The importance of napping.

When we were all in preschool, naps were part of our daily schedule. For me, nap time was a little after recess to calm us down. I haven't really noticed it until now, but I hardly ever felt tired back then. My bedtime was always 8:30, but I usually stayed awake long after that. Now, I get to bed as early as possible because I'll start fading out around 9:30. Why cant I stay awake at night? In the world of unending assignments and late night practices, my time after 9:00 is invaluable, but not useful. I've had to resort to getting all my work done between right after school and whenever my practice starts, which is not a large window. Once practice is over, I drop everything at my door and pass out. I wake up every morning at 5:30 so I can get ready properly for 0 hour, but it isn't easy. I'm usually miserably tired during the school day, which doesn't make it easy. I've tried coffee, but it isn't going to fix the problem. There needs to be a solution. 

Naps. The answer is naps. I discovered this one day after school where I was literally so exhausted I needed to take a nap right after I got home from school. I told myself I would just have to suck it up and do my homework later that night, for the sake of my mental health. 

3:03 pm. Pass out on my couch.

5:47 pm. Wake up. I'm confused and a little dizzy, but after that wears off I realize I feel like its about 12 in the afternoon. This is amazing! I hadn't taken a nap in so long, I forgot how useful they are. I went to practice that night and returned home with plenty of energy to do my homework competently. Magic!

Why does this work so well? When we go to sleep at night, the deep sleep we enter that helps us rejuvenate is known as REM sleep. We get a couple solid hours of it at night, and mine is abruptly interrupted every morning at 5:29 (I set all of my alarms 1 minute before the regular time I would wake up. I don't really know why.) That's why its so hard to get up; you've been jolted out of REM sleep. When you take a nap (not a traditional 10 minute snooze, I'm talking over an hour) you get some valuable REM sleep that energizes you enough to make it through the rest of the day. There's a reason we often sleep when we're sick: its a lot easier for you body to heal itself when you are asleep then awake. A nap today can help you tomorrow, too. Because you wont be tired when you go to bed, you wont feel robbed of sleep when you wake up. I noticed immediately it is much easier to get up at the dreaded time of 5:29 am when you snuck in an extra hour and a half of sleep less than 12 hours before. 

Getting enough rest is crucial to your physical and mental health, so a nap might be just what you need to feel better.