Naps

[stomachmonkey]

I take them.

Generally between 3-5 I take a quick 15-30 minute power nap.

My wife seems to think I have a problem.

She is of the opinion adults don’t need naps.

I’m a guy, give me a comfy couch and some background TV and it’s lights out.

[masraum]

I don't take naps, but I understand that they can be valuable. I think the fact that in the evening my dad would often go to sleep on the couch after dinner (for several hours) turned me off of naps. If I'm REALLY tired, I may take a nap, but it's usually 1-4 hours, and may happen once every other year.

I would be willing to do it if I could take those power naps.

I can usually/often get to sleep pretty quickly, but I'm not the type to wake up after a short period. I don't want to sleep for a couple/few hours.

This is not my problem (falling to sleep), but I think it's cool. My wife needs to practice it.

the method was developed by the US Navy Pre-Flight School to ensure pilots got the vital rest they needed. In the Second World War, many US pilots were making destructive mistakes due to lack of sleep

The new technique, however, allowed troops to fall asleep in any conditions, in any environment, day or night, in under two minutes. After six weeks of trial practice, there was a 96% success rate. This was even the case in the presence of background noise. Read the method below...How to fall asleep in two minutes

1. Breathe slowly and deeply, relaxing the muscles in your face. Release any tension in your forehead, jaw, and around your eyes.

2. Relax your body. Start with your shoulders, dropping them as low as possible. Then loosen your upper and lower arm on one side and then the other.

3. While breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly, relax your upper body and then release any tension in your legs, from your thighs to your lower legs.

4. After your entire body has been relaxed for 10 seconds, you have to clear your mind. This can be done by doing one of the following:

Imagine yourself lying in a canoe on a serene lake with blue sky above you.Picture yourself all cosy and warm in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room.Say 'don't think, don't think, don't think' over and over again for 10 seconds.

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/napping

More than 85% of mammalian species are polyphasic sleepers, meaning that they sleep for short periods throughout the day. Humans are part of the minority of monophasic sleepers, meaning that our days are divided into two distinct periods, one for sleep and one for wakefulness. It is not clear that this is the natural sleep pattern of humans. Young children and elderly persons nap, for example, and napping is a very important aspect of many cultures.

As a nation, the United States appears to be becoming more and more sleep deprived. And it may be our busy lifestyle that keeps us from napping. While naps do not necessarily make up for inadequate or poor quality nighttime sleep, a short nap of 20-30 minutes can help to improve mood, alertness and performance. Nappers are in good company: Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and George W. Bush are known to have valued an afternoon nap.

Types

Naps can be typed in three different ways:

Planned napping (also called preparatory napping) involves taking a nap before you actually get sleepy. You may use this technique when you know that you will be up later than your normal bed time or as a mechanism to ward off getting tired earlier.

Emergency napping occurs when you are suddenly very tired and cannot continue with the activity you were originally engaged in. This type of nap can be used to combat drowsy driving or fatigue while using heavy and dangerous machinery.

Habitual napping is practiced when a person takes a nap at the same time each day. Young children may fall asleep at about the same time each afternoon or an adult might take a short nap after lunch each day.

Tips

A short nap is usually recommended (20-30 minutes) for short-term alertness. This type of nap provides significant benefit for improved alertness and performance without leaving you feeling groggy or interfering with nighttime sleep.
Your sleep environment can greatly impact your ability to fall asleep. Make sure that you have a restful place to lie down and that the temperature in the room is comfortable. Try to limit the amount of noise heard and the extent of the light filtering in. While some studies have shown that just spending time in bed can be beneficial, it is better to try to catch some zzz’s.
If you take a nap too late in the day, it might affect your nighttime sleep patterns and make it difficult to fall asleep at your regular bedtime. If you try to take it too early in the day, your body may not be ready for more sleep.

Benefits

Naps can restore alertness, enhance performance, and reduce mistakes and accidents. A study at NASA on sleepy military pilots and astronauts found that a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34% and alertness 100%.
Naps can increase alertness in the period directly following the nap and may extend alertness a few hours later in the day.
Scheduled napping has also been prescribed for those who are affected by narcolepsy.
Napping has psychological benefits. A nap can be a pleasant luxury, a mini-vacation. It can provide an easy way to get some relaxation and rejuvenation.

