Never say never: Finally appreciating naps

I wrote quite recently about last month being Better Sleep month, and about my own insomnia.

An up until quite recently I was known to say: "I can't sleep during the day." And "I can't fall asleep again once I'm up in the morning." Both of these things certainly used to be true. No matter the small number of hours slept in the night, I did not find myself tired enough to consider taking an afternoon nap, and if, by chance, I did give it a shot, I would lie there, not sleeping, trying to convince myself that "resting" was at least of some value. Same goes in the morning. Even if I got up, fed my cat, used the bathroom and went back to bed I would just like there and not fall asleep.

That has changed this year. It now seems that if I am exhausted by mid-afternoon, and I go lie down in bed, I will actually fall asleep, sometimes for just 45 minutes, sometimes for a couple of hours. If it falls on the short end of that contiuum I'm not entirely convinced it's beneficial, as I'll sometimes feel a bit out of it for quite a while after waking up. But a 1-2 hour nap? Does feel good.

And just this morning, I woke up at about 5:30, eventually got up, fed the cat, used the bathroom, went and laid down on the couch...and fell asleep again until almost 10:30AM. Yowsa. I literally cannot remember the last time I slept in like that!

Turning to the trusty Better Sleep Council I find that there's nothing wrong with an occasional nap. But if you're napping all the time, that's a sign of "sleep debt." Well, I really only have the opportunity to do it about once every 1-2 weeks, so I doubt that counts as "all the time." (Although I wish I could do it every day.)

I also learn that making up for lost sleep on the weekends is not the ideal method for dealing with persistent sleep debt. Guess I better go wake up the S.O. who is still asleep as we appraoch noon here.

I'd like to think that being able to sneak in naps is a sign of some newfound ability to manage my own thoughts so that I'm not keeping myself up with stress and worrying (like most with sleep problems do) but it's probably just a sign that, now being older, my body is winning out over my brain!

Comments

[Denise]

I really used to like a good afternoon nap, or better yet, a mid-morning nap. But for the last couple of years, I've become a horrible napper. (A horrible sleeper in general though)

Well yesterday, I took the most awesome nap! And today, another pretty darn good morning nap. I'm so pleased with myself and I hope this new trend sticks. I've really missed napping.