Why you wake at 3am
Hana explains the normal architecture of a night's sleep, why early-hours waking is so common after 40, and the single habit that turns a brief waking into an hour of staring at the ceiling.
Are naps cheating
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Show notes
Naps, properly explained
Hana is joined by Dr Tomas Lindqvist, who studies daytime sleep in healthcare workers. They work through the evidence on nap length, timing and the groups who should nap more, not less.
- The 20-minute nap versus the 90-minute nap, and why nothing in between works
- Why a nap after 3pm steals from your night
- Shift workers: the pre-shift nap that Tomas recommends
- New parents and the myth of sleeping when the baby sleeps
- When napping is a sign of a sleep disorder rather than a cure
Hana's clinic handout on nap timing is linked in the show notes.
Transcript
Welcome back to Lights Out Lab. I am Hana Kaur Dhillon. Last episode I promised we would talk about naps, and I have brought in the right person to do it. Dr Tomas Lindqvist studies daytime sleep in nurses and paramedics, and he has strong opinions about the afternoon nap that I suspect will surprise some of you. We are going to answer whether a nap is cheating, whether it wrecks your night, why twenty minutes works and forty does not, and what to do if you are on night shifts or up with a newborn and your whole idea of day and night has collapsed. Tomas, welcome, and I want to start with the question my patients are embarrassed to ask. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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