Does my siesta count as sleep?
Much emphasis has been placed on a good night’s sleep, but I live in a hot climate where in order to exercise, we get outside quite early to beat the heat of the sun, then nap in the afternoon. Is interrupted sleep (like a siesta) as healthy as getting a full night’s rest? — Lee, Florida
We’ve all been there: Instead of the prescribed eight hours you get somewhere closer to four or five, so, schedule permitting, you squeeze in a nap.
How much sleep we need varies from person to person. Unfortunately, breaking up your eight hours into bite-sized chunks isn’t exactly the same thing as a good night’s sleep.
“The arithmetic of napping checks out, but the physiology doesn’t, unfortunately. Most sleep specialists recommend against it as a regular practice,” says Jeffrey Ellenbogen. He’s a neurologist and director of a research initiative called the Sound Sleep Project.
Sleep, he explains, is one singular state lasting seven or eight hours.
“It’s physiologically broken into what are called ‘ultradian’ cycles,” he says, “Swinging between REM sleep and slow-wave sleep in each cycle like a washing machine cycling between scrub and rinse — each of these pairings leading to an optimized outcome.”
In other words, he explains, the cycles of sleep are not only stand-alone features, but also work in a coordination through the night.
“A nap will short-change this process, giving only modest benefit,” he says.
Of course, sleep needs vary from person to person. And in many cultures, afternoon shut-eyes (like siestas) are a regular part of daily life.
“Taking an afternoon nap or siesta may be useful for certain people,” says Alaina Tiani a clinical health psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center.
But, she says, “for people with insomnia, it is generally best to avoid naps as this can lower your sleep pressure ahead of your nighttime sleep window, possibly leading to trouble falling and staying asleep.”
If you do nap, longer naps make it more likely that you will cycle into deeper stages of sleep and potentially wake up feeling groggier, she says.
“Shorter naps generally involve lighter stages of sleep, which may help you to feel more refreshed,” Tiana says. — Kristen V. Brown
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