If I miss a full night sleep, Nap the next day, or no?

Hi All.. I have a pretty bad anxiety disorder.. I recovered from it 5 years ago, but it's back, and now includes not being able to sleep, which really is a bummer because now it's that much harder to manage the anxiety during the day on no sleep.

My question is this.. If I go a full night, or say a night with maximum 2 hours sleep, should I nap the following day? My concern is that the nap will alter my ability to sleep the next night, and if I don't nap, then maybe i'll be tired enough to be able to fall asleep and at least get one decent night sleep in.

Thoughts?

yes I think you should. Short naps before a certain time - say 3pm - should not affect your sleep quality that evening. I think if you only get a very small amount of sleep in the night - it will help you immensely - even just 40mins. You need to rest your nervous system which will be wired with the anxiety anyway. Id really recommend also trying mindfulness meditation - ultimately this could be the best solution to both the sleep and anxiety issues I think...basically its just learning to slow and pause your thoughts - which will reduce the triggering of your nervous system and this will help with anxiety and sleep. Take care and allow yourself to rest!

Scwsleeper wrote:yes I think you should. Short naps before a certain time - say 3pm - should not affect your sleep quality that evening. I think if you only get a very small amount of sleep in the night - it will help you immensely - even just 40mins. You need to rest your nervous system which will be wired with the anxiety anyway. Id really recommend also trying mindfulness meditation - ultimately this could be the best solution to both the sleep and anxiety issues I think...basically its just learning to slow and pause your thoughts - which will reduce the triggering of your nervous system and this will help with anxiety and sleep. Take care and allow yourself to rest!

I second this response. The nap will do you a lot of good. I too am anxious about things impacting my night time sleep so don't nap late in the day.

Mindfulness has also helped me.

Goodluck.