For many of you, the last time you took a daytime nap may have been in kindergarten, when nap time was enforced. That’s too bad.
Once we hit grade 1, we are encouraged to make it through the day in one continuous state of awake. In fact, napping at school is not acceptable behaviour at all, for students or teachers. You can actually be fired for napping at work especially if you drive for a living, or operate heavy machinery.
One of the greatest ticks in the PRO column about self employment, is that I get to schedule nap time as frequently as I want. I have no rules to follow, and no boss to catch me. I often wake up before 6am and start working instead of going back to sleep for another hour like many people would. I’ll rise and shine till 10am or so, being very productive in the hours before many people start their jobs, and then go back to sleep for a short nap. Right around the time some of my office job buddies are mentally fading and needing a caffeine pick me up, I get to take a lay me down. It’s glorious.
If I miss my 10am “second sleep”, I may have one after lunch, or mid afternoon. Unlike kindergarten, my naps are not on a set schedule. Sometimes I’ll have two in one day, or three – even as late as 630pm.
The Spanish had it right. Nothing refreshes a body and mind like a middle of the day Siesta. If you’ve read my blog before, you may know how much I like fresh starts. Monday is my favourite weekday, and the first day of the month is like a mini January 12 times a year. Any excuse to start over is welcome, and a nap can do that for me. A new day resolution to do it right this time.
My brain often drains it’s excitement quickly, and when you live and work alone, lost motivation can be a problem. I won’t say I need a nap and an excuse to return to work, but I won’t deny that often, it works wonders. I lay down, and 35 minutes later, I re-emerge with a new outlook and clear mind.
I’m lucky enough to be able to nap well. No matter what stresses or depressions or concerns may be on my mind, they fall away quite easily in my rest. I fall asleep faster for a nap than I do in the evening. Insomnia doesn’t really effect napping for some reason.
For a few years, I was amazed at how often my naps ended up being exactly the same length. Like magic I was consistently taking 39 minute naps with no alarm except my internal clock. These days, it’s not as regular, but each nap is usually between 30 and 50 minutes. Rarely do I sleep for longer, unless the nap is from exhaustion.
I can nap with the light on, with the TV on, or even with people in the room talking, although it may take me longer to fall. Music or silence is preferred. It’s like a special power I have. The power to sleep.
I recently got a wrist band that can detect my sleep patterns and figured out a nap is one sleep cycle, which for me, during the day, is less than an hour. At night, when I fall asleep, I really am just performing 3 to 5 consecutive naps. I fall asleep and wake up all night, but because my brain knows it’s not yet morning, they happen back to back, and eventually some of the sleep cycles last 90 minutes or so, but seldom much longer. My wristband records it on a nice little chart. Nap, wake, nap, wake.
I’ve never really had a problem with sleep. I enjoy it, and really enjoy my dreams, many of which I remember and journalize when I wake. Remembering dreams is a skill you can learn with practice. Nap dreams and night dreams seem different, at least for me, and weather and food influence them greatly. Nap dreams are my favourite.
NAPS RULE, and don’t let anybody tell you different.
It’s one of the luxuries I get that I use to gauge myself as a success.
