The Art of the Nap

My inspiration for this post is the amazing three hour nap (or perhaps I should say temporary coma) I just took.  It's been a long week with too little sleep, and my afternoon nap was an outstanding way to recover.

Some people think it's a shame that human beings spend about one-third of their lives sleeping.  I think it's a blessing.  It would certainly be a blessing if I slept anywhere near 8 hours a night as a college student!

Some people say they have much better things they could do with those nighttime hours than spend them asleep.  And perhaps that's the case... in theory.  But in reality, what is more important is than letting your body and your brain rest and recharge?  I'm barely functional on 6-7 hours of sleep a night; I can't imagine running on empty.

Some people claim they can get by on very little sleep.  Sleep is both a necessity and a privilege for me.  It is near the top of my priority list, and I hate when I have to sacrifice sleep for other things (like schoolwork).  I think teachers should understand that sleep is generally more important to me than class, but somehow they expect me to sleep less rather than study less.  I think they need to reevaluate their priorities.

It's not technically my major, but one subject that I have become an expert in during my college years is napping.  I hated napping when I was younger.  I chose Taekwondo over naptime during a summer daycare program when I was 7 or so years old, and that set a precedent for the rest of my young life.  I always preferred activity to napping.  Even through high school, I rarely napped.  If I was tired, I just went to bed early.

But things changed when I got to college.  Going to bed early wasn't an option, and dumb little freshman me had 8 o'clock classes.  Some afternoons or early evenings (right after MDB practice) when I was especially tired, I would set my alarm for an hour or two in the future and just sleep.  It was GLORIOUS.  I had discovered my passion (and, conveniently, a great way to get around not sleeping enough at night).

Second semester, I utilized my newfound free time from 3:30-5:30 PM to nap even more often.  Almost every day, in fact.  It was a beautiful thing.  I took full advantage with my patented epic naps of 2 hours or more.

I now gauge my semesters based partially on whether or not I have enough time to nap.  It is a major determinant of my happiness, after all.  Based on available nap time, I can't say this semester is a great one.  I've been so busy that today's nap was the first one I've taken in at least a month.

Obviously the next subject I need to master is power napping!