Week 5 - Progress!

My target behavior was to dramatically reduce the long duration of my naps to 0-30 minutes per day.

Here is my progress report!

10/28 Wednesday - 1 hour, at home :( I put my alarm to 20 minutes, I woke up and turned to alarm off then went back to sleep. When I woke up I was disappointed in myself and told my grandma next time to wake me up in time.

10/29 Thursday - 30 minutes, at home. First time success! I thought of paying my sister more than $5 as a result of Wednesday and that really irked me. I didn't want to do it again so I changed my behavior.

10/30 Friday - none! I didn't have time throughout the day to take a nap because by midday I had to go to a retreat.

10/31 Saturday - 2 hours, at UCLA convention center A.S conference retreat :( I was really exhausted from the night before, or rather the morning of that day because I slept at 4:30am and had to wake up at 7am. I had too much fun at the retreat and that was my punishment!

11/1 Sunday - 30 minutes, at home. Another success, reinforced by my grandma!

11/2 Monday - none! I was able to control my urges to take a nap. Also I had to write 4 essays all that day because the retreat took so much time out.

11/3 Tuesday - 20 minutes, in the school library. Took a short power nap at school, usually it lasts for more than an hour but again with the help of my handy dandy cell phone and desire to not be drowsy in class, I took a short nap.

I am really proud of myself because I was able to achieve my goal 5 out of the 7 recorded days. My behavior is definitely changing, and what's even more exciting is that I no longer feel that short period of exhaust after the long nap, because mostly I am now taking shorter naps.

Long-Term Positive Reinforcement
I really wanted to spend $50 for the end of the week to shop, so in the beginning of the week it was a good incentive but when I found out that I need to pay $105 for a club event and membership, this motivation sort of drowned. I no longer wanted to spend money, especially out of my own pocket, ergo this reinforcement didn't play a big role for this week.

Immediate Negative reinforcement
As I mentioned before, I am now beginning to feel the positive physiological effects on taking shorter naps. When I took long naps lasting 2-3 hours, it took a bit of recovery time to get back to being productive. Although the recovery time is inconsistent, I'm glad to say I didn't feel any of those 'side effects' when I took short naps.

Immediate Positive Punishment
Since I didn't follow my program for two of the days I recorded, my mom will be taking out $10, $5 for last Wednesday's and $5 for last Saturday's results. This punishment is really effective as a source of motivation because I'm already losing money for club events and on top of that I will be losing money for my sister.. I'm sure she's more than ecstatic to receive even the smallest amount of money from me!

Long-Term Negative Punishment
This punishment is supposed to make sure I come home on time by 11pm, imposed by my parents if I were to not follow my plan. I went out with my friends on two nights last week but conveniently came home before 11pm without their constraint, but rather out of my own fatigue. Therefore this punishment wasn't really effective this week.

Effective methods this week: Immediate Negative Reinforcement, Immediate Positive Punishment.
Ineffective methods this week: Long-Term Positive Reinforcement, Long-Term Negative Punishment.

So far I am making great progress, thanks partially to my grandma who is double-checking on my progress. I really aspired to change this behavior for a long time so I'm relieved that I'm finally altering this mess, and getting more time to study for classes and tests. I don't believe my program should be changed because my program utilizes all positive and negative reinforcements and punishments. I don't want to be tougher on myself to the point where I give up.

Here's what I found on a site: http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslifestyle/a/powernap.htm

"The Benefit of a Power Nap: Studies show that 20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon provides more rest than 20 minutes more sleep in the morning (though the last two hours of morning sleep have special benefits of their own). The body seems to be designed for this, as most people’s bodies naturally become more tired in the afternoon, about 8 hours after we wake up."

"How Long Should I Sleep? When you sleep you pass through different stages of sleep, known together as a sleep cycle. These stages include light sleep, deep sleep (which is believed to be the stage in which the body repairs itself), and rapid-eye movement sleep, or REM sleep (during which the mind is repaired).

Many experts advise to keep the nap between 15 and 30 minutes, as sleeping longer gets you into deeper stages of sleep, from which it’s more difficult to awaken. Also, longer naps can make it more difficult to fall asleep at night, especially if your sleep deficit is relatively small. However, research has shown that a 1-hour nap has many more restorative effects than a 30-minute nap, including a much greater improvement in cognitive functioning. The key to taking a longer nap is to get a sense of how long your sleep cycles are, and try to awaken at the end of a sleep cycle. (It’s actually more the interruption of the sleep cycle that makes you groggy, rather than the deeper states of sleep.)

As there are pros and cons to each length of sleep, you may want to let your schedule decide: if you only have 15 minutes to spare, take them! But if you could work in an hour nap, you may do well to complete a whole sleep cycle, even if it means less sleep at night. If you only have 5 minutes to spare, just close your eyes; even a brief rest has the benefit of reducing stress and helping you relax a little, which can give you more energy to complete the tasks of your day."

It is perplexing to find out that long naps are beneficial as well, such as a much greater improvement in cognitive functioning. However I believe that for me there are more benefits to power naps, because the article says "longer naps can make it more difficult to fall asleep at night, especially if your sleep deficit is relatively small" which is very true for me. The article also states even 5 minutes will help you relax and give you energy throughout the day, so instead of aiming for no naps at all, I will try to aim for 15 minutes.