How to Set Yourself Up for a Good Nap

As someone who has lived with Insomnia for most of my life, I’ve learned firsthand that there are some days where a nap is not only desired, but required. I sometimes reach a point where my body raises the white flag and says stop, we cannot go any further. This is something I’ve had to adjust to, especially on work days, and is a lot of what led me to contracting/freelancing rather than the typical 9-5 workday. My body made it clear that more caffeine and a can do attitude isn’t enough to power through after a series of sleepless nights.

Acute illness compromises my night sleep

Towards the end of last year I was diagnosed with an acute illness - bacterial meningitis - and with it came a skull crushing migraine and a slew of other symptoms. Because of how I felt, I ended up spending weeks laying in the dark, often with my eyes closed, but I couldn’t really listen to anything or watch anything because it made my migraine worse. I was in the hospital for 16 days, where I was woken up about every 2-3 hours for medication, vitals, and lab draws, and therefore was never getting any good quality sleep - even when I desperately needed it.

When I was discharged from the hospital, I had a rigorous schedule of IV antibiotics 3x a day, with the first round starting at 7am and the third round ending around midnight. This immensely compromised my night sleep as it shortened the available time to sleep, and always prevented me from sleeping well. So, during this season, I’ve done a lot more daytime sleeping, or napping if you will, than overnight sleeping. It’s hard, accidentally flipping your days and nights, but without daytime naps I’d feel terrible.

Setting yourself up for a beneficial nap

This is when I really not only learned the importance of a good nap, but how to set myself up best for a successful and beneficial nap. The goal of a nap is always to wake up feel somewhat rested or at least more clear headed, and I wanted to share some tips I’ve found helpful with this community.

Nap preparation:

I always recommend changing into pjs or something comfortable, to separate your day/awake time from your sleeping time. I also find that closing all of the blinds to make the room dark, and lowering the thermostat to make it a bit more chilly allowed me to curl up with my blanket, cocoon style.

Sleep aids:

Sleeping during the daytime in my opinion is easier with two things - a sleep mask to cover your eyes and block out any ambient light, and a white noise machine to block out any sounds that could interrupt your sleep.

Length of time:

I know that depending on how much is on my mind, sometimes it can take me a little while to fall asleep for a nap, even if I'm desperate to sleep. But, I also know that if I sleep too long, it can be hard to get back up and get going again without being groggy. So, I usually set my alarm for two hours, which accounts for me about 30 minutes to get into a good nap, and 90 minutes to actually rest.

If you're a napper, or someone who takes successful naps, what else would you add to my list of tips? If you don't take naps, is it because you don't have the ability to, or because you'd rather not? I'd love for you to share your nap relationship story below!