Nap tips

Tips for taking a good nap may sound like common sense, but some you may not have thought of:

Best nap length:

Keep your nap short.  Naps for longer than 1 hour will make it harder for you to wake up and resume your daily activities.

Best position:

Well, of course, a reclined position works best.  If you're not able to make it to a bed or a couch, it is possible to nap sitting up; it just might take twice as long to fall asleep.  

Best slumber surroundings:

You want a spot that's dimly lit, safe, quiet, and just a bit on the warm side - but not so warm that you slip into a too-deep sleep. Sleep masks offer that bit of darkness you need, as well as gentle pressure to relax tense muscles around the eyes.

Best state of mind:

Set a nap intention, such as "I will relax into a 20-minute nap." Allow yourself to disconnect your thoughts for a few moments, breathing deeply and steadily.  Set an alarm for yourself so you don't snooze beyond your nap goal.  Most cell phones and MP3 players have an alarm function.

Can you get too much sleep?

News reports abound about the weary, drowsy, sleep-deprived masses. Sleep aids can probably be found in the bedside table drawers and medicine cabinets of millions who experience sleepless nights.  But is there such a thing as getting too much sleep - and how much is too much?

For years, the magic sleep number was 8.

Eight hours of sleep per night has long been considered an optimal amount of sleep for an adult. Research has put that old belief to bed, though, revealing that people who get more than 8 hours of sleep report just as many sleep problems as those who get less than 7 hours of sleep.  So the new magic sleep number falls somewhere between 7 and 8 hours.

Everyone oversleeps from time to time, usually to pay back a sleep debt - like after an all-night study session, a bout of jet lag, or any other period of sleep deprivation. Those who sleep beyond 8 hours on a regular basis could be long sleepers, the name given to people with hypersomnia (the opposite of insomnia, it literally means "too much sleep").

If long sleepers get the sleep their bodies need and their long sleep does not negatively affect their day-to-day life, this is not a serious problem.  In some cases, hypersomnia can cause unproductive sleep and changes in mood, memory, appetite, and energy levels.

Check with your doctor if you regularly sleep 10 or more hours and experience daytime sleepiness that is not relieved by napping. There could be underlying reasons for excess sleep:

use of certain medications

head trauma

medical conditions (e.g., multiple sclerosis, epilepsy)

sleep disorders (narcolepsy, sleep apnea)

symptoms of other medical conditions (e.g., oversleeping is a common symptom of depression)