The power of a nap is pretty amazing. After a big meal, you can pass out. In the sun, passing out. When we are sick, we love to snuggle up in bed for the afternoon. Netflix is the perfect way to spend your entire hangover day.

A good night’s rest, of course.

Albert Einstein slept in 30 minute bursts and was a genius. Why can’t you? Why do experts say that we cannot replace sleep with naps instead?

 

Why Sleep 8 Hours?

While we sleep, our mind and body undergo vital memory and repair processes. Our short-term memories are converted into long-term memories. While we sleep, our muscles repair themselves and we grow and develop. Our cognitive function, our hormones and much more improve when we sleep.

Many of these processes are only possible at certain stages of sleeping. For our bodies and minds to be happy and healthy, we must go through the 4 main stages of sleeping.

NREM 1 is the first stage of our sleep cycle.

In this stage of sleep, also known as light sleeping, we slow down our metabolism, relax our muscles, slow down our eye movements, and reduce brainwave activity. This stage of sleep actually encourages the development of new ideas. This is the easiest stage of sleep to awaken someone from.

NREM 2 is the second stage of our sleep cycle.

During this stage of sleep, the brain and body activity decreases. The eye movement stops, the brain waves slow down and muscles relax. Your body temperature drops, as does your heart rate. This stage lasts between 40-60% of the sleep cycle, just before it begins.

The third stage of our sleep cycle is NREM 3.

This is the deepest stage of our sleep cycle. This is our deep sleep stage. It’s the deepest sleep stage before REM. Our brain waves are slower, our muscles are relaxed and we have a nice, relaxing sleep.

In average, we spend 5%-15% our sleep cycle at this stage. We spend relatively little time in NREM 3 compared to other stages of sleep. However, this stage seems to have the most impact on our bodies.

If we reach NREM 3 during a nap, we will likely have trouble sleeping that night as our body and brain have had time to rest.

After NREM 3 we move into…

The final stage of sleep is REM.

Rapid eye movement sleep is characterized by rapid, side-to-side movements of the eyes, rapid, shallow breathing, an increased heart rate and blood pressure. During this stage of sleep, our bodies are unable to regulate body temperature. When we are in REM sleep, we often have vivid dreams.

It’s not a good idea to wake up someone from REM. This can cause a groggy feeling that can last for minutes or even hours.

How long does it usually take to go through the stages of sleep?

The average time to complete all four sleep stages is 1.5 hours.

In an ideal situation, we would go through five cycles of each of our four sleep stages every night.

It is recommended that we sleep for 7.5 hours per night (1.5h each sleep stage x 5 cycles of sleep) to ensure we cycle through the 4 stages of sleep enough to reap its restorative benefits.

What’s the problem with napping?

Nothing, really! Naps are ideal for recovering our mind or body if we need to sleep more than usual.

The PROBLEM of napping is only when we use it to compensate for not getting enough sleep at nights.

Make up for sleep lost

Matthew Walker, a sleep expert and neuroscientist, says that we cannot simply nap the next day to make up for sleep lost.

Matthew said in an interview with Joe Rogan from 2018. “Naps are beneficial. We’ve done studies that show they can improve your learning and memory. They also increase your alertness, concentration, and your emotional regulation. Sleep is essential for mental health and emotional first aid. However, you cannot use naps as a self-medication to compensate for short sleeps of four or five hours per night.

We know that your brain cannot recover all the sleep it has lost. The brain will attempt to recover some sleep but, as we have discovered, if I take you out of bed tonight and rob you of 8 hours of sleep, it won’t be able to make up the difference. Sleeping longer will allow you to recover a few hours, but not the entire 8 lost. You cannot accumulate debts and then pay them off on the weekend. Sleeping is not a credit activity. You can’t bank it.”

The body and the brain both benefit when we cycle through all four stages of sleep. It’s better for your health to sleep in cycles, as opposed to not getting enough sleep at night and trying to make it up by napping the next day. Matthew Walker explains that napping does not affect our sleep. You can’t compensate for lost sleep by taking a nap.

Why should I not nap?

This does not mean you should never nap after a short or bad night’s rest. It’s better to get some sleep back than none at all!

If you are still relying on naps to get through the night instead of working to improve your sleep schedule, it may be time to change.

Take-Aways

You can benefit from napping, especially if you are sleep-deprived, recovering from an injury or trauma. We cannot, however, rely on napping as a way to compensate for sleep lost.

Priority 1 – Getting 8 hours of sleep in a row as often as we can

Priority 2: Take a nap while you are in recovery mode.

There are many sleep therapy techniques available if you’re worried about your sleeping habits. Speak to your doctor for tips on how to improve sleep quality and quantity.