Eli5: why do we sometimes wake up in a really bad mood after a mid-afternoon nap?

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This is something that happens to me from time to time since I was a kid.

I would take a nap after lunch, on a day like today. Then sometimes wake up feeling disoriented and depressed. Other times I’d feel fine.

What causes this specifically and why does it only happen sometimes?

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34 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I was thinking that i am only one who experience this. I am careful to not sleep longer than 20 minutes. After power nap i am in good mood…ready to do anything in a minute. If i overslept for like and hour and fall into deep sleep and than wake up…i am generally in a very bad mood and angry for no reason and It took me significantly longer to get back on track.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I was thinking that i am only one who experience this. I am careful to not sleep longer than 20 minutes. After power nap i am in good mood…ready to do anything in a minute. If i overslept for like and hour and fall into deep sleep and than wake up…i am generally in a very bad mood and angry for no reason and It took me significantly longer to get back on track.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Are you waking up naturally from the nap or are you being woken up? For me it makes a difference – if I wake up naturally I generally just feel rested – but if I’m woken up, my mood seems to depend on where I was in the sleep cycle.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Are you waking up naturally from the nap or are you being woken up? For me it makes a difference – if I wake up naturally I generally just feel rested – but if I’m woken up, my mood seems to depend on where I was in the sleep cycle.