Polyphasic Travel and Conferences

I just got back from two weeks on the road.  First was personal time, attending a friend's wedding.  Google called it ten hours of driving time.  For some people, that's a two day trip, others will do it in a marathon solo drive or bring someone else and trade off.

As a polyphasic sleeper, you get another option, and one that saves on hotel costs as well.  I decided to just drive through the night.  I left at 6pm, timed for making a late dinner at a restaurant I love a few hours away.  At 1040pm I pulled into a rest stop and slept until 1220am, an hour and forty minutes.  This was enough to get me through to where I was going, getting in around 630am.  Of course, you can't check into a hotel that early, so I watched the sun rise over the beach, read a book in the sun, then stretched out on a bench above the high water line around 8 and took an hour long nap.

I was able to nap regularly on most of the days I was there, but unfortunately not the day of the wedding itself.  I had a work conference coming up soon, so I was departing after the reception.  Had  a great time, but things ran later than I hoped and, with no naps so far that day, the drive home was rougher.  I took one long nap like on the drive out, but also had to supplement it multiple smaller naps.  By the time all was said and done, I think I slept for close to 3 hours during that drive.  It took 13 hours instead of 11.5.

Come Tuesday I was out of town again for a work conference.  These are all day affairs, and really provide no opportunity for napping.  I fell into a monophasic sleep pattern for the duration since there was no chance to nap and social activities were common after the sessions, often leading to late nights.

I'm back home now.  Been a hectic two weeks, and need to kick myself back into polyphasic mode and get my working out started again.

When it comes to travel, as elsewhere, the ability to control your schedule is key to being able to maintain a polyphasic cycle.  If you can, the benefits are great.  By traveling at night, I was able to spend my first day on the beach while other friends were traveling, and my last day back home with my wife, again while they were on the road.  It also saved me over $200 in hotel costs.  On the other hand, if I had tried to maintain it at the conference I would have been falling asleep during presentations, which would be completely unacceptable.  As always, flexibility is key.