Most people are aware that driving while sleepy is extremely dangerous. Still, many drivers press on when they feel drowsy in spite of the risks, putting themselves and others in harm's way. While getting a full night's sleep before driving is the ideal, taking a short nap before driving can reduce a person's risk of having a drowsy driving crash. Sleep experts also recommend that if you feel drowsy when driving, you should immediately pull over to a rest area, drink a caffeinated beverage and take a 20-minute nap.

Shift work, which means working a schedule that deviates from the typical "9 to 5" hours, may cause fatigue and performance impairments, especially for night shift workers. In a 2006 study, researchers at the Sleep Medicine and Research Center affiliated with St. John's Mercy Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital in suburban St. Louis, MO, looked at the effectiveness of taking naps and consuming caffeine to cope with sleepiness during the night shift. They found that both naps and caffeine improved alertness and performance among night shift workers and that the combination of naps and caffeine had the most beneficial effect.

James K. Walsh, PhD, one of the researchers who conducted the study, explains, "Because of the body's propensity for sleep at night, being alert and productive on the night shift can be challenging, even if you've had enough daytime sleep." "Napping before work combined with consuming caffeine while on the job is an effective strategy for remaining alert on the night shift."

Negative Effects

In spite of these benefits, napping isn't always the best option for everyone. For example, some people have trouble sleeping any place other than their own bed, making a nap at the office or anywhere else unlikely. Other people simply have trouble sleeping in the daytime; it could be that certain individuals are more sensitive to the midday dip than others – those who are may feel sleepier and have an easier time napping. Here are some other negative effects:

Naps can leave people with sleep inertia, especially when they last more than 10-20 minutes. Sleep inertia is defined as the feeling of grogginess and disorientation that can come with awakening from a deep sleep. While this state usually only lasts for a few minutes to a half-hour, it can be detrimental to those who must perform immediately after waking from a napping period. Post-nap impairment and disorientation is more severe, and can last longer, in people who are sleep deprived or nap for longer periods.
Napping can also have a negative effect on other sleeping periods. A long nap or a nap taken too late in the day may adversely affect the length and quality of nighttime sleep. If you have trouble sleeping at night, a nap will only amplify problems.
One study has indicated that napping is associated with increased risk of heart failure in people already at risk.

Stigmas

While research has shown that napping is a beneficial way to relieve tiredness, it still has stigmas associated with it.

Napping indicates laziness, a lack of ambition, and low standards.
Napping is only for children, the sick and the elderly.

Though the above statements are false, many segments of the public may still need to be educated on the benefits of napping.

A recent study in the research journal Sleep examined the benefits of naps of various lengths and no naps. The results showed that a 10-minute nap produced the most benefit in terms of reduced sleepiness and improved cognitive performance. A nap lasting 30 minutes or longer is more likely to be accompanied by sleep inertia, which is the period of grogginess that sometimes follows sleep.

By now you're probably thinking about ways to incorporate naps into your daily routine. Keep in mind that getting enough sleep on regular basis is the best way to stay alert and feel your best. But when fatigue sets in, a quick nap can do wonders for your mental and physical stamina.

[pavulon]

Everyone should have the luxury of a daily nap. It’s a terrific neurotransmitter reset!

[porsche4life]

I love a good nap. My problem is waking back up after. If I lay down, I'm out for an hour

[Jim Richards]

Taking a nap would just screw up my ability to sleep at night. No nap time for me.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I take them.

Generally between 3-5 I take a quick 15-30 minute power nap.

I’m a guy, give me a comfy couch and some background TV and it’s lights out.

+100
Not every day, but often around 4 PM with the news on the TV. I drink a cup of coffee and I'm out for 15-20 minutes until the coffee kicks in.

[Evans, Marv]

"Generally between 3-5 I take a quick 15-30 minute power nap.
I’m a guy, give me a comfy couch and some background TV and it’s lights out."

I've been napping since I was young in the pattern described above. I usually have something like Wolf Blitzer on as background noise.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I'm a Martini Sleeper, anytime, any place, anywhere

Usually happens while lying on my couch watching an F1 race, I easily doze off after the first 10 laps and then wake up with around 10 laps to go

Even had a nap once while snorkeling off the coast of Mexico the morning after a heavy night, almost napped on the bottom of a swimming pool with scuba gear on but breathing became a chore as I'd run down the bottle to nearly empty

[porsche tech]

Not on purpose but a lot of days, after golf and lunch, I sit down on the couch to finish the crossword puzzle and inadvertently take one for a few minutes. (Until the dog rings the bell hanging on the front door knob and wants his walk). Ain't routine great? Wife has never done the same thing twice in her life (other than take a nap every day)!

