I don’t know about you guys, but naps are always a crap-shoot with me. Sometimes, I wake up even more tired and groggy than when I went down. Nap fail. I’ve always been known as a die-hard, and most of the time I would rather just stay awake through a tired spell.
I have, of course had successful naps that refreshed me and made it possible to shake off the grogginess, but more times than not they don’t do me a whole lot of good. Well, maybe that’s because I don’t take them often. Sometimes, a good late-afternoon cat nap sounds great, but I very rarely take one because of the risk? Risk? Yea, risk.
If I go to sleep at five o’clock, for example, there is no guarantee that I’m going to wake up by six feeling refreshed. What if I sleep right through until eight or nine? Then the night’s weird and short and I may not be tired for bed time, which puts me on a jacked-up schedule. That ain’t cool. So I mostly avoid them and remain tired, or direct-inject Mt. Dew and Dr Pepper so that I can keep going.
Besides, I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t like to miss things, even if I feel worn out. I’d rather live the day and feel shaky and tired than lay down and risk sleeping the rest of the day away. I’m not a great big fan of daylight, either, which is weird. Much more of a night owl. But sleeping all day and staying up all night makes me feel like hell, so I guess it’s somewhat of a Catch-22.
So, what do you guys do? Any regular nappers out there? Are any of you on an actual nap schedule, where you go down and get up at the same time every day? I know I couldn’t do that. If I’m feeling ill, I’ll nap on and off throughout the day, and I like doing that. But if I feel fine other than just tired, I really, really find it difficult to head to the bedroom and nap. I don’t know why, either. I just do.
10 comments:
I know what you mean. Several times at university I would try and take a nap mid afternoon. When I woke up around 6pm, I felt so woozy I just went back to bed instead of going out for the night and slept all the way through.
I love a good nap, but I never have the opportunity to have one.
There are times in the middle of the day when a tired spell hits, and I could easily fall straight to sleep in my chair. If I happen to be able to TAKE a nap during one of those spells, it's a tremendous nap, I wake feeling very rested... If I ignore it, I tend to have trouble sleeping later that night.
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I remember the most epic cat nap that I have ever had. I was at work, barely able to keep my eyes open. I took my afternoon break in the x-ray room, where it is completely dark and there was a couch ( a couch? maybe a little Grey's Anatomy goin' on in the hospital) where I could lay down. I woke up, sure that I had slept for hours and panicked that I would be fired on the spot for disappearing, I ran back on the unit. Fully expecting the charge nurse to ream me, instead he asked an average question and I started wondering why they didn't miss me, feeling a little bad that I could be that useless. I looked at the time and I had been gone for 10 min, asleep for no more than 5 min and I hadn't even used my full break time. If I could nap like that I would take them all the time. Which President was it that slept for no longer than 20 min at a time? Lincoln? Crazy man!
I try not to be awake for more than an hour or two each day. Anything more than that and I risk realizing how messed up this place is.
I don't do well with a nap either. First, I can't sleep in the daytime in my bed, ever. If it's daylight, no can do.
Occasionally I'll be able to zonk out for a few on the couch in front of TV, but more often than not it screws up my day too.
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I don't nap. Either I am up and never sleep or I crash and burn and sleep through an entire day.
If I nap, I generally wake up grouchy, so my family does all they can to keep me awake.
Nope, I can't nap. My husband can grab a nap any time and I am jealous of that talent.
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I love naps, but they can't be too long. Twenty or thirty minutes is perfect--much longer than that and the grogginess you mentioned kicks in. My real life doesn't afford me too many naps, but in three years, two months, and one week (not that I'm counting) when I ditch the current full time job, I plan on taking a nap every single day.
My “N” post is right here: http://www.word-nerd-speaks.com/2011/04/nanowrimo.html
And you can find the “M” one here: http://www.word-nerd-speaks.com/2011/04/medical-marijuana.html
I'm a fairly frequent napper - usually when my toddler goes down for a nap, so do I. Since all of my surgeries I seem to never be able to really catch up on my sleep, so catch it where I can.
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