Power Nap/20 min Nap Healthy Habit

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

There was a discussion in PWYC about not being able to just nap for 20 minutes. I wondered if this was a habit we needed to develop or train for.

The reading I've done says take a nap for 20 minutes which apparently gives you 2 - 3 minutes of level 2 sleep or 90 minutes, which is a full sleep cycle.

Here are some tips:

* Try deep-breathing or another relaxation technique as you start.

* Choose a quiet, darkened location. A sleep mask may help.

* Lie down (on your bed if at home) or sit in a comfortable chair.

* Listen to soft music or white noise.

* Give yourself a few minutes to recover after your nap. Try a bit of stretching and walking around.

There is also something called a caffeine nap. Since caffeine takes 20 - 40 minutes to take effect, having a caffeine before your nap means you'll be getting up when the caffeine is kicking in for added benefit.

Finally they recommend taking the nap between 2 & 4.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Day one for me.

Went down at 1 p.m. because I was so tired.

Lay on the bed under a fluffy blanket, room dark, headphones on.

Listened to a rainstorm white noise recording that was 20 minutes long and set an alarm in case I was fast asleep when the recording ended.

I heard the recording end but didn't believe it had been 20 minutes.

I lay there for another 10 minutes or so.

Felt very rested. But so far not more productive.

[Harriet]

2 days I did take a nap, although yesterday's was interrupted by phone.

Today I didn't. I was up too late last night and in bed too long this a.m. Being "off" your schedule at one time affects other times.

I am definitely a white-noise believer, and rain sounds seem best.

Will have to consider the coffee idea.

[LadyMaverick]

I am not having any success with taking a nap. I do think it would be a healthy habit to implement.

However, I am not tired and don't want to lay down. Just the thought of having to lay down frustrates me and I can feel my defiance build.

I don't know how to get myself to take a nap when I detest the thought of having to lay down during the day.

[Nancy]

I dozed a bit this afternoon got nearly 5 mi. in today was tired.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Day two I skipped a nap because I went out shopping with dh during nap time.

Day three was at dgs's babysitting. I lay down on the couch during dgs's nap time and did a 20 minute nap. Since dh was also sitting on the L-shaped couch restringing his guitar, I played a slightly louder thunderstorm to focus on that, not him. I had a sleep mask and earphones to quiet outside sounds and make it easy to hear my breathing. I don't know if I slept but I felt very refreshed at the end.

I'm using the app Insight Timer to listen to. I used to have a paid account when I was using it to get to sleep every night but don't anymore. So you may have to register to use the app but the free version is sufficient.

I searched for nap mediations and prefer to nap to rainstorms (I pretend I'm lying on the porch at Hay Lake listening to the rain.) Yesterday was the meditation, "Nap With Nature, Stormy Rainforest" and it is 20 minutes long. I set a separate timer for 23 minutes in case I fall asleep but in the two times I've done this, when the sounds stop at 20 minutes I'm 1. surprised and 2. feel awake and more clear headed.

Today I'm thinking of trying a guided meditation for 30 minutes, with guiding at the beginning, then music, then guiding back into being awake at the end. I think knowing that the meditation will bring me back to awake may help me actually sleep.

Dh watched me down half a can of diet coke before lying down for the nap and raised his eyebrows so I explained what a caffeine nap was.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

LadyM: in my reading about power naps it said that not all people will benefit from them. It sounds like maybe you won't.

Or the time that most people nap is not a time you have available to you. If you are responsible for school age children, you have to spend from about 3 onwards focused on getting them from school and then launching them into an after school routine. If you have energy while you are doing that, I don't think you even need a nap. If you are dragging after you do that, it is probably too late to take a power nap without disrupting your sleep at night.

I'm dragging in the middle of the day and tend to scroll through my phone, not be productive. So the nap stops the scrolling and is at least 'productive' even if it doesn't accomplish anything on my to-do list.

I'm also taking mine earlier than recommended because that's when I'm desperate for a rest. I don't know if that is part of a habit that formed when taking care of dgs since he goes down around noon and I spend 30 minutes 'resetting' the apartment and then go down for a rest myself. The difference with these power naps is that I'm not waking up exhausted after 40 - 50 minutes and then spending another hour until he wakes up just scrolling on my phone. I get up with energy and focus after the power nap.

[Harriet]

If I wait on the time I actually "feel" like a nap, that may sometimes occur at a wise time. But sometimes it's around 4 or even 5, so if I didn't nap until then, the best course is probably to wake myself up with some activity and move on.

I do have a new phenomenon that I totally attribute to the new med that is the absolute demand for sleep at an odd time. If seated, I will actually "nod off" when I thought my attention was "on" something. If up, I'll feel like I'm dragging a ball and chain, and my brain is dragging it, too, balking at making a plan. If I nap mid-day, it does seem to stave off these events. Dr. says there is hope that these side-effects will subside.

LadyM, I know what you mean about getting irritated at the plan to nap. There are a lot of factors, such as HRH's hopes or even my own projects, times that the weather will or won't cooperate with schedules, etc. And this is in a household without live-in school-age folks. Every day just isn't going to be the same at a nap-time, even though it might be in the mornings when constant schedule is more likely.

[Nancy]

I doze this evening.