Midday nap

[vilts]

Hello,

I stumbled across this: 5 Reasons To Take Naps at Ririan Project

Does anyone of you practice this midday 30-40 minute nap? I have very often this problem with sleepiness after midday, but when I have the chance to take little nap, I usually just sleep 2 hours straight (it's probably this slow-sleep) and when I try to wake up after 30 minutes I feel even more sleepy. Second problem is that when I do sleep during day it really messes up my sleep rhythm, which is usually 8 hours per day, from 10pm - 6am, at nights I just don't fall sleep.

Actually from new year I'm thinking of trying out polyphasic sleep, because then I start working from home and I don't have to do regular office hours, I sleep and work whenever I want to.

Anyone has experience or suggestions with this?

[moltar]

I do it quite often and it really helps. Check out pzizz, it will help you to relax, fall alseep easily and wake up 20-30 minutes later. As far as I understand, the key is to not sleep more than 20-30 minutes, otherwise you will go into REM mode and then waking up will be difficult and you will feel more tired afterwards.

[Scott Bird]

Originally Posted by vilts

Actually from new year I'm thinking of trying out polyphasic sleep, because then I start working from home and I don't have to do regular office hours, I sleep and work whenever I want to.

Anyone has experience or suggestions with this?

Vilts, you might like to consider biphasic sleeping (having a nap + core sleep each day). You might find the switch easier than one to polyphasic sleep, for the simple fact that it's not quite as much of a lifestyle change.

I've been biphasic for a little over two months now, and there's no problem with sleepiness following the nap (apart from the usual few minutes' waking up). Highly recommended.

If you want to find out more, I've noted a few resources on my site :

Straight to the Bar: Biphasic sleep resources

[mrpinto]

I too am a bi-phasic sleeper. I've found that the general assumption of a 90-minute sleep cycle (incl. REM) works for me. My current setup is 3 or 4.5 hours at night, with a 1.5 hour nap in the late afternoon. I find that I'm groggy for 10-20 minutes after each sleep session, but I spend the rest of my day more refreshed than before.

It appears that you are unintentionally taking a nap for a full sleep cycle (90 minutes, plus overhead for getting to sleep and waking up = roughly two hours). If you want to take shorter naps, you'll probably want to keep them real short in order to avoid REM. It's the in-between times that really make you feel unrefreshed.

Polyphasic sleepers swear by their ability to cram a full sleep cycle into a 20-30 minute nap. I've never tried it, but apparently a good bit of self-training is necessary to make that kind of thing work.