Leafs only need access to only one ultrapeer. The extra Ultrapeers are just to help your gnutella searches get out further. So, if you don't search for a while, the extra UP's are freed up, saving you resources and bandwidth. As soon as you get active again, the other UP's are called to make the extra connections to the gnutella network.

This used to be called "sleeping," but I think the term recently changed. Search for "sleep" on these forums to see the other posts.

"Sleep" mode (or whatever it is now called) should have no effect on downloads and uploads, since they use regular http transfers.

As for uploads--that does sound a bit odd, but not unusual. I've seen that happen too. I've found it's mostly coincidence, but the averages in the download statistics tend to a better indication over time. New material gets gobbled up fast, then quickly tapers off. Bearshare clients are really quick to grab new material recently, or so it seems.

As for the "speed"--the formula used to give some indication of "connection quality" might not take "waking up" into account properly yet.