[URY914]

45 minutes on Sat and Sun.

[ckelly78z]

When we go camping, I like to take a nap, which might be a pre-curser for retirement. Usually, I will have 1 Pepsi with lunch, which keeps me going through the afternoon.

[id10t]

Got in teh habit of a 20 min nap on nice days, out under the trees, at lunch time. May have had something to do with working 50 hours per week and taking 3 college courses at a time... In addition, my CPAP machine broke 6 months ago, gotta get in to the see the doc for a replacement, etc. but between my schedule and theirs and work and .... it is rather hard. But I'm on the books for an office visit in a month, to be followed up by a new study, which means I'll finally get my face hugger back

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by masraum

I don't take naps, but I understand that they can be valuable. I think the fact that in the evening my dad would often go to sleep on the couch after dinner (for several hours) turned me off of naps. If I'm REALLY tired, I may take a nap, but it's usually 1-4 hours, and may happen once every other year.

I would be willing to do it if I could take those power naps.

I can usually/often get to sleep pretty quickly, but I'm not the type to wake up after a short period. I don't want to sleep for a couple/few hours.

This is not my problem (falling to sleep), but I think it's cool. My wife needs to practice it.

Most of the past and present brilliant minds took naps. I understand the value just cannot do it myself personally. Not that I have the time.

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Taking a nap would just screw up my ability to sleep at night. No nap time for me.

+1

I typically sleep 5-6 hours a night, if I go to bed too early, like 10 PM I end up waking up at 5 AM before the 6 AM alarm, then I toss and turn thinking too much until the alarm goes off. Sometimes if there is too much to do that day, I just get up and start going.

I cannot imagine what I would be like at night if I napped during the day.

[jcommin]

I'm 68 and still working. i'm also an early riser, On weekends, I'm up at 4 am and have allot of energy. I get all of my chores done before 9 am . I have a pastel art hobby and I'm the most productive in the morning until about 1 pm. Do I nap - yes. i'm exhausted by 2 pm. I take an 1 to 2 hour nap that refreshes me and I'm ready to go again.

[Tobra]

I am not a napper. I do very rarely sleep during the day, but that is generally when I am not sleeping enough at night. If I do fall asleep during the day, I am more diligent about sleeping at night, and it is years before it happens again. Nothing wrong with taking a nap. Did it when I was standing 6 and 6 watches. Sleep for the entire 6 hours off every other time, would take a nap during the next. The falling asleep technique listed above is effective for me, CPO taught it to me the day I met him. I fall asleep fast when I lay down to sleep.

[john70t]

Humans are bipedal and upright.
It takes huge amounts of energy to pump liquids up from the legs through all the other organs.
The heart is #1.
Unwanted toxic substances settle with gravity in the legs. Obey the law of gravity.
We eat way more than necessary for survival.
Extra stuff circulates all the time.
We (and our organs) live twice as long as the same humans a hundred years ago.
The 8-10 hour furious workday is crap on our bodies.
Every other mammal animal species takes naps whenever possible.

[stevej37]

I'm 65 and can truthfully say that the number of naps that I have taken in my life are less than 5.
I sleep very sound at night for 5-6 hours and never feel the need for a nap during the daytime.

[da Vinci Dan]

Need more info...

BMI, workout routine, age, etc... When I am working out and eating well and not consuming too much alcohol, I have no need to nap. I sleep really well and have energy throughout the day. Lean, fit individuals, in my experience, rarely “need” to nap.

I would recommend a sleep study.

... Assuming you are not 50 lbs overweight, not exercising and/or drinking a six-pack every night.... at this point you know what you need to do and are looking for excuses.

[Zeke]

I'm with the Captain, I can fall asleep during a race. And that's the only time — ever.

When recuperating from recent surgery I could sleep a couple times a day. I think that's part of healing. Now back to work and I'm not sleepy until bedtime, and then not always. I have to work hard to get a good night's sleep. You can take that both ways.

[RKDinOKC]

SIESTA! (insert festive mariachi music)