Naps vs. A night of sleep and REM?

[ShinodaCM]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so if this needs to be moved, feel free to do it I've been lurking around the forums for maybe a month now and posted once in awhile and this question came in my mind... I've read that, when you go to bed, you don't enter REM sleep right away. It can take maybe an hour or so but I've also read hat naps are good for recalling dreams and doing WILD. So what's the difference between napping and going to bed at night? Why do you enter REM faster while napping? And how the hell does the brain make the difference between a nap and proper bedtime?

[Puffin]

Moved to sleep and health. When you take a nap, you still have leftover REM from the previous night, all ready to go as soon as you fall asleep. That's why you can dream, and why you enter REM sleep so quickly when taking a nap. Your brain's basically saying, "why not use up the rest of the REM from this morning, right now?"

[ShinodaCM]

That makes perfect sense, but why doesn't the brain think "I'll use up the rest of last night's REM right now" when you go to bed in the evening? Is there a limit of time after waking up where the left over REM disappears and the cycle needs to restart? In other words, what's the difference?

[Dreamdreamdream17]

I think it will have something to do with the body clock. It's tuned (for most people, you night owls! XD) to go into deep sleep at night, same as when the body expects food etc. You want a nap in the middle of the day the body is not completely ready for a deep sleep, just a energy boost, so doesn't go through all the stages of sleep, just pretty much straight to REM. They are really good for Lucids as the mind just seems to be more aware (I love naps XD). Hope that helped

[Robot_Butler]

It seems strange, but our bodies know what time it is, and how long we are intending to sleep. What confuses me, is that I can take a nap late in the evening and have amazing dreams, but going to bed early will not have the same effect. Our intent must have something to do with it.

[blade5x]

With me the dreams I have overnight are extremely detailed and vivid. The dreams I have in mid-day naps are very dark, and not clear. They feel more like very detailed and intense thoughts as opposed to actual dreams. I've had lucid experiences in both, and the over-night ones blow the nap time ones away. With the overnight lucids - it feel likes I'm fully grounded in a reality that's completely separate from our waking one. With my nap-time lucids, I can pretty much feel myself laying on the couch/bed, and they end pretty quickly.