My Attempt at Centaurian Time

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Standardized time sucks, and I honestly loathe it. What's that quote.. "I wouldn't own a watch except I'd miss all my appointments."? Honestly it's just awful. I quite frequently have to explain to people that I'm not on US east coast time, but rather China time.

I don't know why I've just always been a longer sleeper, a huge fan of napping, a night owl- the whole 'kit n'caboodle' . I typically don't sleep often, am plagued by insomnia- or at least that's the only time my mind has quiet time.

Anyway, I was watching the preview to Men in Black 3 and I was trying to remember that scene from the first one about the 37 hour days-

Jay: Zed, don't you guys ever get any sleep around here?

Zed: The twins keep us on Centaurian time, standard thirty-seven hour day. In a few months, you'll get used to it. Or you'll have a psychotic episode.

So I've decide to change the world, or in the least change my world. I think I'll try to start practicing this time system. I was never really confortable with the idea of my movements being syncronized with the masses. Way to much $#!% in life is planned, defined, marked off.

I want to be free, that's all. The idea is pretty fascinating. Right now we (east coast) get's about 15 hours of daylight and 9 hours of darkness in a standard "world" day. 37 hours is only 13 hours more that that which isn't to bad.

So a 37 hour day would be 15 hours of daylight, followed by 9 hours of darkness, followed by another 13 of daylight. Which basically comes down to being up for 28 hours, not too hard to accomplish- I've done it before.
Currently I'm at 21 hours, which means I'll be heading to bed at 28:00 (In case you didn't realize I'm pretty much making this up as I go.. ) I'm still hyper thanks to all the coffee, not even remotely tired. Hopefully the rest of the days are this easy.

Maybe I'll even develop my own clock, ah, getting ahead of myself once again.

reply to post by ragiusnotiel


I also have difficulty sleeping. I attribute it to stress. But, throughout my life I have found that being awake in the wee, small hours of the morning is more suitable. I pay for it on most early mornings. I don't spell quite as well. My mental acuity is off.

Unfortunately, if you continue to be up for 28 hours on end you probably will have a psychotic episode. Also, not to be an ass, but anything from "Men in Black" should instantly bring up flags.

Maybe you require less time asleep. People do differ.

SomeLinks:
Circadian RhythmCircadian rhythm

Polyphasic Sleep

Try a sleep study they are offered in many areas.

My physician explained that the body would get the rest it needed one way or another. Unless, there is a profound issue with the system.

I think a thirty hour day is a little more appropriate. An extra 6 hours to get some sleep and be productive. All you have to do is build a couple giant rockets and attach them to the earth. We only need to slow the earths rotation slightly. Presto!! 30 hr day whether you like it or not.

reply to post by Dookie Master


hahah I was using the reference to add a little humor to it.

I've actually experimented with a bunch of different sleep patterns. My favorite was what Einstein used to do (he never slept, and would just take 20 minute naps every couple hours). Very effective when I have a massive amount of work to do.

The trouble isn't just that I sleep for longer than most, but that I seem to be 'awake' for much longer than I should be. I don't tired easily. A perfect system for me would probably be 20 hours up, 10 hours asleep. Never heard of any other "day patterns" other than the movie reference.

Also that the clock seems to almost be a prison- and I constantly catch myself looking 6 hours 47 minutes... 4 hours 17 minutes.. etc. And they're everywhere it's almost impossible to escape them.

Wasn't Einstein it was Da Vinci..

reply to post by ragiusnotiel


Yeah, I figured you were joking. But, I had to make sure I don't want to offend anyone.

There are many factors that can lead a person to not be able to sleep and then sleeping to much. It is not my area of study per se (I am a cognitive doctoral student), but there are many theories why we sleep. That is it though, just theories. I link internet articles because they are easy to access, but only the ones backed up by the published works I have studied.

Theory of Sleep

reply to post by Dookie Master


Thank you for all the links! I actually never knew what the "da vinci" sleep pattern was just knew it wasn't a very long time! They were very helpful.

I don't think it's a problem for me, but I would say the people around me do not grasp any idea different from the typical sleep pattern.

I do think it's correlated to the fact that over the years I have gotten less and less out of sleep. I used to be infatuated with it in my teen years, I would sleep all the time, and frequently take naps. The older I get the less I want to be asleep and the less rest I get out of it which is probably why I'd rather be awake for more hours.

