The Benefits and Drawbacks of a Nap

So this past Saturday I wanted, more than anything, to sleep in a bit since I would be up early on Sunday (had to be at a church 30 minutes away by 8:30am), and this coming weekend I had an early meeting in an location I've never been to before on Saturday plus I have to be at the 30-minutes away church at 8:30am on  Sunday.  To add to the mix, I woke up around 5am with a splitting headache so sleeping in would have definitely done some good for the headache.  But there was no sleeping in for me.

I was in desperate need for a nap after watching my 2 1/2 year old niece from around 8am until 3:45pm, when my father took over child-watching duties and my mom said "Go lay down!"  I slept for 1 1/2 hours.  My head still hurt, but not like it had before.  And I did feel refreshed.


I am a huge proponent of naps.  As a regular migraine sufferer, naps are extremely beneficial for me.  There are times my head hurts so much my body doesn't want me to do anything else but sleep.  And these naps, be it 20 minutes or an hour, usually do great good for my head.  I never wake up completely free of the headache, but the pain has dulled down to a point where I can basically forget about them.

I also find naps helpful when I am making the transition to covering 3rd shift hours at work.  Typically I stay up as late as I can before a 3rd shift night, that way I'll sleep 8-9 hours straight during the day and have no problem with covering an off-hours shift.  But I've found that it is harder and harder for me to stay up as late as I can to prepare for 3rd shift without taking a short nap first.  The nap usually occurs between 11pm-1am and then I'm good to stay up until 5am.  I go to sleep and I'll sleep until 1-2pm.

Yes, naps definitely have their benefits.

But, there is a drawback to naps for me sometimes.

Like my 1 1/2 hour nap Saturday.  I took it in the late afternoon to early evening.  And when I woke up, I was refreshed.  But when I went to bed so I could sleep before having to get up early to preach a sermon I found I had a problem.

I.
Could.
Not.
Sleep.

Nope.  Not at all.  It was around 2am when I finally fell asleep and woke up 4 1/2 hours later.  Surprisingly I made it through the day without feeling tired or even without coffee!  But I was seriously stressed that the fatigue would get the best of me.

Obviously I am not saying I will never nap again.  But maybe next time I need to plan my nap better.