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I just got back from China. Today was an absolutely gorgeous Northern California day. I only saw clear sunny blue skies in China a handful of times in 6 weeks which made today's clear blue skies even more enjoyable.

I have a few new polyphasic-related thoughts. I would also like to share some experiences that are related to my trip back home.


Say Goodbye to Jet Lag and Being a Grumpy Traveler

I felt that it would be very difficult if not impossible to wake up to alarms on a plane, so I decided to try and nap "naturally." By this I mean that I went to sleep when I felt tired, and I woke up when my body decided to wake up.

I will admit that I slept more than 20 minutes every 4 hours, but this was expected since I was confined to a dark, comfortable seat with movies, a pillow, and a blanket.

The 11+ hour flight sped by. Polyphazers often write about time dilation, and they usually discuss how time seems to slow down. However, I experienced the opposite kind of time dilation. The plain flight seemed to last about 2-3 hours when in fact it was over 11 hours long. I think that the flight seemed so short because I was very relaxed from taking so many naps. Furthermore, REM sleep literally took my mind off of the plane and into other dreaming environments. So, my brain was consciously aware of being on the plane for a shorter duration of time then it would have been if I were awake the whole time.

When I arrived in San Francisco, I saw many of my flight comrades yawning and looking exhausted. I felt better than I have ever felt getting off of a long plane flight. While the time change has made it so that I have essentially had two consecutive days without a night, I do not feel tired or disoriented at all.

Polyphasic Sleep adds another selling point to its illustrious list of pros: no more jet lag.


Tennis

I played tennis today for the first time in over six weeks. I am a tremendous believer in placebo effects and self-fulfilling prophecies. The brain is such a powerful part of us. If you tell yourself in earnest that you cannot do something, you will almost surely fail and vice versa. In high school, I would get nervous and tell myself that I would be rusty if I went one day without practicing tennis. As a result, I would feel rusty and I would not play well even if I only took one day off.

Now that I am in college, have academics as my number one priority, and do not have time to play tennis all the time, I have to work hard to design my tennis game to be low-maintenance. In the past year, I have worked hard to simplify my forehand and my serve so that I can play at a high level even if I have not been practicing and polishing my tennis game frequently.

My old brain habits made my brain start to think that today's effort to play tennis (with a very good player) would be impossible. After all, I haven't touched a racket in nearly two months and I have been averaging around 2.5-3 hours of sleep per day for the past two weeks. Conventional wisdom would say that I could not play a high level of tennis given my recent history.

I played extremely well. Some of my friends are playing tennis every day. Even if I had joined them and played tennis every day this summer, I would not have been disappointed with my performance today. My timing, power, and feel all seemed to be about where they would have been if I had been training on a regular basis.

Like the bursts of energy that I received when I went for runs in China, I felt that my cardiovascular capacity and my mental patience were greatly heightened. I usually get very tired when I play tennis even if I have been training every day for months. Furthermore, I often get very emotionally invested and feel nervous and frustrated. I don't remember breathing hard at all even once today, and I was doing a lot of running in 90 degree heat. I also felt very happy and optimistic. When I missed a shot or made a mistake, I would think, "it's ok, I just have to do _____ next time and it will be great." Usually I tend berate myself and carry on pessimistically after mistakes in tennis.

I was very pleased with tennis today. I plan to play again tomorrow for another two hours or so, but afterwards I will also lift weights. I don't foresee any problems there at all.

Good night

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