Nappytimes

This is not a post about diapers, or the convenience of being a baby who gets to poop at his mercy and then get tended to by adults. This is a short post about the afternoon nap, and my belief that there is something in the air these days that is pushing me into a slumber every single afternoon post-classes.

I’ve never enjoyed afternoon naps. I’m not sure why it is, because I like sleep, and I enjoy being able to recover when I am tired. I like sleeping during the morning, and I often do – in class. However, it feels odd to me to be asleep after the clock moves past 12pm. Over my study holidays across 2013, 2014, and 2015, my mom used to try to force me to get some sleep in the afternoons, to make up for the kind of late nights I used to keep trying to get information into my brain. I refused outright. Never developed the habit in school. I didn’t develop the habit at University either, largely because I spent most afternoons outside my room.

This semester, I have (so far), been able to maintain a healthier sleep cycle than I have had over the last nine semesters. Law school and hostel life changes how you sleep in a number of ways, and for me – even on days that law school and hostel life didn’t affect me, I slept very little. However, this semester I’ve pushed myself to sleep as early as I could, and wake up as late as possible – in addition to napping in class and catching sleep every time I spot a chance.

As a result of the night sleep cycle, I assumed that I would never feel sleepy in the day. Except that assumption has been incredibly flawed. I’m sleeping every afternoon after class for 2 hours at minimum. Given my history with sleep, this could be down to a sleep deficit my body is only understanding now. Or, and this is my prevailing theory:

there’s something in the air. 

Given that summer is slowly arriving on campus, I’m extremely hopeful that this afternoon napping business also stops. While it’s an extremely liberating feeling to be able to sleep in the afternoons without too much stress or thinking about places I need to be and things I need to be doing, I feel like it takes away from my day. And, worse of all, it’s keeping me awake longer than I would like at night. Wish me luck.