Nap hangover
Posted by yabbitgirl on Aug 25, 2007 · Member since Apr 2006 · 14266 posts
I wonder if anyone else has this problem. If I happen to drop off for a nap on a weekend afternoon, I wake up with what feels like the mother of all hangovers. Not nauseated, just--bleah. I feel like I've been trampled by a particularly malicious rogue elephant. I also feel dehydrated, my hands, feet and legs swell, and all of my joints ache.
I don't drink at meals (in fact I seldom drink at all, maybe one beer a week), so that's not it. It takes me hours to get over the general malaise. Sometimes I feel like I might as well stay in bed till the next day. It makes no difference how long or short the nap is, this is what I get.
Any ideas?
The same thing happens to me.
What it is, is your body's sleep cycle is messed up and it is trying to over compensate for lack of sleep.
After you take your nap do you feel really groggy and lethargic? Because I do...
So what you need to do is try to go to bed as early as humanly possible and wake up at a reasonable hour and if you find yourself needing a nap try not to make it longer than 45 minutes to an hour because you're going to keep messing up your sleep cycle.
But if it keep persisting I'd recommend going to a sleep specialist because you might have a sleep disorder.
My body reacts the same way to naps, Yabbit. So my solution is to not nap. It's easy to pull off with kids to take care of.
Yeah, I know, but days like today...I woke up at 5 AM and was unable to go back to sleep because of hot flashes. After a hard week, it was NOT enough rest. I lay down to watch Henry V and fell asleep for about 30 min.
I studiously avoid sleeping in the daytime because of this. But I wonder--why the swelling and thirst and general dehydration feeling?
if I sleep for a long time (12 hours +), I wake up miserable for hours
Oh I love to nap! But I do know what you are talking about--sometimes if I nap too long I feel so fuzzy when I wake up that I just can't shake it untill I go to bed for real and wake up the next day--but I still love me some naps!
Same thing Yabbit. I rarely nap because I don't have time, but sometimes on Fridays I will nap after school in preparation for a late night ::). Anyway, I always wake up feeling soooo groggy and blah. BUT on the other hand, before the nap, I'm usually so tired I can't stay awake. So I don't know.
This always happens to me, too. The thing that helps me most is to drink a lot of ice water when I wake up. I don't know why, but it makes me feel much better. I usually have to drink a couple of glasses before it helps, though.
I do this too! The "cold" feels good.
Definitely drink lots of water. The same thing happens to me.
Well it depends what you do during the week. Do you do alot of tiring stuff? If not you got to find out why your so tired.
There's a difference between sleeping for a long time and then sleeping for a long time and then wanting to go back to sleep and even sleep through the weekend.
Are you bored and your thinking ah I'd rather go back to sleep. Plan activities for yourself and your hubby to do.
Remember what I say if you do alot of tiring stuff during the week, I'd say it's okay. But if you don't you have to find out why you have no energy.
I get the same thing, the swelling, the puffy eyes, the dry mouth, headache, and sore throat. Feels like I've been deprived of water for a week hanging upside down by my legs and getting a cold. It's strange. It doesn't always happen though.
I find that it happens more if the room is warm and if I keep my clothes on (like when I "accidentally" fall asleep), but I haven't quite figured out why exactly.
It hardly ever happens if I fall asleep sitting up. If your back allows, I would try taking a nap in a rocking chair or a recliner rather than a bed. Let me know if it works.
@ startaurus: As I said before, I seldom ever sleep during the day, and only if something has made it hard to get my night's sleep. I have been working very hard this summer, mostly teaching, but also trying to fit everything else in...housework (marble floors have to be swept and mopped by hand), shopping (done on foot here) and time for "us". So "boredom" isn't an issue.
The question I was trying to ask was the "why" of symptoms. I guess I didn't make that clear. I know though that a lot of VegWebbers know a lot more than me about our bodies and why they react as they do.
@VegAnna, sitting up to sleep just wouldn't happen for me, although my husband manages it. I suppose when I'm exhausted like yesterday maybe I should stay in a chair, so I wouldn't drop alseep before bed! ;) ;)
I did what y'all said with the cold water and it did help. It tasted sooooo goood!
your working yourself to death then.
I LOVE napping.
I actually have a full out-sleep hangover today. I don't think I slept very well last night, I kept waking up because of various things (dog in bed, thunderstorm, husband snoring).
same thing for me - I don't sleep during the day, and if I do, I wake up more exhausted than before. it totally screws up my sleep cycle. napping just doesn't work for me either.
Napping is part of my life and how I keep as well as can be.
I find I can manage on 3-1/2 hours sleep at night and survive. I can either nap for 45 to 90 minutes, or over 4 hours for this hangover not to happen. Napping for just over 2 hours will sink me. I think it has to do with my own person REM patterns. I power nap at least once a day, usually twice for about 15 to 20 minutes. I actually DO dream during these naps, believe it or not and I usually remember the dreams when I wake up, but I am rarely groggy after one of them.
Napping for a time is actually a very very healthy routine and one that is falling out of favor, even in Spain where the siesta is traditional. It has been shown that napping, which is relaxing and de-stressing, can actually lessen the number MIs in nappers versus their nonnapping counterparts.
I try not to nap either but when it happens I usually wake up with a headache. :(
I HATE the nap hangover! In addition to the awfulness of the hangover itself, it gives me an added problem. I exercise every day to keep away my restless leg syndrome. No exercise = horrible heeby jeebies! <---- what my dad and I called it (he has it too) before we figured out it was something other people experience and and that has a real name. Well, when I nap, it DESTROYS my RLS protection! Even if I exercised earlier, napping makes it as though I didn't exercise at all. The rest of the day, and most ESPECIALLY at night trying to sleep, the symptoms are really awful.
I hate the nap hangover (never thought of that term!). I had irresistible urges to nap after I started going to the gym everyday - I was so not used to it that I was completely burnt out (from just walking fast on a treadmill!). But unless I forced myself to wake up after 20 minutes, I had the "hangover." For some reason, besides being thirsty, I get some weird instinct to eat (not hunger). I suppose maybe because it's supposed to boost your metabolism?
Everyone has their own sleep cycle, but they all follow the same general pattern - you sleep for a while, slip into REM, then deep sleep, then you start coming back (I think I think I think...). Anyway, regardless of order, your body likes you more if you let it finish its cycle. A short nap won't get as far as REM, so sometimes (this is how I feel), it's like you barely went to sleep. If you sleep long enough (like 2 hours plus naps), your mind will go into the cycle and you're stuck with (1) the hangover or (2) just sleeping the full amount. It doesn't really explain why you would get the same hang over from over-sleeping too...
The hangover has been so bad (especially for studying!), that I now always set my cell phone alarm to go off in 20-25 minutes. Once I didn't even wake up for it though ::) ...