Napping

[ba0412]

Coach,
I've been rereading Practical Programming as I've been stalling and needed to bone up on subject matter. Of the variables needed for proper recovery, sleep is the one I cannot control. I am on shift work, (24hrs) and when on duty an average night nets about 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I train on my off days and was wondering if you think a couple hour nap when I get off in the mornings will help with my recovery or is 2 hours not enough continuous sleep to matter?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Naps save lots of us. The longer the better.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Naps are good.

The first time I ever met Rip, he was asleep.

[Steve Hill]

I'll try to dig up some of the sleep research I did on this when I was racing, but Rip is indeed correct. One thing you'll want to try to do is to wake naturally from the nap, as there is a sleep phase issue at work that awakening after an artificial time period will affect. One of the studies I found showed that people spent longer in stage 4 sleep than during similar sleep intervals during their normal sleep time, leading to slightly higher HGH production.

[Carlos Daniel]

One thing you'll want to try to do is to wake naturally from the nap, as there is a sleep phase issue at work that awakening after an artificial time period will affect.

This would cause my naps to last about 4 hours or more. Not good.

[Steve Hill]

This would cause my naps to last about 4 hours or more. Not good.

Most people move through a sleep cycle in 1.25-2 hours. You want to try to wake up at the end of a cycle, like you would normally. I've posted about this before, I'll try to dig it up.

[frosty-g]

This would cause my naps to last about 4 hours or more. Not good.

always seems to be a good 3 hours or more for me, otherwise i often feel worse when i wake up. definitely depends on the individual though so worth a try.
also, i find that if i make an effort to make it a brief nap it helps to, for example, sit in an armchair and leave the lights on/curtains open, not get too comfy etc so that i don't sleep so heavily, that makes a good difference.

[Von Scotch]

I think humans should sleep 3 or 4 times during the course of a day. I also think we should swim underwater, instead of dicking about with diff'rent "strokes". I was going to bring this up elsewhere, but I couldn't keep it in.

[Alexis]

I've come across some articles that proposed 1.5 hour sleep blocks. I find myself naturally waking up after 1:20 or 2:50 often for naps. In the morning it's often after ca. 7:15.

[Dave 321]

This would cause my naps to last about 4 hours or more. Not good.

I don't think I could fit one of those in my lunch break LOL.