 3 hours a day. I will take 30 minutes naps at the following times:

12:00 am 4:00 am 8:00 am 12:00 pm 4:00 pm 8:00 pm

How does this work you ask? How can a person live on only 2-3 hours of sleep a day? Well this is how I understand it. Basically, during your sleep, REM cycle sleep is the most regenerative sleep you can get, but it happens in cycles. So while you may sleep 8 hours, you only get 3-4 hours REM cycle sleep. Uberman sleep schedule “trains” your body to go directly into REM cycle sleep when you nap (as a result of lack of sleep). This way you can stay up longer and still get the sleep you need.

Below I’ve included links to some of the research I’ve done if you want to read more about it. Many people have done this experiment before me and there are blogs all over about it.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this sleep schedule. Advantage: a lot more waking time. I’ll be awake 5 extra hours every day. That’s how I’ll have time to write this blog. People also report once they have adjusted they have more energy and are more alert. They say they dream deeper and have more vivid dreams. Plus, it’s totally cool.

A disadvantage is obviously the schedule. From what I’ve read you have to stick pretty tight to the schedule, at least at first, or you will get really tired very quickly. Being self employed would be an optimal situation, being unemployed works just as well. It also messes with your social life, and you have to plan around the schedule. Tana is not too excited to be sleeping alone for the time being, but she is supportive.

Anyway, this is just an introduction and overview. My following blog posts will track my progress and experiences. I hope it will be fun. Thanks for reading!

http://www.poly-phasers.com/enter.php
http://www.poly-phasers.com/enter.php
http://officialuberman.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep
http://www.puredoxyk.com/
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-uberman-sleep-schedule.htm
http://polyphasic.blogspot.com/
http://www.polyphasiclife.com/

good bye of sorts

2009-02-13T13:14:00.002-08:00

to all our loyal followers:

Tana and I may not be fit for the blog life. We are just not good at keeping our blog up to date. it's not we don't have any free time, we just don't spend it writing on here...sorry.

also, our camera broke, so we can't even put pictures on here. so sorry. maybe one day i'll find the resolve to sit down and be consistant, but for now it just ain't happening.

cold

2009-01-16T12:14:00.002-08:00

so we went to take pictures of our couch and tv and the camera wasn't working. the screen was black. we might try to get it fixed or might just get another one later. so sorry for a lack of pictures.

so it's been snowing and cold, but you all knew that already.

i really can't think of anything to write about right now.

i think it's funny that the only time i can find (or remember) to write is during work. it's usually on fridays. in the afternoons.

i'm bad at this.

2009-01-02T10:59:00.003-08:00

Hey Everyone! Tana and I are alive! it's been a while since I blogged. we got busy during the holidays i guess and it just slipped my mind. what have we been up to...?

well we went to california for christmas. it was nice. the weather was rainy but it was nice to see family and friends.

we visited the cox boys in indy for new years. that was fun.

oh yeah, we bought a huge tv. and a tv stand. we probably didn't need to spend the money but oh well, we indulged. also, we bought a couch before the tv. that was a necessity if you saw our last couch. so we have a new living room. i'll post pictures but i haven't taken any yet.

well since i'm at work i should actually get back to work...who am i kidding, it's friday afternoon and the office is empty.

thanks for reading.

tired today.

2008-12-02T18:35:00.002-08:00

so i don't really update this as much as i though i would.

we spent thanksgiving in missouri. tana's family was fun. we hug out every day. they made me eat raw oysters and then i helped fry them the next day.

it's starting to snow here in indiana. i like snow. tana does not.

christmas needs to hurry up and get here already. i' won't go into why, but it just needs to.

people need to stop being sick, too. Tana has been sick for a over a week now. she went to bed at 8 tonight.

tana is going to florida for a conference next week. it's not fair. i'll try to survive for 4 days without her.

done.

today.

2008-11-18T18:18:00.002-08:00

90210 is the worst show ever. tana loves it. i hate it.

tana and i figured out yesterday that we are poor. well not really poor, we just a a ton of student loans to pay off, so we have to cut back on our "luxuries". no more eating out!

we still want to buy a house though, and we think we can afford it. it's not that more than renting. we just have to save for a down payment.

i saved a puppy today. it turned out to be our neighbors. he was following it's tracks in the snow to find it. i had it in my arms.

tana put christmas stuff up and it's not even thanksgiving yet. not right. just saying.

catching up

2008-11-10T08:53:00.003-08:00

tana and i have slacked on updating this thing in the past couple of weeks. busy i guess...
nothing totally new and exciting in our lives. we have had dinner dates with at least 3 differents sets of friends. exciting, i know, but friends are good to have. we took our jr. highers to a habitat for humanity build on saturday. they seemed to enjoy it even though it was as cold as crap that day. and, we are about to get some help on sunday teaching. that way we will be able to actually attend service. pretty cool. what else...
oh yeah, i took apart the man room...sad times. it really was a collection of junk and memories. i guess i'm kinda preparing to move (though we have no idea when that will be) and most of that stuff is not going with us. i did keep my bottle collection, which is getting near 200 bottles. im general we are just trying to be less cluttered.

if you dare...check out twitter.com. it's basically upates from people you follow, and you can select people's updates to be sent to your phone via text.

that's all for now, thanks for reading!

new, for now.

