Sleeping at the Office

Based on vacation hours, I could either have worked the day after Christmas, or, thanks to flexible hours, I could try to get all my hours in before Christmas Eve.  

How

I took a blanket to the office, and stayed there till the deed was done.  I slept when I was tired, took time out for walking and eating and other minor things, but mostly worked.  Out of curiosity, I logged what I did in Excel:

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Analysis

Below is the distribution of sleep, work, and other (life) that I endured.  This is NOT STACKED though it looks like it.

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See the flat line of blue from 1pm to 9pm?  My wife picked me up, we went to look at a house, had dinner, then I went home, slept, and showered, then returned to work.

Comparatively, if I had done normal hours: (sleep midight to 7; work 9-12 and 1-4):

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Thoughts

  • I converted “Other” time into “Work”.   Sleep was more or less identical.   Theoretically, this gave me more “Other” time on Friday.
  • It was quite stressful.  I should probably include the day it took for me to return to normal.  (Stress as in “my body was under stress”)
    • If I ever do this again, I’m taking blood pressure and other measurements.
  • Interesting that a segment of work translates to a segment of sleep shortly after.  This was certainly not planned, but it worked out that way.  You cannot escape needed sleep.
  • Assuming the ratio stays about the same, I could do a regular week of work from Monday 8am to Thursday 8am?   Assuming no meetings and scope changes, of course.  (hah!) 

Tips

If I were to do this again, what would I do the same or differently?

  • Invest in a cot or air-mattress to make sleep more effective.
  • When sleeping, sleep FULLY, not “just enough”.  You’re going to sleep the same amount in the end.
  • Nap after every good bit of work; but look ahead (preplan the next bit of code) before napping so subconscious can work on it.
  • Invest in fatty snacks rather than carby snacks.  Especially good for me this time was Dinty Moore Beef Stew.
  • Have minor things you can do for yourself in the middle so you don’t feel neglected, like going for a walk, taking care of an errand, etc.

Author: sunnywiz

Me.

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