What is the difference between napping and sleeping?
October 12th 2006 20:56
Lately I have been pondering this question.
A nap to me, is sleep of far less quality and much less shorter duration. Sleeping is the opposite, more quality, longer duration.
I bring this up because lately I have had the following happen to me. I'll stay on the computer for a few hours at night, maybe from 12am-3am, for example, and instead of going to bed at 3, I get into my bed and nap. I don't brush my teeth, take meds or do any of the normal getting ready for bed things. To me, it's not sleeping if I don't do these things. Okay, maybe I'm a little particular there. When I'm in bed, it feels so relaxing and good to drift off to sleep, but I feel guilty because I know I should get up and get ready for bed.
There is another reason for this. See, sleeping, to me, at night, is symbolic. It's symbolic that this day is over and another one is coming. Most of the time I think to myself, this day can't be over, nothing good has happened yet. Defeatist way to think, maybe, but it's the truth. And then I'm worrying about tomorrow. So "sleeping" is fraught with so much worry that it's not even enjoyable. Then there's the worry about what time I have to get up and so on. Napping, however, is not fraught with any of this worry, it just is. No constraints, no pressure, just me and the pillow. So you can see why I prefer to nap.
When I'm in my napping stage, though, I wake up almost every hour, look at the clock, and think, God, I should get up (but don't, for the most part.) I also seem to have a lot of really strange dreams, which lately have been rather terrifying. Sometimes they are good and not scary, but they are always weird, as dreams tend to be. When I am properly sleeping, I do not dream. Or, at least, I do not remember my dreams. This is the biggest qualitative difference between sleeping and napping, it seems to me.
I thought, though, that dreaming indicated deep sleep. REM sleep and all that. So if my napping is a lighter sleep than my regular sleep, why do I dream when I nap and not when I sleep?
All this to say, too, that this routine has gotten rather annoying, for this reason. Say I "nap" from 3am to like 7am, or 5 to 8 or something like that, it's different each day. The upshot though is that I am technically asleep but I do not count that sleep in how much I need for the night. Therefore once I finally drag myself out of bed, get ready for bed, and go back to bed, it is often 8 or 9:00. Which is really bad. I then figure I need at least 5 or 6 hours of real sleep before I get up, hence not getting up until 2 a lot of days, and not dressed often until 3:30 or 4. Which really ruins my day, as you might imagine, lol. I used to be much better. I'd go to bed around 4 and get up at 11. Much better. lol this sounds crazy to most of you I am sure but it is what I am used to , when you stay in the house all the time with nothing to do you end up creating crazy artificial schedules like this.
The upshot is I have to stop napping at night and just go to sleep so I can get up earlier! The problem is I have so little willpower at night when I am tired, napping sounds so pleasant so I just give in. But I shouldn't. That's my dilemma for the day.
If it sounds too crazy, please humor me, lol.
What do you think the difference between napping and sleeping is?
Kate
A nap to me, is sleep of far less quality and much less shorter duration. Sleeping is the opposite, more quality, longer duration.
I bring this up because lately I have had the following happen to me. I'll stay on the computer for a few hours at night, maybe from 12am-3am, for example, and instead of going to bed at 3, I get into my bed and nap. I don't brush my teeth, take meds or do any of the normal getting ready for bed things. To me, it's not sleeping if I don't do these things. Okay, maybe I'm a little particular there. When I'm in bed, it feels so relaxing and good to drift off to sleep, but I feel guilty because I know I should get up and get ready for bed.
There is another reason for this. See, sleeping, to me, at night, is symbolic. It's symbolic that this day is over and another one is coming. Most of the time I think to myself, this day can't be over, nothing good has happened yet. Defeatist way to think, maybe, but it's the truth. And then I'm worrying about tomorrow. So "sleeping" is fraught with so much worry that it's not even enjoyable. Then there's the worry about what time I have to get up and so on. Napping, however, is not fraught with any of this worry, it just is. No constraints, no pressure, just me and the pillow. So you can see why I prefer to nap.
When I'm in my napping stage, though, I wake up almost every hour, look at the clock, and think, God, I should get up (but don't, for the most part.) I also seem to have a lot of really strange dreams, which lately have been rather terrifying. Sometimes they are good and not scary, but they are always weird, as dreams tend to be. When I am properly sleeping, I do not dream. Or, at least, I do not remember my dreams. This is the biggest qualitative difference between sleeping and napping, it seems to me.
I thought, though, that dreaming indicated deep sleep. REM sleep and all that. So if my napping is a lighter sleep than my regular sleep, why do I dream when I nap and not when I sleep?
All this to say, too, that this routine has gotten rather annoying, for this reason. Say I "nap" from 3am to like 7am, or 5 to 8 or something like that, it's different each day. The upshot though is that I am technically asleep but I do not count that sleep in how much I need for the night. Therefore once I finally drag myself out of bed, get ready for bed, and go back to bed, it is often 8 or 9:00. Which is really bad. I then figure I need at least 5 or 6 hours of real sleep before I get up, hence not getting up until 2 a lot of days, and not dressed often until 3:30 or 4. Which really ruins my day, as you might imagine, lol. I used to be much better. I'd go to bed around 4 and get up at 11. Much better. lol this sounds crazy to most of you I am sure but it is what I am used to , when you stay in the house all the time with nothing to do you end up creating crazy artificial schedules like this.
The upshot is I have to stop napping at night and just go to sleep so I can get up earlier! The problem is I have so little willpower at night when I am tired, napping sounds so pleasant so I just give in. But I shouldn't. That's my dilemma for the day.
If it sounds too crazy, please humor me, lol.
What do you think the difference between napping and sleeping is?
Kate
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Comment by The Daily Sonnet
The Daily Sonnet
Lots of Sonnets
Do you not brush your teeth and take meds at 3 because you've done so earlier? That's what it sounds like to me, and if so then it's still sleep but the routine has changed slightly.
Comment by KateG
Asperger's Island
Thanks for the comment