Naps: Good or Evil?

[R.Little]

I have to admit my situation is a bit more precarious. I have sleep apnea and chronic migraines. If I take an unplanned nap, without my CPAP, sometimes it aggravates my headaches. Even setting aside the headaches, sometimes I wake up from naps feeling just miserable, like my whole body feels worse. But occasionally, I have a nap that I feel a tiny bit refreshed from. I'm curious how other people experience naps.

 

[Wishful]

I can't fall asleep at other than the normal times unless I'm seriously ill (aside from ME), so my responses would only be for abnormal situations. If I do have a nap, I usually feel groggy and disoriented.

 

[Dechi]

I voted « naps don’t really so anything for me », but they can also make me feel miserable. I do nap when my body tells me to though. Too bad it doesn’t help much.

 

[wabi-sabi]

I live for naps! Sometimes my circadian rhythms are completely inverted and I can't sleep at night at all. Then naps keep me alive. But it is better when i can sleep at night.

 

[lenora]

If I need to nap, I'll nap. It isn't easy for me to do so, I tend to fall asleep in a chair for 10-15 minutes. 6 hrs. of uninterrupted sleep would be heaven for me. The eye on my prize would be just to be like almost everyone else's, 6-8 hrs. but I've given up as something that may or may not ever happen again. As we get older we sleep less anyway, but this is utterly ridiculous.

I read some of the stuff I've written before I pass out and even I can't make heads or tails out of it. I apologize for anything I've written that is seriously taken (although I don't know how it could be). It's a complete lack of sleep and, yes, in some of us it's a reality. Good for you wabi-sabi that you get some rest.

Yes, I've tried melatonin, valerian, different vitamins, supplements and herbs over the years. I'll definitely have my brain removed and sent somewhere. It should be studied...something's seriously amiss. Yours Lenora.

 

[R.Little]

I live for naps! Sometimes my circadian rhythms are completely inverted and I can't sleep at night at all. Then naps keep me alive. But it is better when i can sleep at night.

Earlier this year, my sleep schedule gradually made the full 24 hour loop (happened in 2018 as well). It was miserable. Being awake at 4am with no sleep in sight is really the loneliest feeling--there's nothing quite like it.

Strangely, while my circadian rhythm was totally off, I was getting really solid 8-hour chunks of sleep, just at the wrong time of day. The moment my circadian rhythm rectified itself, my sleep got spotty again. I mean, it's not terrible, it used to be worse, I just tend to briefly wake up a few times most nights.

I actually had a pretty ridiculous awakening last night around 3am that I posted a Twitter thread about.

After increasing my melatonin a bit and adjusting the timing of the dose, I think we've got my sleep phase locked down as much as we can. I have to stay so vigilant though; it only takes a couple late nights to throw it way off, and there's only a brief period where I can pull it back without enormous effort.

@lenora sorry it's been so awful for you. I take melatonin 4 hours prior to bed, then I take LDN, 30mg of Baclofen, 1 mg of Ativan, 600mg of Gabapentin, and some magnesium about 30 minutes prior to bed. Might even be forgetting something. Took a fair bit of trial and error to arrive at that.

 

[Wishful]

Has anyone else tried Evening Primrose Oil to improve sleep duration? It *seems* to work for me. Instead of waking up at 5:30 AM or so and being unable to sleep more, EPO seems to allow me to fall asleep again for another couple of hours. It's hard to know for sure whether it's working reliably, or if I'm just getting coincidences. Of course, neither of my other wonderful treatments for ME work for anyone else, so maybe EPO only works for me too. For anyone desperate for longer sleep, it seems like a cheap and safe thing to try.

 

[lenora]

Earlier this year, my sleep schedule gradually made the full 24 hour loop (happened in 2018 as well). It was miserable. Being awake at 4am with no sleep in sight is really the loneliest feeling--there's nothing quite like it.

Strangely, while my circadian rhythm was totally off, I was getting really solid 8-hour chunks of sleep, just at the wrong time of day. The moment my circadian rhythm rectified itself, my sleep got spotty again. I mean, it's not terrible, it used to be worse, I just tend to briefly wake up a few times most nights.

I actually had a pretty ridiculous awakening last night around 3am that I posted a Twitter thread about.

After increasing my melatonin a bit and adjusting the timing of the dose, I think we've got my sleep phase locked down as much as we can. I have to stay so vigilant though; it only takes a couple late nights to throw it way off, and there's only a brief period where I can pull it back without enormous effort.

