Well, you have to learn how to nap. If you wake back up while you're in a deep sleep cycle, you're going to feel even worse than before. This is why the snooze alarm just doesn't work -- will make you more tired and groggy, if anything.
I usually set my alarm for 6:45 to make a 7:20 train. On the mornings I feel too tired, or think I can swing getting to work a little later, I'll re-set the alarm for another hour, 7:45. I get about an hour, which seems to work for me. Longer than that, and I'd probably be cycling back into deep or dreaming sleep, which is a pain to wake from.
Oh, yeah, I know all about that phenomenon, much to my regret... It plagues me when I'm on morning shift and have to get up to an alarm, which always seems to go off at exactly the wrong time. I've noticed in the last year or two that my sleeping brain has at last learned to anticipate the alarm and wake me up during my last light-sleep period before it rings, which is an absolute blessing. It doesn't always happen, though.
As for naps, I think my problem with them may be that when I try to take them, I usually don't manage to get into a deep sleep at all. It seems like little more than a longish period of half-awakeness, which is hard to come back from.
Well, you have to learn how to nap. If you wake back up while you're in a deep sleep cycle, you're going to feel even worse than before. This is why the snooze alarm just doesn't work -- will make you more tired and groggy, if anything.
ReplyDeleteI usually set my alarm for 6:45 to make a 7:20 train. On the mornings I feel too tired, or think I can swing getting to work a little later, I'll re-set the alarm for another hour, 7:45. I get about an hour, which seems to work for me. Longer than that, and I'd probably be cycling back into deep or dreaming sleep, which is a pain to wake from.
Oh, yeah, I know all about that phenomenon, much to my regret... It plagues me when I'm on morning shift and have to get up to an alarm, which always seems to go off at exactly the wrong time. I've noticed in the last year or two that my sleeping brain has at last learned to anticipate the alarm and wake me up during my last light-sleep period before it rings, which is an absolute blessing. It doesn't always happen, though.
ReplyDeleteAs for naps, I think my problem with them may be that when I try to take them, I usually don't manage to get into a deep sleep at all. It seems like little more than a longish period of half-awakeness, which is hard to come back from.
Because I'm a bloody rocket scientist, I couldn't figure out why I was so tired at 10pm last night. Duh!
ReplyDelete