Hacking your sleep cycle

I came across a blog post discussing the importance of understanding sleep cycles for the purposes of recovery and productivity. It makes an interesting case for understanding how your body responds to waking during the various stages of sleep over an 8 hour period.

http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=1845

It indicates that at the start of a sleep there are two periods of approximately two hours long each where you typically progress through 4 stages (depths) of sleep and back up to REM sleep. Each period lasts about 2 hours. Following this, your cycles into periods of sleep get progressively shallower in depth (and shorter) until you awake uninterrupted. You may even awake briefly during the REM stages of sleep, only to fall back asleep again. By the time you reach around 5 to 6 hours of sleep, you are only cycling through 2 stages of sleep during each period.

The post makes the argument that it is best to wake from a shallower level of sleep than a deeper level, and sometimes that may only vary by 10-20 minutes.

Sounds about as long as a couple taps on the snooze button!

I often like to ask as a circle question how much sleep people had the night before. The majority of people typically seem to sleep less than 8 hours a night, and most commonly it is in the 6 to 7 hour range. I know that I’m guilty of checking my clock just before bed and if I’m getting into bed later than around 10:30pm then I set my alarm for the last possible minute that I need to get up or I set it a little earlier and play the snooze game until I can’t play anymore…

But what if sleeping more wasn’t the smartest way to feel rested? What if you should be looking at the clock just before bed, treating yourself as a test case and gaming it a bit to see if you can wake up at the top of one of your sleep cycles? Trial and error your way to a sleep plan that helps you be the most productive you can be that day and lets you adapt to changing circumstances day to day.

(Image from: http://www.alongside.me/human-improvement/human-improvement-mind/triphasic-sleep/)

Look at the sleep cycle chart. I can see a few key times that would be worth testing on yourself. First and foremost, it seems like if you are falling asleep, then within about 20-30 minutes you’ll drop into a fairly deep level of sleep. If you are trying for a quick nap to rejuvenate, then keep it short and under 20 minutes.

You then drop into a deep sleep and pop up for air around the 2 hour mark. I’d say if you are training hard for some physical endeavor, then that’s a good way to game a post workout recovery nap. Finish training, get some food into yourself and grab a 2 hour nap to recover – then go about your day. Anecdotally, I spent a few months training full time about 5 years ago when I was training for ironman. I used to do this sort of nap because it felt natural to me. I’d hit Crossfit class in the early morning, then go home and eat, nap for a couple hours, and then get up and do my second training session of the day on the bike/swim/run. It kept me feeling sharp and recovered, but when I missed that nap I felt sluggish and often needed to take a couple recovery days due to a temporary burnout.

The next cycle up to REM sleep is around 4 hours. I know this one well… and I often wake up from a dream during it and decide on a quick bathroom trip before falling back asleep. For those of you cutting corners on sleep and trying to burn the candle at both ends or get in early to meet a work deadline, make sure you allow yourself at least 4 hours sleep. If you get up at the 4 hour mark, you can be quite productive for a while and can usually keep it going until the early afternoon before productivity goes down the tubes and you need a nap to recharge.  I use this when I have deadlines at work and need to get in early and get ready for a meeting or deliver on a commitment that I’ve made.

After 4 hours it gets a little dicey. The sleep cycles begin to get shallow and if you want to catch your wakeup on an upswing you need to get lucky on your alarm setting or recognize when you awake naturally from a dream (which happens in REM sleep) and figure out that even if your alarm hasn’t gone off yet you just awoke from a shallow level of sleep and getting up now may be your best fit. It looks like the best targets for your alarm around 5 to 5.5 hours, 6 to 6.5 hours, and around 7.5 hours sleep.

Want to know more about naps and the physiological and neurological benefits of napping?  Refer back to this January post by Andy and try it on for yourself.  

http://www.crossfitvancouver.com/unleashing-to-power-of-the-nap-needs-workouts-fri-and-sat-and-scheduling/

Remember that you are your own case study in life.  Read, test, and see how it works on you!  Post anecdotal notes of your own to comments.  Does any of this ring true with you?

 Cheers, Afghan.

Warmup:

10 Scapula Angels

10 Yoga Push Ups

10 Scapular Pull Ups

then

20 mountain Climbers

200 m Run

2 Rounds

Tech:

Max effort

Toes to Bar 

and 

HSPU

x3

3 min rest between each round

* This is meant to be a safe max, do not go to failure, we would like to see you holding a consistent number if possible for each round.

* Progression for t2b is V-snaps and HSPU is heavy Dumbell press in a lunge position

 WOD: Rope Climbs and Sit ups

AMRAP 3min

1 Rope Climb

20 Sit Ups

2 min rest

3 rounds

House of Sheppy