napping

[tuq]

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Noah,

Thoughts on the 15/45/90 nap thing?

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I'd love to hear more, and am glad to see you starless.

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I had a star? WTF NT! SUCKS AS A MOD!!! F OOT IMO.

[Peter Harris]

dude, i added the "noah" into the quote [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[cowboy2579]

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Hate naps. I always wake up from them disoriented, drenched in blood, and seemingly more tired than before.

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FYP

[XXXNoahXXX]

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Noah,

Thoughts on the 15/45/90 nap thing?

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Here's a typical sleep graph




People often hear of REM sleep because of the dreaming, but Stage 4/Slow Wave/Delta sleep is where you get that real deep, restorative sleep.

Given our natural clock-based tendancies, people often time naps for an hour. The problem with this however is that you're waking up during the deepest sleep, and you feel groggy. You spent the entire hour on the path towards that deep sleep, only to wake yourself up before you can enjoy it. Basically you're giving yourself "sleep blue balls."

Now you might say, "then why shorter naps if we don't even hit the deep sleep?" this is true, but even the initial stages offer some restorative effects, and since you didn't hit bottom, you awake feeling more refreshed.


Like you said, 90 minutes seems to be optimal looking to the graph. You hit that deep sleep, and as you're body is natually on the way up, you awake. The only problem that can arise, is that if you aren't taking these naps regularly, you can confuse your system into thinking its bedtime. So while you might wake refreshed, it could have negative consequences and make it harder to sleep that night.


Something people find interesting is that some people who claim alien abduction might just be suffering from malfunctioning REM sleep aka Sleep paralysis, something that affects 30% of people. Have you ever opened your eyes and found yourself unable to move? During REM sleep your body is paralyzed, and sometimes you can awake before the paralysis subsides. In some cases, the dream effects of REM sleep can also continue into waking state and cause people to see things that aren't there. Some people report waking, being unable to move, and seeing beings hovering above them. Not sure where they get the anal probing, but sounds like alien abduction to me.

People think you are either awake or asleep. In fact, sleep/wakefulness is a continuum, and there are numerous levels of each.

[smoking blunt]

So is 8 hours the optimal sleep time? Why when I sleep extra long, say 12 hours do I feel extremely tired?

[MrOnizuka]

I went through a period last year where like 50% of the time I'd be about to fall asleep I'd experience that paralysis thing. In the beginning it freaked the crap out of me because it kinda felt like I was suffocating and couldn't control my breathing.

It doesn't seem to happen to me much at all anymore, but was that some sort of sleep disorder that I should keep an eye on?

[XXXNoahXXX]

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So is 8 hours the optimal sleep time? Why when I sleep extra long, say 12 hours do I feel extremely tired?

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yes. the longer you sleep, the deeper into sleep you fall. thats why that rip van winkle dude was so groggy.

what part of cycles are you not getting?



when people in sleep studies are placed in facilities devoid of live tv, clocks, sunlight, and other time cues, and told to go to sleep when tired and awake when ready, adults sleep for 8-9 hours on average after a few weeks. some people are fine with 6, some need 10, but 8-9 is average. also, studies that tested mental alertness, etc. showed that there was significant increase in performance as the subjects approached 8-9 hours, then it sorta hit a plateau. there's not really such a thing as too much sleep (unless its depression, etc.), but obv. there can be too little sleep.

[XXXNoahXXX]

Also, to all the fatties that might suffer from sleep apnea. Look at that sleep graph and then realize that you are being awoken on the downslope and shocked back to the top, begin the descent again, wake up again, etc. It's like a reverse Sisyphus, where you can never get to that deep sleep.

[Kos13]

I've given up on short naps. No matter how tired I am, it takes me at least 10-15 minutes to fall asleep once I lay down, so I feel like 30 minutes is wasted on the shortest, most disappointing nap ever. If I sleep for 2-3 hours, I'm a wreck for 2-3 hours when I wake up.

Basically, the only "naps" that work for me are the 15 second in-class, boredom-induced eye flickers...and that's a shame because I really enjoy sleeping.

[Iplayragstoo]

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I often find a short nap during the day very refreshing, and much more useful caffeine. Usually I take these in less than ideal spots - in a hot car, in a lecture hall (undergrad), on a random bench like a bum, on a bus/plane, etc. The sleep itself is usually the uncomfortable type of nodding off and semi waking up, but when I fully wake up after 10-30 min I feel instantly rejuvenated.

I also sometimes get in a sleep cycle where I sleep <5 hours during the night, wake up, go to class, and take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. These long naps are always in my bed at home and after I wake up I'm groggy for the rest of the day and confused about what happened on the same day pre-nap and what happened on other days. My productivity for the rest of the day decreases dramatically.

I don't have any earth-shattering conclusions, just wanted to hear other people's thoughts on napping.

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I used to take this kinda nap in college thursday-sunday, and then hit the bars. It was great back then. Then I tried the same kinda nap cycle in the "adult/real" world, and it failed miseriably. God I miss those carefree college days. [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]