Why is it better to sleep in one big chunk, rather than taking a couple of naps throughout the day?

Question

I’ve done a small amount of very basic research into why people don’t take a couple of naps throughout the day as opposed to sleeping in one big eight-ish hour chunk. Most of the stuff I’ve read talks most prominently about sleep cycles and how those affect your sleep, and that naps might not be suitable because you can’t predict sleep cycles to align with naps, and that sleeping in one big chunk allows you to go through multiple sleep cycles. What I’m wondering is what happens neurologically that makes this true? Why does sleep not add up to the sum of its parts, and what, if any are the pros of each compared to each other?

In: Biology

Answer 1

I currently take two middle sized naps per day, because of my job. I sleep from 6am to 10am and from 6pm to 9pm.