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Last night I decided to give myself 6 hours sleep, to try and pay off some of my sleep debt. I woke up at the usual time, but with almost no grogginess at all! I also woke up from dreaming again, but I can't remember what I dreamt about.

This morning was really good - me and Yu Lee went out for a 24km (15 mile) rollerblading session which was really fun. When we got back I made us a tuna salad for lunch, and then I started to feel drowsy so I went to the bedroom to sleep.

Unfortunately, today I didn't really sleep very well for my nap. I definitely dozed off for some of my nap, but I didn't sleep the full 90 minutes. I felt somewhat refreshed afterwards and not groggy at all, but I'm sure this is because I just had a light sleep, and it was nowhere near as satisfying as my normal naps.

This evening I feel a bit tired again, and am not sure if I will go for 4.5 or 6 hours tonight.

Click here to view today’s sleep log

This morning I am sure I was dreaming when I woke up. I don't remember what I was dreaming about, but I know I was dreaming about something! When I finished logging my sleep this morning I had already forgotten my dream but it isn't important what I was dreaming about anyway, but the fact that I was dreaming suggests that I woke up in the REM phase of sleep at the end of my cycle which is ideal, and I didn't feel too groggy this morning either.

As far as my sleep schedule goes, today was pretty uneventful. I had my nap after dinner today from about 7:00pm to 8:30pm.

My nap was really good: I feel like I had a good sleep and it was definitely restful, and it felt like a whole night could have passed. The thing is, it feels really unnatural to be waking up so late when it is dark outside as it feels like waking up in the middle of the night! I have noticed that most days I feel a wave of tiredness between 12:00 noon and 2:00pm, and I think this would be the ideal time to nap. I might try sleeping at this point over the next couple of days (it's the weekend), and if I like it I will see if I can take 2 hours for lunch at work and nap then.

Click here to view today’s sleep log

This morning was very similar to yesterday: We got up at 5:30am and had breakfast, and then played Guild Wars 2 for an hour before starting to get ready for work. The main difference was that this morning I felt a lot less groggy and a lot more awake.

I felt good all day today. My alertness did dip around 4:00pm when I got in from work, but by the time my girlfriend was back I was feeling awake again. We laid down in the bedroom and talked for half an hour or so, but in the end realised that we wouldn't have been able to sleep and gave up on the idea of napping before we even started.

We had roast pork for dinner, and ate at around 7:30pm, and as soon as we had eaten we both came over tired. I went to bed straight away and she came about 20 minutes later, but we both got up at the same time. When the alarm went off to wake us I immediately felt refreshed, and didn't have much grogginess at all. She felt really sleepy though, which I think is due to her waking up from deep sleep half way through her sleep cycle.

We got up from our nap at about 10:00pm, so it will be interesting to see if we can sleep at bed time tonight.

I think I have realised that it is not going to be practical to have a set nap time each day: I really need to just sleep when I feel tired. It seems to me at the moment that the absolute worst time to have a nap is between 6:00pm and 8:00pm, which is unfortunately the earliest time that we can sleep together. I may have to start napping as soon as I get in from work on my own instead.

Click here to view today’s sleep log

This morning was good fun because my girlfriend got up at 5:30 with me. When I woke up I was a bit groggy for a while, but as usual it wore off after a short while. We had breakfast together and then played Guild Wars 2 for a while, which was better than usual as the servers weren't full at this time of the morning so it was easier for us to play together.

Normally in the mornings the tiredness from waking up clears leaving me feeling very alert, but today I still felt a little bit tired all morning, probably due to the fact that I didn't sleep for my nap yesterday.

When I got home from work I had to wait for my girlfriend to get home so that we could nap together, and she was a bit late as there was traffic. While I was waiting for her I got some foam from the garage and used it to block the light out of the window. The foam was actually the off-cuts of some underlay from when we laid our laminate floor, and it was silver on 1 side and foam on the other so I blue-tacked it over the window, silver side facing out. It didn't block all of the light but it was a vast improvement. It was nowhere near as good as the shutters on my Dad's house in Spain though!

When she got home we laid in bed and talked for about half an hour in the dark, and then I went to sleep. I felt her get up after what seemed like 10 minutes and then fell straight back to sleep. Apparently she got up after an hour so I must have been pretty out of it.

When I woke up it was pitch black and it felt like I had been asleep all night. I had the nice fuzzy nap feelings and felt well rested - a million times better than yesterday!

After my nap it was 8:10pm so I went downstairs and made dinner, and then came up to write this blog!

At the moment I am loving this sleeping pattern. When I was on everyman I was so tired that I didn't really have any extra time where I could do anything. Although I only have a couple of hours a day extra, it is noticeable, and I love my nap (when I actually sleep for it). I can see that this pattern could be sustainable long term.

Click here to view today’s sleep log

This morning when I woke up I was very sleepy! I think I must have woken up from a deep sleep because the grogginess was quite intense but faded after about half an hour.

I spent the morning doing some web design, and then went to work and felt fine all day, although I did notice a bit of a slump around 2pm.

After work I spent an hour with my neighbour and her children in the park, and it was 5:15 by the time I could have my nap. I laid down like usual but it never came. A few times I thought I felt myself drifting, but the feeling passed, and after 45 minutes of laying there I got bored and got up. It was so frustrating!

Now it is 23:30 and I am really tired, but I am going to soldier on until 1:00am so that I feel nice and tired for my nap tomorrow. My girlfriend said she will get up at 5:30am with me and try to nap with me after work too! This means we will try to have our sleep at 6:00pm which is quite late. I'm not really sure whether it will work or not - I guess we'll find out tomorrow!