Modified Sleep Schedule

[jbseth]

Hi All,

This morning, I read NOPR, Chapter 14, and rediscovered that in a good portion of this session, Seth talks about his adjusted sleep schedule recommendation.



In this chapter, Seth spends the first part of it discussing how many of our beliefs are somewhat polarized. This is the chapter where he had several columns of word lists, where some of these columns are titled, "State of Grace", while others are titled, "Out of Grace".

For example, in the first "State of Grace" column, this column contains the words: Health, Wealth, White, Christian. Then, just opposite of this, in the first "Out of Grace" column, that column contains the words: Disease, Poverty, Black, Non-Christian.

In the first part of this chapter Seth talks about how many of our beliefs are polarized along a system of beliefs such as those given by this grouping of "State of Grace" and "Out of Grace", word lists.  Some people believe that those who are, white, Christian, wealthy and healthy are in a state of grace, while those who are black, non-Christian, poor and diseased are in an out of grace condition.



However, after talking about these various systems of belief, he then proceeds to talk about our typical 8 hour sleep pattern and how this sleep pattern affect our lives. In this chapter he talks about how our sleep pattern keeps us from recognizing the connections between our waking conscious self and our sleeping, dreaming, unconscious self. He points out how our typical 8 hour sleep pattern contributes to our beliefs concerning the differences between these 2 portions of our selves. These beliefs also contribute to other beliefs that we hold such as the "State of Grace" and "Out of Grace" sets of beliefs.


The specific sleep pattern, that he recommends in NOPR, Ch13, S651, are these:
Those of you who are able will discover that a somewhat altered arrangement will work greatly to your advantage. I suggest a six-hour sleeping block of time at one session, and no more. If you still feel the need for a greater amount of rest, then a two-hour-at-the-most nap can be added.

(Pause.) Many will find that a five-hour steady sleeping period is quite sufficient, with a nap as required. A four-hour block is ideal, however, reinforced by whatever nap feels natural.

In such circumstances, there are not the great artificial divisions created between the two states of consciousness. The conscious mind is better able to remember and assimilate its dreaming experience, and in dreams the self can use its waking experience more efficiently.


I just realized that, given our present self-isolation and slowing down that's occurring in our society, maybe now would be a great time to try this out, for any of you who've ever wanted to do so.  I'm thinking that maybe I'll try it out for a week or so, just to see if I notice any difference.

- jbseth

[T.M.]

Hi All,

Hi Jbseth,

I can rarely sleep more than 6 hours at night. Been like that for a few years. Early on in this I started looking on the net, to see what I could do to get back to an 8ish hour pattern.

I came across an article, that discusses how pre electricity days,
"Humans Used to Sleep in Two Shifts, And Maybe We Should Do It Again"

https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-used-to-sleep-in-two-shifts-maybe-we-should-again

That's kind of what I do now. More of necessity. I don't always feel well rested after just 6 hours. Sometimes it's all I need. If I'm still tired I stay up a bit and go back to sleep. If I feel the need for an afternoon nap, I take one, schedule permitting.

[Deb]

Great find, that article on sleep shifts! I knew Seth recommended that to Jane and Rob and explained how our ancestors would do that out of necessity.

I've never tried it on purpose, but for the past several years I've been waking after about 5-6 hours of sleep, am awake for a couple of hours, then go back to sleep for 1-2 hours. At least most of the time.

I used to hate it when that started, but then I began to enjoy my peaceful couple of hours during the middle of the night, using it to get some reading done. I find that when I go back to sleep for the second time, I have a lot of very vivid dreams which I also enjoy. And I'm completely refreshed despite the gap in my sleep.