CAMAYL

The default, first CAMAYL variant

CAMAYL is an abbreviation of “Core As Much As You Like”, as part of the “-AMAYL” polyphasic series, a highly flexible prototype. Alternatively, it is also known as “Sleep 90 minutes whenever tired“. Similar to SEVAMAYL, it is unlikely that one could adapt to this schedule using the cold turkey method; all attempts have failed so far. A strict adaptation to a base schedule of only 90m core sleeps first(e.g, QC0) has proved to make a successful CAMAYL adaptation later on.

Sleepers need a strong sense of their personal drowsiness to place their cores at ideal times for SWS and REM. The ability to adapt to flexible core sleeps paves the way for a more hectic lifestyle.

The main purposes of this schedule are to:

  • Deliver an experience with sleeping in cores rather than short naps
  • Add more exposure to longer sleeps. It is going to be a different experience from Everyman and Uberman schedules. People who are inclined for longer sleeps and cannot have a consistent daytime schedule may also find CAMAYL a fitting choice.
  • Focus on the personal sleep cycle length to ideally always sleep in a completed cycle.

Content

  1. Lifestyle
  2. Why Does It Work?
  3. Adapted Feelings
  4. Alternate Variants
  5. Adaptation Strategies
    1. Adaptation Route
    2. Strengths
    3. Dark Period Application
    4. Downsides

For What Lifestyles Is This Schedule Best?

Because of the core sleeps long duration, it is more difficult to fit them into daytime hours than schedules with short daytime naps. The schedule would work best for self-employed, work-at-home occupations; those who want to try out something other than Biphasic, Everyman and Uberman may also attempt CAMAYL. 

Consistently long, extended wake periods would hinder the adaptation to the overall flexibility; a slightly flexible QC0 or Triphasic with small changes in sleep times and no varying number of cores from day to day would make for better choices.

Why Does This Schedule Work?

After an adaptation to a schedule with exclusively 90m core sleeps, the brain has adjusted to the new reduced sleep total. It is then possible to slowly shift the core sleeps which contain highly repartitioned SWS and REM without reducing sleep quality.

Flexing when adapting to strict sleep times will not achieve this goal. However, flexible cores may also contain less SWS/REM than a strictly timed core. A varying number of core sleeps from day to day would suffice. 

Each core sleep supposedly only gives a slightly different amount of vital sleep percentage from day to day as from the adaptation to a strict base schedule. The cores also serve to maintain the required amount of SWS and REM each day to boost well-being and alertness around the clock.

What Does It Feel Like Once Adapted?

Occasional night core extension on CAMAYL

Like SEVAMAYL, once adapted it is possible to occasionally extend a core sleep by 90m. It is then wiser to return to the normal 90m core duration for at least a week before extending it again. Similar to adapted schedules, the cores should give alertness boost around the clock with the correct timing.

The freedom to take a core whenever tired is satisfying. It is also comfortable to delay a core sleep for a couple hours in the afternoon, or skip a whole core together if necessary sometimes.

What Variations of CAMAYL Actually Work?

The core duration of CAMAYL has a single cycle to simulate a personal sleep cycle, which ranges from 80m to 120m. Thus, it is possible to schedule a CAMAYL variant with only 80m cores or any duration up to 120m cores.

There may be natural wakes as a result of frequent sleep and some level of sleep compression; however, this should not occur until after many weeks on the schedule.

  • While there are no upper limits in the number of core sleeps each day, realistically up to 5 core sleeps are possible to schedule per day. The lower bound seems to be 3 core sleeps each day, and 2 for mutant sleepers.
  • The number of cores on CAMAYL, however, will reflect the number of cores on a strict base schedule (e.g, Triphasic, QC0).
  • A QC0 sleeper will then end up with approximately 4 core sleeps on average each day on CAMAYL (alternating between 3, 4 and 5 core sleeps depending on days).
  • A Triphasic sleeper may end up with 3 cores on average, or alternate between 3 and 4 cores.

What Is the Best Adaptation Strategy?

As previously mentioned, there have been no successful cold turkey attempts to CAMAYL. It seems to be because the sleep pressure from each core sleep is not great enough to force a complete repartitioning of SWS and REM (barring SPAMAYL).

The adaptation pathway is as follows:

  • Start an adaptation to a strict multi-core schedule first.
  • Then, flex each sleep block incrementally.

Other tips on flexing sleep:

  • A flexing adaptation can begin with 1-2 flexible core sleeps at a time, with 15m earlier/later than the original sleep time.
  • Flexing cores, however, is usually more difficult than naps; this small flex should still be comfortable within some days or a week.
  • It is better to avoid flexing multiple cores with big jumps in one go; doing so can lead to destabilization.
  • During flexing, it is normal to observe drowsy periods around the original core time.
  • Flexing then can advance with larger jumps, 30m earlier/later than the original sleep time. Then, 60m difference and finally up to hours.
  • During this time, the body continually adjusts to various sleep times across the clock. Each jump will take longer to adapt to, up to a couple weeks.
  • It is also advisable to stay at the adjusted certain flex range for some days. The goal is to check if alertness, productivity level and sleep inertia have gone back to desirable levels. Once stabilized, sleepers can continue expanding a flex range.
TriphasicQuad Core 0
https://napchart.com/tom05https://napchart.com/qh4gw

Adaptation Route

Average Sleepers

The adaptation to CAMAYL is not going to be similar to the adaptation to the strict bases (Triphasic and QC0). It will require constant monitoring of energy dips and alertness-drowsiness patterns to place the cores.

