Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If someone has trouble getting sleep at night I can see why naps might not be recommended. That said, I absolutely love naps and on rainy days like this they are amazing!
I’m not retired yet, but my 85-year-old mother-in-law naps from about 3 to 6 every afternoon and then complains bitterly that she is wide awake in the middle of the night and can’t get up in the morning.
I agree that daytime naps mess up your sleep schedule. It might be hard to do a reset, but it is possible. Even for most elderly, if you have to nap, one hour is enough.
I used to be a world-class napper. But then I started having more and more difficulty getting to sleep at night, finally falling asleep later and later, and then needing more of a nap the next day. Vicious cycle.
I stopped napping, and now it's much easier for me to fall asleep at night.
My mother, who lived to be 98, used to nod off continually in the afternoons. When I suggested she give in to it and just take a nap for heaven's sake, she said napping made it hard for her to fall asleep at night. At the time I was still in my world-class napping stage, so I had no idea what she was talking about. Now I know what she was talking about.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,206,701 times
Reputation: 57821
The most I would nap is just a 15-20 minute doze off while watching TV in the evening. I cannot see wasting time sleeping during the day with all of the hobbies and other activities that I am into, and yes, it would keep me awake at night. I generally will go to bed by 9-10pm and wake up at 5:30-6am. My sister-in-law and her husband actually get up, have breakfast, take a nap, eat lunch, take a nap, and have dinner. For them the naps are actually back in bed! They do nothing at all but sit around and take naps, then stay up late watching TV. I cannot understand it, that would just drive me nuts. I can't sit still for long, until I'm tired out some time after dinner. Let's take last Sunday for example. After breakfast I took my 1974 Nova out for an hour-long drive in the country before the rain started. Then I made dough (sourdough) for some bread for dinner and started it rising. I went to my shop and sanded 30 tree rounds. After lunch I went back and coated them with clear poly finish, while streaming football games on my iPad. Then I put in a new shower curtain in our master bath, repotted two houseplants, shaped the loaves and set to rise again. Before cooking dinner, I did some other puttering around, nothing memorable, and after dinner watched football while surfing the internet a bit.
I do not regularly take naps. I stay up late and get up late. I have sort of a sleep ritual (reading, CPAP, etc.) and a nap would not conform. I have napped on rare occasions. The advice I have seen is that naps might mess up nighttime sleep habits. I have also seen the opposite opinion expressed.
Certain people, like Winston Churchill, could nap in the middle of the day and then work until 3-4 AM.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
