National Napping Day: How To Take A Nap And Wake Up Refreshed Not Tired
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We have all felt a bit like this cat after waking up from an afternoon nap.
Annie Paddington/Getty Images
Monday, March 14 is National Napping Day, and you may want to celebrate with a refreshing midday snooze. However, it often seems there are only two ways to wake up from a nap: intensely energized and ready to take on the world or so groggy you wonder if you're in the same decade. And many people, despite facing a serious afternoon slump, fight the urge to nap because they know it'll make them feel worse.
Fortunately, you can have your nap and still take on the rest of your day like a champ: In honor of Sleep Awareness Week and National Nap Day, learn why you feel worse after a nap, how to beat that awful post-nap grogginess and when you should really skip the nap.
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Why do I feel worse after taking a nap?
That familiar groggy feeling is called "," and it means that your brain wants to keep sleeping and complete a full cycle. Sleep inertia results from waking abruptly out of deep sleep or , which is the kind of sleep you start to fall into approximately 30 minutes into snoozing.
This is why experts recommend keeping naps to just 10 to 20 minutes, among other nap best practices. It's all about the , which go as follows:
Non-REM (NREM) () 1NREM Stage 2NREM Stage 3 (deep sleep)
NREM Stage 1 lasts five to 10 minutes; NREM Stage 2 lasts 10 to 20 minutes; and then NREM Stage 3 sets in. During NREM Stage 3 sleep, your muscles relax more, your blood pressure washing services johnstown pa - link - and breathing rate decrease, and slow brain waves begin to emerge.
Pulling yourself out of this very deep sleep results in the characteristic grogginess and impaired performance of sleep inertia, which can last anywhere from .
Why do naps make me feel cranky?
Crankiness, or any form of a bad mood after a nap, isn't so much an aftereffect of its own, but another side effect of sleep inertia. No one enjoys being snatched out of a good snooze, and the loud beeps from an alarm interrupting deep sleep is enough to ruin anyone's mood.
How to not feel groggy or grumpy after a nap
If you try to avoid naps at all costs because you seem to always wake up confused or angry at the whole world, you should know that you can avoid those unpleasant aftereffects. Here are four tips for waking up from all naps feeling refreshed, not drained:
1. Time your nap correctly
A good nap is all about timing. Dr. Dawn Dore-Stites, an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Sleep Disorder Center at Michigan Medicine and sleep advisory board member, told CNET that the longer the nap, the more problems it typically creates.
"The longer you sleep, the higher the chance you get into deeper stages of sleep," Dore-Stites says. "Waking from those stages can lead to the grogginess and irritability. is key. You will often wake up feeling more refreshed."
The exception is if you have enough time to nap for an , which lasts approximately 90 to 120 minutes. However, unless you're super in-tune with your sleep cycle and can pinpoint the exact time you need to wake up, you're better waking up before you ever reach deep sleep.
Additionally, you should try to nap as early in the afternoon as possible. Napping close to your bedtime can confuse your body and make you feel groggy for the remainder of the evening, especially if daylight is already waning when you wake up from your nap.
2. Get out of bed right when you wake up
It can be super tempting to hit snooze or spend a few minutes scrolling on your cell phone, but fight the urge. Remaining in bed in that sort of half-asleep, super drowsy state can make post-nap grogginess more intense or extend for a longer period of time.
And when you do get out of bed, expose yourself to natural daylight by opening curtains or blinds to make sure your body knows it isn't bedtime and there are still things to be done.