Tag: sleeping

Take a nap or power through?

Everyone tends to know how important sleep is but a lot of people tend to not have a lot of knowledge of how important naps are. Some people love them and others hate them or they think napping as a whole is a bad thing and others tend to think they are great. But the real question is who is right? And in reality the answer is everyone is correct depending on the situation.

The key answer is if you can easily fall asleep between 11 am and 3 p.m. in a comfortable place with the lights out for exactly 20 minutes then yes a nap can work wonders for you, if not then you are better off just staying awake and powering through. Our circadian rhythm has two natural stages of sleepiness which is during the middle of the night and the other one is post lunch. So whether you believe in napping or not you can eliminate the guilt you feel when you start to lose focus early in the afternoon. If you have a quiet place to lay down you shouldn’t fight the feeling to nap.

If you want to get the maximum benefit out of your next nap then I would suggest the following

#1 The time matters

This may sound contradictory but the proper nap length is either 20-30 minutes or 90 minutes. It will take you 90 minutes to go through the full REM sleep cycle which allows you to have the same benefits of having a full 8 hours of sleep. If you wanted to take a short nap then I’d suggest taking a nap for 20 minutes because you will be less likely to deal with sleep inertia which makes you feel groggy when you wake up.

#2 Nap in the right evnorinment

I know for myself sometimes being at school it is hard for me to get time to nap because during the day is when people are most active and more importantly the sun is out. This causes my room to not be completely dark causing it to be hard for me to go to sleep. I’d suggest finding a room with the least distractions.

#3 Know when to nap and when to power through

Don’t nap too late in the day if it is after 3 p.m. because if you do then your more than likely going to shorten your ability to fall asleep at night. Often times when I get tired after 3 p.m. I try to go to the gym or take a walk to wake myself up.

Having trouble sleeping?

They say on average most healthy adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. But, if you are somebody like me you often find yourself scrolling through your phone late at night and then the next day complaining that you are tired. Am I right? So, because I was up until midnight or later my day is a complete struggle. My solution to that is to come back to my dorm after my classes are finished and take a nice long 3-hour nap. That 3-hour nap that I took has now messed up my sleep schedule once again because now I am not tired enough to go to bed at a decent time. 

Lack of sleep can cause confusion, lower your immune system, and effect with your ability to get tasks done. People do not understand that sleeping is a habit just like eating healthy and exercising daily. Now I’m not saying that you missing a few hours of sleep is going to kill you but if you continue to miss the needed hours of sleep regularly this can cause an increase in serious health concerns. 

Below are some tips to help you get better sleep and stay asleep. 

1.    You can schedule your sleep, set up alarms on your phone just in case you get carried away with different tasks during the day which will remind you to get into bed in an hour. That way you can prepare yourself and get ready to transition into getting in bed a lot more easier. 

2.    Try to stay off of your phone before bed. When using your cell phone it produces a blue light which affects your internal clock. When you are on your phone it will cause you to be more alert when you should be winding down. Also, you can find yourself losing track of time while your scrolling through your phone which will cause you to stay up past the time you were trying to sleep.

3.    Exercising on the regular will also allow you to go to sleep better. If you find yourself being exhausted from your workout during the day you will find it very easy to fall asleep at night because your body is tired. 

4.    Lastly, I would suggest using sleeping apps that track your sleep cycle. These sleeping apps allow you to use different settings such as an alarm clock that progressively gets louder so you can wake up from your sleep in a calming way.  

Hopefully you find this helpful, any questions or concerns feel free to contact me!

Coach Q