Napping.........my new favorite past time......or is it?

The older I am becoming I find that my energy level at the end of a work day is depleting. Each work day, I feel the weight of the day move slowly across my body. As this heavy feeling moves toward my head I begin to experience the subtle yet overwhelming urge to lie down and have, what is commonly referred to as a, "cat nap" or what research terms a "power nap".

Some researchers believe that napping is suppose to improve your alertness and productivity and that your capacity to "sustain attention to a task and to make complicated decisions" is sharpened. Now, I know, being the owner of a lazy, slightly overweight, cat, that napping is common for my feline friend and that her ability to get up without effort, continuing her daily activities with the energy and productivity described above, appears effortless. In my case however the productivity gain does not appear to be as easily achieved or else as positively asserted.

When I have naps (and believe me it doesn't happen every day as much as I wish it could) I settle down, listening to the CBC, which inevitably puts me to sleep, and then I wake up half hour to an hour later. However, unlike my cat, I cannot just jump up and head for the next project on my list with such ease and grace. For me, it takes at least the hour following a nap to "recover". Recover from a nap. Isn't that an oxymoron. I mean I thought a nap was for recovering but the older I become the less easy it is to appreciate my naps and I don't get it (or like it for that matter).

Ok, my naps do possibly sharpen my mental abilities but not in the most productive way. When I am finished napping it's usually time to make supper. That just pisses me off and I definitely become more attentive, but not to the task but rather the inconvenience of having to put forth energy to make my family food. Oh, and god forbid someone talks to me in the hour after my nap because I definitely become more alert to the nerves that are becoming irritated to another human voices. Oh, and help, don't even go there. If you ask me for help because I may look a little tired or possibly sound grumpy( as I shout out loud about the effort I have to put forth to make sure that my family is feed) you will definitely gain an appreciation(and an ear full) as to how my "power nap" allow me to be more perform ant in my task. That is to say the my performance may be more dramatic, exaggerated and possibly slightly irrational as I explain that "I CAN DO IT!" "YOU JUST RELAX AND LET ME DO ALL THE WORK,AS USUAL!". This as I use my new found energy to throw the pans down on to the stove and begrudgingly begin to cook. At this point my daughter and husband slowly slink out of the kitchen eyeing each other and usually identifying for one another that I have just woken up from a nap therefore clarifying for each other the “ after nap” mood.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the napping piece it's just the after shock that is becoming more and more difficult to deal with. When I was younger this was never the case. I would nap, jump up, shake myself off and move on. Much more feline like. However, it now seems to be becoming a bit of a chore to grab a quick nap. It takes too long to snap out of the daze, my family avoids me for at least an hour and for god sake the so called improvement in productivity in my case is how quickly I can piss every one else in the general area off to the same level as me. Ok, maybe after the initial hour or so I begin to feel the benefits of my nap but by that time it's too late. When I realize I have energy for a quickie, my husband has lost all patients with me and I have to use my energy apologizing for my irrational behavior. The ability to help my daughter with homework by using my improved abilities to make complicated decisions is overlooked by the fact that she has shut her door and has gone into ignore mode due again to my "after nap" fits. And there is no appreciation for my attention to detail as this feature was brutally misused the hour prior by pointing out all the small irritating habits of both family members while in my fit of anger resulting from having to make supper.

So my question is are naps really worth it for the 39ish population. What use to be a help has quickly become a hinderance and I fear many more apparent helpful efforts for my health will soon follow suit ( like yoga. WHat the hell is relaxing about it. It hurts!)

Well that's all.

Lise