Well, I never knew what napping is. Since I came into existence in this world, I never napped. I never slept after school when other kids used to sleep, or maybe were forced to sleep by their mothers.* I was always the hyperactive type who would rather do something during that time. I have always, always slept for 8 hours during the night. This is like my standard. I would just sleep once in the 24 hours and that would be during the night. I would wake up right when my circadian clock hits the eight-hour mark, and I can't stop appreciating this magical human body. Even now, whenever I'm working from home, I prefer not to use an alarm clock because I know if I sleep say by 11:00 p.m., I would be awake by 7:00 a.m. no matter what. This gives me a very pleasant start to the mornings as I believe waking up with an alarm clock puts stress on your body, albeit not visibly. Just my theory!
Okay, coming back to napping. I used to always wonder how do people nap? What IS it actually? Do you sleep for those 15-30 minutes? Or do you just close your eyes and relax? How do you feel before and after napping? Because whenever I have tried to close my eyes during the day, I have woken up feeling as if I have missed a train or something. So, I napped last week! Yeah, right. According to me, it was napping. Let me explain what I mean by that, and it would be good to hear what others feel. So, last week, I was working from home on Wednesday. It was some time in the afternoon, and I felt sudden tiredness in my body, wanting to just lie down for a bit. My bed was right next to me, so I went ahead and lied down. I automatically closed my eyes. I felt a sense of calm, and it was a good feeling. I lied down for a good 10-15 minutes. I know I didn't sleep because somewhere I was thinking something which I don't remember now, but for sure I wasn't asleep. I opened my eyes after 15 minutes, and I was fresh and active like before. I don't know if that will classify under the act of napping, but that's what my understanding is of the phenomenon. I would like to know from "professional" nappers, though, if napping actually involves deep sleep or just closing your eyes for a bit and its impact on your state of mind.
*Okay there were some instances that I can count on my fingers when I did sleep in the afternoon say at 2 and woke up at 9 in the night with absolutely no clue of who I was :( Certainly that wouldn't be counted as napping.
