32  NAPS                                                                                [Rev 6-16-2018 ]

This section follows Section 46 as an issue for people who are not tired at bedtime

Taking a nap can have different effects for different people. The effect depends on many things – whether it’s a regular practice, how long it is, what time of day relative to regular sleep time, what else has been happening in the person’s life, and so on.

32a. Benefits of napping

A nap can give an energy boost to a person who doesn’t have a problem with insomnia. It can be part of the routine for some people, and a sometime recovery tool after a night’s sleep that was too short.

Naps can allow for long-term storage of factual information and the improvement of motor memory, as well as increasing energy and reducing motor fatigue. Napping after strenuous activity can stimulate cell recovery and reduce inflammation (Walker, 128-130, 305).

All humans have a built-in dip in alertness in the afternoon, which has been built in to many cultures (Walker, 69). It can be seen as a signal to take a nap. When naps are a regular part of a person’s daily life, they can contribute to learning, health, and sense of well-being.

This is often part of the culture in tropical regions, where the temperatures make activity difficult in mid-day. Business shut down in the afternoon, and re-open in the early evening. On the flip side, not napping can in some cases lead to problems. In one study, people in Greece who abandoned the traditional midday siesta had a 37% increase in death from heart disease in the following six years (reported in Walker, 71).

and recovery from strenuous activity.

 

32b. Naps as a Source of Insomnia

Some people may tend to fall asleep after dinner or in the early evening, reducing their adenosine build-up (Section 4) and making it difficult for them to fall asleep at bedtime. They may believe that they have insomnia, while in fact achieving a more-or-less normal amount of sleep.

However, if sleeping at night is an issue and the person is napping during the day to compensate, it may be that the daytime sleep is reducing the need to sleep at night and thus contributing to the person’s insomnia. Napping may seem necessary because of sleep loss at night. However, this practice can lead to a vicious circle, where inability to sleep at night leads to sleepiness during the day, which leads to catching up on sleep with naps, and more difficulty sleeping at night.

The problem is exacerbated when a person takes a nap whenever he or she feels tired. (Bootzin and Perlis pp. 26, 28 – Principle #6). This would seem to be a situation of unconscious management, and the lack of conscious control leads to addictive excesses. At the extreme, some people can lose track of the distinction between day and night, with regular sleep replaced by a series of naps taken around the clock.

 

32c Some Treatment Suggestions

Treatment involves at least three components

  • Attributing sleeplessness at night to lowered sleep drive from taking naps, rather than thinking of the naps as compensating for lost sleep.
  • Taking charge of the need to nap. This means greater conscious awareness and control. As a start, this might mean specifying one acceptable time for a nap (eg: from noon to 12:30).
  • Systematically reducing naps, possible down to zero, and tolerating the resulting daytime sleepiness until the person learns to fall asleep more easily at night.

If the person has gotten to the extreme of having sleep-wake periods around the clock, then a beginning is to have designated periods of wakefulness, when sleep is not allowed. These can then be expanded systematically, until the person is in an acceptable sleep-wake cycle.

On the other hand, treatment for some people who fall asleep in the evening may involve a re-examination of their life-style and desired evening activities. Choosing to take a brief nap after dinner could be a reasonable choice, if it extends the evening-time to permit additional activities that the person wants to engage in. For example, Walker (99-100) points out that the circadian cycle for many older people leads to early bed and early awakening, and they may be upset at missing evening television shows and other activities. For them, taking an early evening nap could extend the day positively.

 

DAYTIME SLEEPINESS

See Hauri and Linde, 197ff

SLEEP SCATTERED AROUND THE CLOCK

See Glovinsky and Spielman 195-199

General References

Glovinsky and Spielman 183-4

Hauri and Linde, ch 15

Morin 43-4