4 ms·

I have read this before. I do not understand how you can sleep for 20 minutes. It takes more than 15 minutes just to fall asleep.

stronglikedan 12y ago
Not for everyone. For me, yes, at least 15 minutes, but my SO can often go out in less than 5. I never take naps for that reason, and she takes them frequently. Perhaps there's a correlation between the time it takes to fall asleep and the frequency of naps.
scrollaway 12y ago
Certainly depends on how tired you are. I work at home, so I sleep around my own schedule as much as I want to and almost always feel rested. But when I am missing an hour or two of sleep (which a lot of people are, every damn day), I fall asleep in minutes given the opportunity in the middle of the day.
hatu 12y ago
Especially since I think coffee for me is mostly a placebo. I know when I drink coffee I'm supposed to be more awake so there's no way I could take a nap after drinking one.
codereflection 12y ago
Depends on the person, so this isn't going to work for everyone. I can fall asleep in ~2 min. It's a curse when I need to stay awake.
kmfrk 12y ago
I find just trying to sleep for twenty minutes can be rejuvenating enough for a powernap. I can't fall asleep on a whim either.
DaniFong 12y ago
Read this carefully: I used to think this way as well. This thinking lead me to the exact wrong strategy for naps. There are many stages of sleep; stage 1 through 4, and REM sleep. These, it is hypothesized, have distinct physiological functions. Most importantly for this discussion, waking up out of each have very different effects. Waking from stage 1 sleep makes you feel immediately refreshed, and people perform better immediately have tests of mental acuity. This is also true of REM sleep; additionally you often remember dreams. Stage 2 is also good. A good 30 minutes afterwards, you will feel better rested, and your mental acuity will rise; for longer than from stage 1, but it is a delayed effect. But if you wake up out of a deeper sleep cycle, you get 'sleep inertia.' Mental acuity plummets. You feel poorly rested and ill. The problem: The body is often not even aware that you are sleeping in stage 1 sleep. You are in a different physiological stage, but you may not have lost consciousness. You usually are in this stage from minute 5 onto minute 10. And in stage two up to about 15-20 minutes. After that, you can fall into a deeper sleep; which waking up from is very problematic. I used to set my alarm for 30 minutes. I'd way up, feel even more tired, and set my alarm for 30 minutes again. This was ruining my life. --- tl;dr Even if you don't lose consciousness, you can still be 'sleeping' and a nap of 20 minutes will greatly help you feel healthy and well rested.
- hanley 12y ago
  I always had difficulty finding the correct amount of time to nap for where I would wake up feeling refreshed and not drowsy, until I read about Dali napping with a spoon in his hand. The idea is that you hold the spoon off the bed/couch so that as soon as you start to drop past stage 2, your hand releases the spoon, it falls to the floor and wakes you up. I now do this combined with a caffeine nap (green tea) and it works perfectly. There's a point where I deep in my conscious I realize I'm dropping the item. As it hits the floor my eyes open, and I feel refreshed almost immediately afterwards. The time for me is about 25-27 minutes from laying down to the drop.
  - DaniFong 12y ago
    That's awesome!
- clarry 12y ago
  I think I know what it feels like to actually sleep for 20-25 minutes. Yes, it is refreshing. I also know what it is to try sleep (and fail) for the same amount of time. I don't find it refreshing, it just pisses me off. Unfortunately this is very common for me. It depends on the exact circumstances, but saying that it usually takes a minimum of fifteen to twenty minutes to actually fall asleep might actually be reality for many people, me included.
  - DaniFong 12y ago
    That could definitely be true, but what I found was to seek a 'restful' state of physiology was much more helpful than to seek the loss of consciousness I had previously associated with sleep. Insomnia and other things are very real, but in this case the problem was with what I felt was a good rest.
mwfunk 12y ago
If it's that hard to fall asleep, then you don't need a nap. Problem solved. Depending on their job, diet, exercise, age, etc., some people just really really really really need a 10-15 minute nap in the early afternoon to get through the rest of the day. The need comes over you quickly, and you either do it or spend the rest of the day struggling to stay awake and focused on your work. I don't think anyone is suggesting that people who aren't actually tired take naps.
- lilsunnybee 12y ago
  Would be true yet there is this thing called insomnia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia

stronglikedan 12y ago

Not for everyone. For me, yes, at least 15 minutes, but my SO can often go out in less than 5. I never take naps for that reason, and she takes them frequently. Perhaps there's a correlation between the time it takes to fall asleep and the frequency of naps.

