Snooze
There are many stages of naps over a lifetime, though I suspect that many never rediscover the pleasure, still holding to that moment of triumph in childhood when their mom was forced to agree they were big enough to stay up all day. So I also suspect that there are cultures where it’s perceived as a sissy thing to do – unless, of course, you’re one of those fearless leaders who can slip swiftly into dreamland and awake 15 minutes later, ready to lead the troops into battle. (How I wish.)
I rediscovered the strange island of afternoon naps when pregnant, and do still indulge when necessary (one of the advantages of working at home, if you’re not George Costanza). But there is a risk, and there’s no way of knowing beforehand which of the two kinds it will be: the lovely refreshing kind, or the weird, heavy conk-out stuffed with dreams that leaves you discombobulated for the rest of the day. Where you wake in a daze and have to keep checking what planet you’re on.
Today it was dreams of wallpaper, barbed wire and puppies. And I’d much prefer not to know why.
· · • · ·
Comment
- I only nap if I’m feeling ill and then it’s the discombobulating kind. Thanks for putting a label on it for me. My husband has to nap for just a few minutes each day and awakes feelinhg refreshed (so he tells me). Being a lifelong nine-to-fiver has likely driven this instinct from me.
— Maribel Nov 3, 12:12am # - i work very well in the morning, but i socialize very well in the evening. this makes the afternoon an endless ocean of edgy sleepiness. being able to nap puts me and thus the whole world to rights. “strange island” is exactly right. 20 minutes on the couch or the floor yields some of the weirdest dreams and the most refreshed feeling: it’s morning all over again! (if i go to the actual bed, it’s usually a two hour thing, like being sucked down into a sleepy whirlpool, and i’m combative by nightfall, because i’m all out of sequence).
i have tried to describe the wonders and pitfalls of the afternoon nap to people and been unsuccessful. now i am happy, because you have described it very well, which means that a) i don’t have to and b) i am not alone. thanks!
— anne Nov 3, 8:08am # - The afternoon nap—whether 20 minutes on the floor or 90 in bed—is absolutely the highspot of my weekend. I’d like to persuade them at work that they would get far more out of me if they permitted me a nap in the afternoon. I’d sneak one, but there’s nowhere at all to get horizontal, and napping aldesko is worse than sleeping in an airplane economy seat.
— Jeremy Cherfas Nov 3, 12:21pm # - I love taking a nap during the afternoon. My boss is now letting us have an hour nap tiime so that is awsome.
— Jessica Nov 3, 2:14pm # - Having a quick afternoon nap can be discombobulating with daylight savings behind us; close your eyes at 4pm and it’s dark when you open ‘em…20 minutes later!
— Gord Fynes Nov 4, 2:20am # - wasthat after lunch in chateauneuf?
I wish i could do the 15 minute nap but can only do the horrid heavy murder and pitchfork kind (you’re getting off lightly with wallpaper). I feel AWFUL for at leat an hour afterwards but it works very well when I have to be at my peak between 8-11 pm. Another morning, but double strength like a double espresso drip.
— ruth Nov 4, 3:06pm #
commenting closed for this article