Four Hours of Sleep – Conclusion

This is the fourth and final update to this post, in which I decided to experiment for thirty days with getting only four hours of sleep per night with an afternoon nap as needed.

These were the intended benefits of the experiment:
– be more creative
– be more productive
– have increased lucid dreaming activity
– have an expanded general sense of well-being
– see what else happens

This is how it went…

Creativity

I definitely experienced heightened creativity. Although unfortunately this benefit has not been reflected in the posts on this site over the past month, so many new, exciting ideas have presented themselves to me. These will be reflected on this website (and elsewhere) over the next several months.

Over the past few weeks I’ve felt a strong pull to write fiction, which is arguably a more creative endeavor than my usual non-fiction. Although I haven’t pulled the trigger, I have had some great story ideas, coming soon. It just always seems that there’s something more important to do, which is a hurdle that will likely never go away until I’m a pile of dust soaking back into the earth, hopefully to become part of a beautiful Japanese maple. And a fish.

Even in my normal waking life, I found more-creative-than-usual ways to complete normal tasks and chores like cleaning up, doing laundry, and doing yard work. I realize that sounds a bit boring, but when we find new ways to invigorate the mundane and actually learn to enjoy the things we’d usually dread, life becomes richer in subtle but meaningful ways.

Productivity

The month of July has been, to date, my most productive month since I left the corporate world. Although I haven’t been publishing many posts here, I’ve written quite a few more, as well as completed a first draft of a short book I’ll either be publishing on Amazon or giving away for free here – haven’t decided yet. I also started another book I’m writing on the golf magician’s mindset which I hope to finish over the next few weeks. This is in addition to various other business-related accomplishments.

Perhaps as a result of this heightened productivity, July has been my most financially successful month of self-employment to date, although I’m still far from where I need to be, and farther still from where I hope to be.

Is this because of the abbreviated sleep schedule? Of course there’s no way to know for sure, but I believe it is, because: 1. More hours in the day; 2. Increased fluidity between my conscious and subconscious minds, which has been noticeable.

Often I’d reflect on the day and be surprised how early it was, and how much time was left. As I write this sentence it’s 7:24 am and I’ve already been awake for almost three hours. Often I’d reach the end of the day feeling as if it had been a relatively unproductive one until I actually wrote out my accomplishments before bed (highly recommended practice I recently took up) and realized it was quite a long list.

Whereas in the past, if I had decided to play golf or go for a hike during the week, it meant a significant reduction in the day’s productivity (from a business standpoint – golfing and hiking are always worthy endeavors), I’ve found that by being awake several hours before and after the rest of the world, a day’s work can be mostly completed in just those few extra hours.

Dream Activity

Although my lucid dreaming activity didn’t increase noticeably, my dream recall did, and I had some interesting experiences with altered states of consciousness during my afternoon naps. It turns out naps are excellent times for such experiences, which was something I already knew but had not experienced in depth, first-hand.

For example, last Wednesday, 7-22-14, during my nap (which was more of a meditation since I slept very little), I had six consecutive out of body experiences. In each, I felt my non-physical arms rise out of my body, then “freed” the rest of myself until I was standing next to my bed with my physical body still in it. Each time I ran across the room, jumped out the window, and flew around the different environments/dimensions/universes that were presented to me. While the experiences themselves were not all that profound (and not quite interesting or cohesive enough to write about here), it’s always fun to have full conscious awareness outside of the physical body.

As stated in previous updates, I was often a somewhat passive observer to my subconscious workings, almost like watching a movie. It was often tough to keep up as it was very fast-paced from a conscious perspective, but it was fascinating and enlightening. We really do do a lot in our dreams, but most of us are unaware of that important work. Even if you have the opportunity on some weekend or whenever to sleep half as much as you do, then supplement with an afternoon nap, I can almost guarantee you’ll have (and remember) some enlightening dream experiences. If you do, let me know. I love talking with other people about dreams.

Well-Being

I didn’t feel any better or worse than usual, emotionally. I’m a pretty happy dude, and that continued to be the case. I don’t see any reason that can’t be the case until Earth recycles the atoms that compose my body.

Etc.

My intuition is sharper than it’s ever been in my life. I believe this is a direct result of the sleeping schedule. I just know things I ordinarily wouldn’t know, and am more easily able to figure out solutions not just from a logical perspective (which has also been the case), but from an illogical, intuitive perspective.

Never in my life have I been so sure of what I want for my future, as well as exactly how to go about getting it. I’m certain the abbreviated sleeping schedule played at least a small part in that. After all, our vast, unlimited, creative subconscious minds are far more powerful than our limited, focused conscious minds, and when you more effectively meld the two so that each feeds off of the other fluidly, the results can be profound.

While I have the direction, instructions, and motivation to get where I’m going, life has gotten in the way over the last week and will continue to do so for the next several weeks, which is supremely frustrating. I just don’t have the goddam time. BUT! that will change soon, and I’m looking forward to it. I hope you are too, because I have some cool shit in store for all of us.

Conclusion

In spite of all of the above-mentioned benefits of getting only four hours of sleep, you may be surprised to hear that I will no longer be following this sleeping schedule. It just feels so shitty to be tired for so many hours of the day that I don’t think it’s worth it. Plus, I don’t believe the benefits I’ve achieved will go away now that I’m aware of them and cultivating them. I think I can continue to experience them and grow them without following a strict four-hour sleep schedule.

However, I will still sleep only four hours once to three times per week when I don’t have anything significant planned for the following day, meaning I can take a nice two or three hour nap without guilt. It’s somewhat frowned upon to sneak away during a daytime party or gathering to steal a nap, I’ve found.

This experiment has shown me, without a doubt, that I do not need a full eight hours of sleep, contrary to every sleep-related “fact” that has assaulted and insulted me throughout life. Actually, when I have slept a full eight hours on the weekends, which was difficult in the first place since my body has become accustomed to less sleep, I felt drowsy, sluggish, disconnected, and in some cases, mildly depressed. Going forward, I will likely oscillate between five and six hours of sleep, with some shorter and longer sleeping periods sprinkled in for taste.

So, I say, successful experiment. But I’m glad it’s over.

Thanks for reading. You’re very sexy.

P.S. A friend recommended that my next experiment should be with sleeping outside for thirty days, in a tent. Hmmm… I suspect Buddy & Rigs would not mind that at all.