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Hello there,
My name is Ariel and I am a PhD student. Since I was a child I’ve been taking naps in the afternoon, for about 2 hours. I kept this routine even in college. I was also able to take naps when I got my first job because the program was ending at 3:30 pm and by 4 pm I was at home. My second job was not so good in terms as schedule and it was a nightmare for me to stay awake all day long. Lucky my, after 9 months I was accepted in the PhD and so I quit.
Now I can take a nap 3 days a week. Yet, the days I can’t take naps are real nightmares. My classes are all in the afternoon (from 3 to 6 pm) and it happened to me twice to fall asleep in class.
The problem is that I can’t sleep more than 5/6 hours / night and by 2 pm, when I have to go to school, I am tired dead. I can’t even follow the lecture let alone to read or write academic articles.
When I take a 2 hours nap in the afternoon I can work just fine till 12/1 am. Unfortunately I can’t afford this routine anymore. In the days I can’t take naps, starting from 2 pm I am a wreck for the rest of the day.
I would like to find a way to sleep 8-9 hours in a row and so to be able to stay awake and be productive all day long.
Before going to a doctor and resorting to sleeping pills, do you have any advice of how could I change my sleeping routine?
I always consider what is happening as the body's natural way of coping with life. So, I wouldn't consider your naps as something that is "wrong" but but rather as something that your body feels that it needs. For example, I normally get about seven hours a sleep and it has worked fine for me throughout my life. Sometimes more and sometimes less.
Naps are probably perfectly natural for many people. It is your natural cycle. But unfortunately it doesn't fit into a cycle that is required by current culture and society. What can you do about this?
It may be that you are using up lots of internal energy because of stress factors in your life? You can look at your lifestyle and seek ways to reduce stress. Maybe a morning relaxation routine, e.g. yoga might help. But if you practice yoga, the purpose should not be "to be able to stay awake". This would be counterproductive and further tendencies on you part. It really should be just to relax and enjoy some peaceful time.
There could be other lifestyle things that you are doing that might make your evening sleep less restful. Maybe eating late at night? Or maybe reading too much or watching late night TV? There could be many lifestyle changes that you can bring into your life so that you can make it through the day without a nap. On the other hand, your being may just require that extra nap and I would hate to think that you have to start resorting to pharmaceutical chemicals to disrupt a natural part of your life. In the long term, this would probably not be healthy.
It seems that it is your body's preferred manner of sleeping and some studies seem to show that it is better for us and others that it's bad. I guess your problem is that you can't figure out a way to work it into the schedule that you need, so you need to find another way. I don't know but I've heard that melatonin can help to reset the sleep clock but I don't know if it can help you stay asleep as long as you need to. What time do you go to bed and what time do you wake up normally? Are you a night owl? Can you move your night sleep time one hour forward or backward and go from there? Sleep longer in the am or go to bed earlier at night? Catch little 10 minute catnaps during the day? Those are surprisingly refreshing.
This going to sleep at a certain time and getting up at a certain time is not natural. Going to bed at 10 pm and getting up at 6 am is a man made 8 hour routine, not mother natures. Your body determines your sleep pattern.
I get 5-6 hours late at night, then in the afternoon I get another 2 hours napping, then in the early evening my body demands another 1-2 hours. That is my routine. Sometimes circumstances will cause me to force myself to a time change but it is difficult and can cause mood swings. So we work around it. It still doesn't change the fact that our body needs a specific routine.
If you're lucky to have a job or company that can accomodate you that's great. My wife worked for a major company over 20 years and they let her take a 2 hour nap every day. She also had a doctors r/x explaining she needed the pm nap.
You can retrain yourself by putting yourself on a schedule that will eventually work for you. I have read about this . . .don't have details . . .there are also natural sleep aids - Rescue Remedy has one that works for me - just a couple of sprays and I am out like a light. Lavender oil works for me too, as does Patchouli oil (calms me down). A B complex vitamin is also helpful for calming your nerves.
I was the same way all through school. You just have to really retrain your body by not sleeping during the day, even on weekends. It is really tough at first, but your body will adjust quickly.
When you start to feel tired, go for a walk, do some exercise, this will help energize you. Good luck!
One thing that works for me if I do it before I want to go to sleep is listen to a guided meditation by Shakti Gawain called "Creating your inner sanctuary" or something to that effect. It is a guided self-hypnosis technique and she starts by telling you to take severa deep yet relaxed breaths imagining exhaling anything you don't want or need ie toxins, stress, negative thinking, and then inhaling what you do want ie perfect relaxation, perfect health. There are several more steps afterwards where at one point she says to imagine yourself a leaf, gently falling lower and lower while she counts backwards.....
Sometimes by that point I might have already fallen asleep I get SO RELAXED.
If not then she goes on to where she has you imagine yourself in the most beautiful place you can imagine. That is where you create your little sanctuary and make it just the way you want.
Next she has you imagine a problem you have in your life and seeing it work out perfectly as if you were watching a movie and at the end, the goal is perfectly achieved.
If you are still awake at this point I'd envision myself getting in bed at a normal time and waking up at a normal time full of energy and breezing though my classes ACING them and then see myself being handed my degree at the graduation ceremony.
Oh, but if you can't get the meditation; I would try deep breaths; and counting backwards until I fell asleep. I also might take some Relora and some Theonine right before bed if you have brain chatter or worries or are stressed out that you can't fall asleep. You could also take Melatonin, (which is the stuff in turkey that makes everyone sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner).
Hope these ideas help.
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I guess your problem is that you can't figure out a way to work it into the schedule that you need, so you need to find another way. I don't know but I've heard that melatonin can help to reset the sleep clock but I don't know if it can help you stay asleep as long as you need to. What time do you go to bed and what time do you wake up normally? Are you a night owl? Can you move your night sleep time one hour forward or backward and go from there? Sleep longer in the am or go to bed earlier at night? Catch little 10 minute catnaps during the day? Those are surprisingly refreshing.