  • It is necessary to adapt to either Triphasic or QC0 first (which may take several weeks).
  • Then, stay on the adapted schedule for some more weeks before transitioning to CAMAYL.
  • As flex range gets wide enough for some sleep blocks, the whole schedule can become malleable; this is where long periods of wakefulness will occur.
  • Eventually, it becomes possible to start alternating the number of core sleeps from day to day.

Mutants

Most importantly, only sleepers with monophasic baseline on the lower side (5-6h) are suitable for flexing the Triphasic base.

  • Their CAMAYL would have 3 cores on average each day.
  • They can also alternate between 3-4 cores. 4 cores are for days with a little more tiredness or heavy exercising.
  • Average sleepers (~8h monophasic baseline) should adapt to QC0 base first. This process will ensure a highly flexible CAMAYL variant with an average of 4 cores per day. It is also unknown how flexible 80m core sleeps will be.

Longer single cycle length (e.g, 100-120m) suggests that 3-4 core sleeps per day may be sustainable for these sleepers. However, unlike power naps on other “-AMAYL” schedules, CAMAYL cores require precise timing. The end goals are to decrease sleep onset, sleep through the whole core duration and optimize waking hours.

Since each core already lasts for 90m, taking a couple of them racks up total sleep time quickly.

  • Delaying a core will increase the desire for sleep; when adapted, there will be no problems to overall well-being until one delays a core excessively (2-3h for a morning core and 4-5h for a daytime core).
  • It is also common to expect shorter wake periods during graveyard hours and longer ones during the day to place cores accordingly.

Strengths

Because of the multiple core sleeps, CAMAYL has the following perks:

  • The ability to plan a core ahead of an evening event and a core afterwards on some occasions if necessary.
  • During long travelling to different time zones, CAMAYL is also quite durable with all same-duration core sleeps. With the option to schedule core sleeps and occasional extension, CAMAYL becomes one of the few polyphasic schedules to handle travelling events with good results. 
  • CAMAYL is also solid against Daylight Saving Time. One can simply place a core after the DST change. This makes CAMAYL one of the few polyphasic schedules that can neutralize DST effectively. 
  • The core sleeps provide a lot of room for physical recovery and can take on more SWS requirement on some days. However, it is also necessary to schedule core sleeps properly to protect their quality (before a meal, before a workout or some time after a workout).

Dark Period Application

A consistent 8-hour dark period daily
  • For more stability of the schedule, a dark period should start and end at the same hours everyday, regardless of how many cores. This helps separate day-night clearly to ensure the stability of the circadian rhythm. For example, 10:30 PM to 6:30 PM everyday. 
  • A core can start at least 30m (up to many hours) after dark period has started. Sometimes, if the end of the previous core is close to the start of a regular dark period, then one may stay awake for some more hours before having another core. 
  • At least one core should be at around the 2-6 AM zone, where most people are sleeping. There should be at least 90m-120m of wake gap between each core.
CAMAYL on emergency day

In emergency situations where some daytime events prevent taking a daytime core, it is possible to utilize short naps (10-15m). A couple points to note about this process:

  • The nap serves to temporarily patch up the long wake gap and provide some alertness to stall for the next core. This should be possible after adaptation.
  • Only short naps (< 20m) are preferable because longer naps may lead to REM/SWS wakes as part of repartitioned cores.
  • The goal of the nap is just to provide some light sleep for wakefulness while also giving a refreshing wake.
  • Skipping the nap and staying awake is also an option; however, be mindful of the long wake gap that can lead to excessive drowsiness.
  • In the following day, there is an extra core, which averages out to be 4 cores per day still.
  • Alternatively, extending a core to 3h is viable if it is challenging to schedule 5 cores.

Other Notes on Downsides

Despite the promising flexibility and freedom to sleep whenever tired, CAMAYL is still less ideal than SEVAMAYL and DUCAMAYL.

  • The flexing adaptation and overall more difficult adaptation to adapt to a base schedule with multiple core sleeps.
  • As part of long-term sustainability, the midday cores make it more difficult to schedule except in some cultures (e.g, Spain with siesta) or very specific occupations.
  • The sleep reduction amount is also more limited than an Everyman and some Dual Core schedules. It takes many weeks of consistency and persistence to adapt (up to 4 months including the transition from a strict base schedule).
  • While more resilient than a regular QC0 and Triphasic schedule, it also suffers from the same breakdowns. Sleeping in excess due to sickness, stress, injuries and participating in many social events with extended wake periods can trigger sleep deprivation symptoms from Stage 3. This will take many days to bounce back, or the schedule will destabilize.
  • Flexing cores willy-nilly and not applying the dark period properly will also result in suboptimal sleep.

Conclusion

With all the downsides, the schedule can still greatly benefit mutant sleepers; those who exercise a lot or have a much higher amount of SWS than REM sleep will enjoy it. These sleepers will need fewer cores each day while achieving a high level of flexibility in scheduling. Most importantly, core sleeps support the glymphatic system (clearing brain toxins) much better than nap-only schedules.

Main author: GeneralNguyen
Page last updated: 8 April 2021