scrollaway 12y ago

Certainly depends on how tired you are. I work at home, so I sleep around my own schedule as much as I want to and almost always feel rested. But when I am missing an hour or two of sleep (which a lot of people are, every damn day), I fall asleep in minutes given the opportunity in the middle of the day.

hatu 12y ago

Especially since I think coffee for me is mostly a placebo. I know when I drink coffee I'm supposed to be more awake so there's no way I could take a nap after drinking one.

codereflection 12y ago

Depends on the person, so this isn't going to work for everyone. I can fall asleep in ~2 min. It's a curse when I need to stay awake.

kmfrk 12y ago

I find just trying to sleep for twenty minutes can be rejuvenating enough for a powernap. I can't fall asleep on a whim either.

DaniFong 12y ago

Read this carefully: I used to think this way as well. This thinking lead me to the exact wrong strategy for naps. There are many stages of sleep; stage 1 through 4, and REM sleep. These, it is hypothesized, have distinct physiological functions. Most importantly for this discussion, waking up out of each have very different effects. Waking from stage 1 sleep makes you feel immediately refreshed, and people perform better immediately have tests of mental acuity. This is also true of REM sleep; additionally you often remember dreams. Stage 2 is also good. A good 30 minutes afterwards, you will feel better rested, and your mental acuity will rise; for longer than from stage 1, but it is a delayed effect. But if you wake up out of a deeper sleep cycle, you get 'sleep inertia.' Mental acuity plummets. You feel poorly rested and ill. The problem: The body is often not even aware that you are sleeping in stage 1 sleep. You are in a different physiological stage, but you may not have lost consciousness. You usually are in this stage from minute 5 onto minute 10. And in stage two up to about 15-20 minutes. After that, you can fall into a deeper sleep; which waking up from is very problematic. I used to set my alarm for 30 minutes. I'd way up, feel even more tired, and set my alarm for 30 minutes again. This was ruining my life. --- tl;dr Even if you don't lose consciousness, you can still be 'sleeping' and a nap of 20 minutes will greatly help you feel healthy and well rested.

hanley 12y ago
I always had difficulty finding the correct amount of time to nap for where I would wake up feeling refreshed and not drowsy, until I read about Dali napping with a spoon in his hand. The idea is that you hold the spoon off the bed/couch so that as soon as you start to drop past stage 2, your hand releases the spoon, it falls to the floor and wakes you up. I now do this combined with a caffeine nap (green tea) and it works perfectly. There's a point where I deep in my conscious I realize I'm dropping the item. As it hits the floor my eyes open, and I feel refreshed almost immediately afterwards. The time for me is about 25-27 minutes from laying down to the drop.
- DaniFong 12y ago
  That's awesome!
clarry 12y ago
I think I know what it feels like to actually sleep for 20-25 minutes. Yes, it is refreshing. I also know what it is to try sleep (and fail) for the same amount of time. I don't find it refreshing, it just pisses me off. Unfortunately this is very common for me. It depends on the exact circumstances, but saying that it usually takes a minimum of fifteen to twenty minutes to actually fall asleep might actually be reality for many people, me included.
- DaniFong 12y ago
  That could definitely be true, but what I found was to seek a 'restful' state of physiology was much more helpful than to seek the loss of consciousness I had previously associated with sleep. Insomnia and other things are very real, but in this case the problem was with what I felt was a good rest.

mwfunk 12y ago

If it's that hard to fall asleep, then you don't need a nap. Problem solved. Depending on their job, diet, exercise, age, etc., some people just really really really really need a 10-15 minute nap in the early afternoon to get through the rest of the day. The need comes over you quickly, and you either do it or spend the rest of the day struggling to stay awake and focused on your work. I don't think anyone is suggesting that people who aren't actually tired take naps.

lilsunnybee 12y ago
Would be true yet there is this thing called insomnia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia