I’ve just noticed, that when I take a nap, my body wakes myself up within 1 – 2 hours. This is probably true for everyone else too. But our bodies allow us to sleep for 8 hours at night. Why can’t our bodies nap for a full 8 hours without waking up? How does our body know this? How does our body differentiate between napping vs a nights sleep?
In: Biology
Your body regulates sleep using two hormones: melatonin and adenosine. Melatonin is linked to what is known as the circadian rhythm which follows the day night cycle. That’s why you sleep longer at night as that’s when your brain is flushed with the highest amounts of melatonin.
Adenosine can be seen as the tiredness hormone. Your body accumulates adenosine throughout the day and you start feeling sleepy. Sleeping clears adenosine. That’s why if you don’t sleep well or skip sleep (i.e., you didn’t clear adenosine properly) you can feel sleepy and fall asleep even during the daytime of your circadian rhythm.
Your brain has receptors for adenosine. Think of receptors as puzzle pieces with particular shapes to join with hormones with the corresponding shapes. These adenosine receptors are even more receptive towards caffeine (the caffeine puzzle piece is even better fit for our receptor puzzle piece). That’s why caffeine makes you awake and alert and refreshed, as it replaces adenosine. But that adenosine doesn’t get cleared like with sleep, so once caffeine reduces, adenosine binds to those receptors again and you get a crash, and rush for your next hit of caffeine. Ergo, caffeine is not a replacement for good sleep.
Who sleeps 8 hours a night? Please teach me your magic.
Hey OP, try napping in a fully dark environment. I mean ‘can’t see your hands in front of your face’ dark. You might find your nap goes for a little longer. Also, if your body really needs rest, and you’re not on medication and/or have any mental health issues, you should be able to sleep for however long you need.
I’m unable to ever take a nap cause when I wake up I believe I was born in 1566ge and I’m a monkey man. For about 10 seconds till I’m able to physically understand what’s happening so I just sleep when my body lets me..
1 to 2 hours? Something is wrong with me then because mine only last 10 mins?
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