Does napping make up for lack of nighttime sleep? | Sleep Myths Debunked

It's always best to watch the entire video so that you can see the step-by-step explanation of how I use exercise in my practice helping clients. 

But here are some chapters for you:

00:00 Sleep Myth Introduction

02:22 Teaching Sleep Skills for Life 

03:25 Napping in relation to long-term sleep problems and insomnia

05:46 Step 1 - Your circumstances with napping and sleep problems

09:53 Step 2 - Learning from the time you have your naps during the day 

12:26 Step 3 - Figuring out what you need for great sleep at night consistently

15:16 Conclusion to napping and how it relates to nighttime lack of sleep

I discuss the link between insomnia and naps in my sleep coaching work very regularly. In recent years naps have been recommended for productivity and to ease or help sleep problems. 

In today's video, I'll talk about a couple of different sleep or insomnia situations to help you decide if napping is good or bad in your situation. Sleep problems and napping are very connected indeed and there are quite a few examples of where napping during that day negatively influenced a client’s nighttime sleep. 

So when you watch a sleep expert debunking common sleep myths it's always important to relate it back to the practical situation of your sleep dynamics.

Napping instead of sleeping is something that I don't recommend with very few exceptions to the ‘rule’. Whilst there is no particular real research on whether napping in the afternoon is healthy in relation to long-term insomnia or sleep problems (there are research results for napping but not extensive enough really), often it’s quite a confusing situation to debunk. 

I’ll talk to you about how daytime sleep is good or bad depending on the particular situation. But most importantly we’ll explore how you can work towards overcoming your insomnia and sleep problems without the need for relying on naps or daytime sleep. 

Ultimately when sleep is great quality both in terms of length of time and depthless meaning recharging, the need for naps during the day decreases naturally. 

If you have any questions about any tips, myths or advice you’ve seen online, feel free to let me know. 

Beatrix