@lenora sorry it's been so awful for you. I take melatonin 4 hours prior to bed, then I take LDN, 30mg of Baclofen, 1 mg of Ativan, 600mg of Gabapentin, and some magnesium about 30 minutes prior to bed. Might even be forgetting something. Took a fair bit of trial and error to arrive at that.

Hi R. Little....I have used melatonin in the past; no good reports, as a matter of fact at my age point, I can't think of anything I haven't used. Until the January hospitalization I had a pretty good routined worked out whereby I took my evening meds @ 10:00 p.m. and would then read until about 2:00 a.m. or thereabouts. I would then go to sleep in stages....boy if I could make it 'til 5:30 a.m. I'd kiss the ground. Oh, well, I look at it that we all suffer and do our best to help one another (and I thank you). My hubby sleeps a good 8 hrs. without fail every night. That's rather nice as at least one of us is sleeping. Imagine if you're both awake & miserable? Women seem to have a harder time than men I've noticed. Why? I put that down to menopause and general hormonal disruption. In my case, the brainstem was injured near where the sleep center is...easy enough explanation for what would take 8 paragraphs. Like the poet said, "I'm alone in my aloneness" as the world hurries by, I sit and await the sunrise in the a.m. I just don't like waking Rod up but now I can't even stay in bed for long and spend the night doing a multitude of things. I even have a back porch to sit on...that's nice, except it's too hot at even 2:00 a.m. Humid, you know. Thanks for asking, and take good care of your health...it's a rather precious possession. Yours Lenora.

 

[R.Little]

@Wishful I have not tried that, but I sometimes use a kava kava tincture in a pinch. CBD was occasionally helpful to me, but it started to interact poorly with my migraines (a shame, considering it really helps some migraineurs).

@lenora I haven't slept in the same bed as my boyfriend in years. My sleep is just too fragile to handle company.

While I'm certainly not jealous of your insomnia, I am a smidge jealous of your sunrises on the porch. Ever since my big crash in December of 2017, I've had to black out every window. We bought this house partly because of all the natural light, and now it's perpetually dark.

The other day, I did manage to briefly chat with a friend on my portch after sunset (socially distant and with masks on!). The sun was down but it wasn't totally dark yet; that was perhaps the most natural light I've been exposed to since 2017. Also hadn't really seen anyone but doctors and my boyfriend all year, so it was a nice moment. I practically collapsed after I walked back inside, but no lasting repercussions, thankfully!

I should probably try to do something like that more often... fresh air and other humans are good to have around, when feasible.

 

[lenora]

@R.Little....I do hope life opens back up for you. I was never that light sensitive but lamps bother me, being behind a car with LED lights can really knock me out and I do like plenty of light inside the house during the summer and winter mos. I just don't like being outside and I can't tolerate the heat, so much for July, August and most of Sept. Then it's wonderful and the flowers are back in full bloom for a time and it's perfect. A lot of people, Rod included, love the heat, although even he has been driven inside earlier in the day this summer.

We have a mechanical king sized bed and each has a separate platform so we don't bother each other during the night. Still, it's not like a regular king-size and we would like something cozier but now we're used to this thing. That might help you and your boyfriend and that situation. Each has its own remote control so you can adjust the sitting height, etc. We have to buy a new one and I'm truly dreading it. Not just the cost, but mainly the physical effort.

I wish I had some suggestions for you and hope your health will improve soon. You're much too young to be so isolated. Mind you, I was pretty bad in the beginning and managed to have a few years that were good...pain was kept under control. Take good care, enjoy the summer evenings....Yours, Lenora.

 

[Wishful]

I just don't like being outside and I can't tolerate the heat, so much for July, August and most of Sept.

Think about moving to central Alberta. It was 3C a few mornings ago, which is a bit cooler than normal refrigerator temperature. I don't think we've gone over 25C yet this year. Some summers have been hot, but the last two have been cool and wet (my creek flooded 4 times so far). I'm wearing a fleece jacket as I type this.

I do appreciate the coolth here.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

I paralyzed on Nap. Do you mean actually sleeping? I will have to assume thats what you mean.

I so rarely actually Nap, actually sleep, that I better not answer the poll.

I go lie down. A major lie down that achieves like alpha waves- is very restive and I can feel alot better one hour later if I do that.

Just not able to, very often.