Napping for Fatigue Management/Recovery

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Who doesn’t love a nice nap?

It’s a luxury that not everybody has time for but recent events mean I find myself lucky enough to be able to squeeze in 1.5 hrs napping in the mid-late afternoon whilst still getting a good nights sleep (8ish hours). A good bedtime story always sets me up for a pleasant nap:

Tho I just enjoy napping for the sake of it I’m curious as to whether there’ll be a noticeable affect on training/recovery.

It remains to be seen whether this will positively affect fatigue/training but I have high expectations given how crucial sleep is to successful fatigue management.

Am unfamiliar with the research and physiological underpinnings of sleep/napping so if anyone smart could drop some knowledge would be much appreciated. Maybe more sleep is only beneficial if it’s consecutive. Maybe you need a full cycle as opposed to a 20 min power nap to benefit gains.

Does anybody else nap? How long? When? Why? Found it beneficial to recovery/fatigue management?

2

I nap when I feel the need and have time to. Anecdotal evidence based on my experience is that is very helpful.

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Whenever I take a nap, I always drink a coffee right before and the naps are no longer than 30ish minutes. But these “naps” feel more like dosing off with your eyes closed, if its happened to you I think i explained it decently. They help tremendously. I used to suffer from severe migraines and the neurologist recommended those naps and I have been doing it since. I’ll try to find some articles or a study about taking caffeine before a nap, I know it got some sort of publicity.

Edit: The key is to nap before the caffeine kicks in btw.

4

I only nap on weekends, usually after a big lunch.

Weekdays no chance of I’m in work.

In generally I operate on around 6 hours a night during the week just fine and usually 8 hours Friday/Saturday nights. Seems to work fine for me.

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