CAT NAP
A short, light sleep or doze
When someone says nap, I usually think of children, babies mostly.
Even elderly and animals, such as the aforementioned cat.
I don’t normally think of adults my age taking naps during the day unless there is an underlying reason. By that I mean depression, pregnancy, working excessively, illness, etc.
I refused naps before. I was convinced it would screw up in some way, my sleep at night.
But here I am, finding myself needing naps.
If you haven’t my About Me Page to learn who I am, I am 27 years old (as of 9/30/15).
Why would I need a nap? I am considerably healthy, I don,t eat horribly (working on shaping that up), I exercise…
But I get up at 3:45 A.M. probably 4 days out of the week to be at work for 4:30 A.M. to work until (scheduled 12:30 P.M.) 1:00 P.M. or later. I also usually go to bed sometime AFTER 10:30 P.M. This gets me 4 hours of sleep.
The National Sleep Foundation
The National Sleep Foundation recommends napping either 20 minutes or 90 minutes in the afternoon.
20 minutes will help enhance motor skills and attention.
A nap like this is recommended if you have to drive and didn’t get enough sleep the previous night.
90 minutes will give you a round of REM sleep. This can help you feel refreshed and make better decisions. connections with better thought processes. You shouldn’t wake up and earlier than 90 minutes or later, this can have you feeling groggy and worse off than before by cutting the REM cycle short.
*If you find you cannot fall asleep at night it is recommended that you stop napping.*
SO SHOULD I NAP?
Short answer is yes.
Long answer is yes.
I wake up so early in the day that I must sustain my energy longer until it is time to rest. I need to recharge in the afternoon. That being said, the optimal time for me to nap according to my own research through countless sites and formula creations etc., is NOON. Well that isn’t possible. We’ve been over my work schedule. So, I think I may have to nap Immediately after getting home from work. Like I’m talking in the house kiss my babe, shoes off, pants off >_>, in the bed, timer set GO. Could this be possible? Maybe. Guess we shall find out.
I SHOULDN’T be napping because I’m going to bed at 10:30 P.M. or later though.
I use an app on my phone and anytime i actually stuck to the “game plan” I did wake up refreshed. There is a website that is good too. Bedtime Calculator You put the time you have to wake up and it tells you what times you should go to bed at based on REM sleep cycles. The average person takes 14 minutes to fall asleep so you should be in bed 14 minutes BEFORE the time it says to “go to sleep” There is also an option for if you choose to say you are going to bed right now.
I’ll share mine. I plugged in 3:45 A.M. and it told me, 6:45 P.M. 8:15 P.M. 9:45 P.M. 11:15 P.M.
6:45 P.M. Is straight out not okay. This is before my kids are even washed up from dinner.
8:15 P.M. is also not okay. My kids are in bed but they are not fully asleep yet.
9:45 P.M. Seems what I think I would like to go with.
This will give me about 6 hours of sleep. Plus a 90 minute nap in the afternoon before my kids get out of school sounds just about right.
So what do you think about the infamous nap?
I think we should give them the GREEN Light. 🙂
Tash Fit Life 