2008-10-29T20:01:00.003-07:00

its been a while since i've updated. we went to Tyler and Annette's wedding, which was fun. i ended up running back and forth between the cabins before the wedding, and my legs were sore the next day as a result. after the wedding we went strait to richmond for the family bonfife. it was cold, but we had fun. we made it home safe.

today tana and i had a date night. we went to the Mill resturant, where we had our wedding reception. it was the fist time we had been there since the wedding day. it was really good. then we rented some movies and relaxed at home. it was a nice evening.

that's it. now i'm watching friends and blogging. p.s. i'm addicting to twitter and texting.

josh

2008-10-26T21:12:00.001-07:00

i've spent too much time on here. like Jaymie said, thanks pastor.

wanted to add a picture

2008-10-19T11:56:00.004-07:00

the sunrise at our jr. high retreat.

Lazy Sunday

2008-10-19T11:07:00.003-07:00

it's not very often we have a free Sunday afternoon. there are usually church meetings, outreach events or something of the sort going on in sunday. today there is nothing and it feels good to just relax. i just watched The Metor Man on tv, and now there is a crazy 80's vampire movie on.

we haven't had a whole lot going on. friday we went down to indy. we bought $3 wine at trader joes, tana shopped at the mall, we ate at TGIFridays, and saw Max Payne. (p.s. good movie). we hadn't had a date night in a while.

today i let jr.highers throw mud at me. the theme this month is Dirty, as in being a christian is dirty. to be able to throw mud at me, they had to state a way in which they were going to get dirty in their lives, such as sitting with the loenly kid at lunch, or treating their brother or sister nicer. i think they had fun. they threw the mud hard. and it was cold. and then the bucket of mud was dumped on my head. oh yeah, we forgot the camera.

i'll be done now.

josh

This weekend

2008-10-11T20:30:00.002-07:00

Well, it has beena long week of Tana being sick and trying to get better. But this weekend we worked out at the property on 7th and Whites preparing for our Shindig event (God's House Birthday Party). We had alot of fun preparing for it. One thing that took me by surprise was a guy that came up to me on the street trying to give me a track about Jesus. When I told him I didn't want it and that I was already a Christian he just didn't understand why I would turn away God's word if I was a Christian. I think he assumed I was lying to him- I just didn't want his track because I was putting up stuff and I didn't have anywhere to put it. This just annoys me. My point. Talk about Jesus if it gets brought up. Care about people and be Jesus to them. Let your actions speak louder than your words.

Retreat

2008-10-11T20:23:00.004-07:00

So....We had our Jr. High retreat. It was super crazy and awesome. We really wanted to the kids to grasp that they can all be friends without talking bad about eachother and being mean to eachother. We felt like we were failing miserably at times and at other times we really felt like God was moving in their lives. Droping the kids off at the church we were impacted by other kids in the neighborhood. The way they talked to eachother and acted towards one another made me feel like it will be an endless battle for them. GOd really refreshed our spirits and reminded us that we can't save the kids form all the influence , but we can create a safe place where they can come and know they won't be judged or mistreated in any way.
Overall our overnighter in the Jungle Huts turned out super sweet..

Change

2008-10-05T20:16:00.003-07:00

Edited for your viewing pleasure. Tana wanted to change the background color. i wanted it white. you can see who won. we added pictures and stuff to make it a little more intresting for our readers...enjoy.

p.s. there is a poll at the bottom.

two

2008-10-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

so here i am, blogging again. it's not that i'm bored, it's more that this is still a novelty, so it seems like something interestring to do still. this feeling will wear off soon, so enjoy my thoughts while you can now.

tomorrow tana and i will be taking the j. high kids from our church on a spiritual retreat. it is the first time we are leading something like this. i'm excited, it will be fun. we think we have prepared for everything, but it always seems like we miss something. anyway.

well i'm bored with this for now. and if you don't tell i'm not worried about capitilization, punctuation, spelling and sentance structure. i have to worry about that all day at work so this is my escape from that.

bye.

josh

for Lynne

2008-10-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

We created this blog because Lynne said we should. How often we write on it will depend on a lot of things, how much free time we have, how interesting our life is, but most importantly, how bored we are. With that said, welcome to our life.