I don't think I get much REM sleep anymore, but I honestly won't know for obvious reasons.

reply to post by ragiusnotiel


A respected theory states that REM sleep is a basic function of life A life sustaining function

I know I do not sleep when stressed. I can sleep better when not stressed, but physically uncomfortable. (Example: Sleeping in the woods, but my bills are paid. VS. Sleeping a nice comfortable bed, but my rent is due and I am broke) When I don't sleep I am like a zombie. Time goes by so fast, it seems. But, I have postulated that sleep may calibrate how the body views time. Like I stated earlier, I study how we think and process information, mostly on a conscious level. Cognition on an unconscious level is a different thread entirely.

If you are able, try and use a sleep journal. Write times and how satisfactory your sleep is; this can help if you wish to see patterns that may be indicative of why you are not sleeping.

Let me know how it goes.

I don't mean this in a negative way, just a thought...

doesn't consuming coffee kind of throw a wrench in your mini experiment?

I've always wanted to kind of due the opposite of your experiment. Instead of create a new sleeping schedule, and see how my body/mind react, I would want to avoid clocks and only note when I naturally get tired and fall asleep and wake up. In other words just follow my body's clock and then adjust my "fake" time schedule to that.

Unfortunately working a job doesn't allow me to do that.

Originally posted by dannyfal
I don't mean this in a negative way, just a thought...

doesn't consuming coffee kind of throw a wrench in your mini experiment?

Not really, coffee is a staple in my diet. It really has very little effect on me, unless I make it really strong.. like I did today lol.

Originally posted by ragiusnotiel

Originally posted by dannyfal
I don't mean this in a negative way, just a thought...

doesn't consuming coffee kind of throw a wrench in your mini experiment?

Not really, coffee is a staple in my diet. It really has very little effect on me, unless I make it really strong.. like I did today lol.

I'm up for experimenting... Pun intended. I've geared myself towards an extremely high metabolism. I avoid caffeine completely. Instead, I drink a couple of dragonfruit vitamin waters (with taurine). I also chew a gummy vitamin C - two multi's. In addition, anti-oxidants such as grape seed extract (and here recently spirulina).

To find a proper balance you should probably go 16 1/2 on - 7 1/2 off. Any less and the weekends are playing catch up. Makes Monday mornings even more hell. I try to pass out at 1:30AM every night. Anyhow, I'd go into more detail, but yeah... Let's just say afterwards the sleep is great!

Originally posted by ragiusnotiel

I don't know why I've just always been a longer sleeper, a huge fan of napping, a night owl- the whole 'kit n'caboodle' . I typically don't sleep often, am plagued by insomnia- or at least that's the only time my mind has quiet time.

This line you wrote I am totally with you.
The only time of peace and quiet I find is when I've been awake just longer than the usual shifts to sleep.

I never caught the centurian time line in MiB or have heard of it.
Is the name and the 37 hrs a true existence or fiction. I could look it up

great post.It got me thinking.

I live on somewhat of a 30-36 hour day. Do you really want to know how it feels? You feel exhausted most of the time. The most important things to remember is to drink the water and exercise. Otherwise, you have headaches. When you return to regular living for a while, you gain a significant boost to your strength and general well-being. I don't know why, I don't know the science behind any of this, all I know is I actually do it regularly.

I did some calculating on this centaurion time, it's possible, say you wake up on monday at 08:30am and stay up untill tuesday 20:30pm, to wake up wednesday at 08:30am, staying up till thursday 20:30pm. Etcetera... That way you still live a 'normal' life, because at no point do you sleep during the day. Ofcourse it would take a few months before getting adjusted, but yes (perhaps powernaps included) one would be more productive by simply staying awake longer in comparism to the hours one rests, so at first this will be hard.
I figure in 24hr days ppl sleep 8 so 1/3 is sleep. In this hypothetical centaurion time based on 2 weeks one would respectively get 86hrs sleep over 336hrs, so only 1/4 is sleep (without powernaps ofc)
But i see it work such a 36-37 hour day
Any thoughts/comments?
Thank you

Point523598775598299

reply to post by Point523598775598299


Sry, that would be 84hrs sleep out of 336, not 86.