I suppose it is understandable that I've been napping a lot lately. I don't get to do it every day; sometimes I can't sleep, and sometimes sleep isn't a priority. When I do nap these days it's for an hour, or two, or more, so I guess it's no surprise that when I do wake up I'm fairly non-functional for a while.
Michael suggests that if I limit myself to 20 minute naps I won't have this problem. Have any of you tried it? Compared a short nap to a long one and noticed the difference? I'm not ready to experiment--I just want to sleep.
I've had uncharacteristically late nights the past two nights. Last night Anna and I went to the Bama Theater to see my friend Alyson play. Alyson just produced a CD. You can hear some of her music at www.alysongreenfield.com/music.
3 comments:
Personally, short naps make me feel bad and long naps make me feel bad. I do best with 45 minutes to an hour. I usually still don't want to wake up, but I do much better.
Studies and things say that short naps (power naps of 15-20 minutes) are best. They allow your body to rest, but not go into a deep sleep, which is what happens when you have a long nap. After a power nap you can wake up more easily and have more energy (so they say). I take power naps when I'm studying and get sleepy. I like them a lot. Even if you just sit there an let your mind rest for a little while without actually falling asleep. But long naps make you go into deep sleep, but then you can't finish the cycle (because Parker or something wakes you up). So you don't get really rested. Then it's really hard to get your body going again. And a short nap won't affect how you sleep that night, like a long nap will.
Yesterday I accidentally fell asleep in my room and slept for about an hour. I woke up because I heard something, then I realized what time it was and I had to leave the house quickly. It took me a long time to recover from that. Power naps don't do that to me.
I don't know how much of that is true, but it works for me.
Wes is the king of napping. He's posted twice on the topic on his blog.
http://thefondrens.com/wesblog.php?itemid=450
and
http://thefondrens.com/wesblog.php?itemid=524
Post a Comment