Sleeping Beauty

It is sometimes tempting to have an afternoon nap.

Is it a good idea to have a power nap?

Sleeping Beauty from her bedside brings you some more top tips on how to sleep well at night.

Should you power nap?
Is too much of a good thing like sleep bad for you? Feel like indulging in an afternoon nap? Having a long nap in the afternoon may disrupt your sleep at night.  You may find that you can’t get to bed after having a long nap which affects your good sleep habits and rituals that you are trying to develop.

If you really must succumb to having a nap, try for a short nap no more than 45 minutes. That way, you won’t get into the REM stage of sleep, but will have enough sleep to help you wake up feeling re-energised.

Early to bed, early to rise?
As the famous saying by Benjamin Franking goes, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”. Its not a bad idea to rise early. However, what happens if you are just not a morning person. Never fear. The important thing is to try and get the same number of hours of sleep each night to set your internal clock and to rise and go to sleep at the same time each day.

Catching up on your sleep deficit
Unfortunately once you get into a sleep deficit situation where you have had a couple of bad nights sleep or not slept many hours, a lot of people resort to making up sleep by sleeping excessive hours the next night.

Try not to catch up on your sleep by sleeping tons of hours the next night. It’s best to stick to a normal sleep routine, waking up the same time and going to bed at the same time. This maximises how efficiently you sleep at night and gets your body into a good Circadian rhythm.

Other Sleeping Beauty articles

How to sleep well Part 1

How to sleep well Part 2

Things to avoid before you go to sleep

Can’t get to sleep?