Thread: Ironic or what???

It doesn't really have anything to do with how ready you are to go to sleep. It is all about the REM cycle. I'll try and explain it to you.

When you lay down to go to sleep at night your REM cycle will begin anywhere from 1 to 4 hours after sleep (give or take). Once this happens your body will continue to go in and out of REM sleep every couple hours. The later into sleep you get, the longer the REM cycle lasts and the period of time between REM cycles will shorten.

Once you wake in the morning your body has already gotten used to the REM cycle coming in and out, and it wants to continue doing this. For the next several hours of waking life your body will easily be able to pick back up with that cycle of REM sleep (if you attempt to sleep). Making it easier to enter directly into REM during naps.

After a being a awake for a good while, your body will have now gotten used to being awake and won't as easily be able to pick back up with that REM cycle. Optimal napping time, in my opinion, is 1-7 hours after waking in the morning. The longer you wait, the harder it may be to enter directly into REM.

Hope that helped out a bit.