neurohack

It’s one of the issues that every polyphaser has to work out for themselves – to what extent can you use stimulants? My experiences below.

When I first started to adapt I was moderately addicted; 2-5 coffees a day (or equivalent in energy drinks). I started on the Tesla pattern, but soon realised that I had grossly misjudged the half-life of caffeine. It was still affecting me six hours later, and with only twenty minutes of sleep per nap I needed every minute. So I stopped – few days of headaches, nothing major. Adaption was much easier after that.

When I was on Uberman last year I started the adaption phase with a caffeine habit – I got literally nowhere until I kicked it. So Uberman, not surprisingly, is even worse for the Demon Bean.

Now, I was fairly tolerant to caffeine – with monophasic, I could have a coffee right before bed and go to sleep without difficulty. Polyphasic changed that for me.

In the name of science, I’ve been playing around with it since adaption, and found the following:

• If I have anything more than half a cup of coffee (~40 mg of caffeine) during a six-hour waking period I won’t be able to sleep (or will have great difficulty doing so, at best).
• If I have, say, a few sips of an energy drink directly after waking up, this will (probably psychosomatically) help me wake, but won’t affect me later on.
• If I know I’m going to skip a nap, then a coffee or two (or, in my case, a 160-mg energy drink) will be very helpful in remaining functional and won’t keep me awake for my next nap, as long as I take it within three hours of waking up.

So, my advice to those planning to polyphase: ditch caffeine before you start. If you know you’re going to be up, then a small amount won’t hurt and might help, but in general a caffeine habit is a Bad Thing on Tesla, and even worse on Uberman. It won’t help at all during adaption, and once you’re adapted you won’t need it.

Comments about how you’ve found polyphasic and stimulants to mix are appreciated – I want to learn as much about this as possible.