Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Retirement Naps

When I was working, I always enjoyed a 15 to 30 minute nap on the weekends. Now, I try and sneak one in most days.

Naps are funny though. Sometimes I wake up refreshed, and sometimes wake up feeling groggy.

Any other nappers out there?

If I take a nap longer than an hour, I'm worthless the rest of the day.

The trick to taking a nap that makes you feel better and not worse is:

1. no more than 10-15 minutes, and
2. try to get your legs elevated a bit higher than your head/torso

I don't know why that matters, but I remember hearing Jocko Willink talk about this on his podcast once and I started trying it and I'm a believer.

Yep,normally take one every day now that I’m retired. Usually only 15-30 minutes and I’m recharged and ready to go.

Yeah, I will get in my recliner and lean back. Anything longer than 30 minutes, I feel like crap.

30-60 minutes on off days. Have to get a nap before 3 or I won't sleep that night

When I feel tired I'll lay down every now and then watch some you tube vids about guns n ammo and boats n fishing and such, but no napping....napping makes me big time messed up when it's time to really get to sleep.

Only way ever thinking about taking a nap is if the wife is. 😃

I take one every day at work. It’s rough on the weekends at home and I don’t get one.

Been retired 5 years now and I think I have only taken two naps in that time! before that when I was still working and I got a day off I would almost have one every day! I also wake up around 4:30 most every day of turkey season but since I have retired no naps! I miss them just can't pull it off!

I’m still mid career, but I sneak them during the day right after lunch. A 10-15 minute power nap makes a world of difference especially during turkey season.

Im 56 not retired but own my own business. I usually get home about 2pm, grab a shower and about a hr nap. Not because Im tired but because my brain needs a rest. Its the only way I can shut it down for a bit. I usually spend about 30min chilling when I wake up or I will bite somebody’s head off. After that Im good to go for another 6-7hrs.

I used to kick my feet up and take a nap every afternoon at work. Since retiring I'll take one or 3 or maybe 12 every day.

I've got to where I take one most days. Usually around 30-45 minutes right before my daughter gets home from school. If I get home in time. Like the OP said. Sometimes I wake with energy.

Other times I wake up thinking I missed the bus in 1987. One cooler days and milder temps I might not nap. But I always have a bunch to do when I get up. So it doesn't hurt my sleep patterns

But.. I'm not retired. I just finish my work by 1p if at all possible. Then nap. Then the home work.

Naps help with mental health.

My day gets better when i go to bed..worse when i wake up..

Same here. That's why I don't do naps. Have had a hard time going to sleep after a nap too.

I noticed a change in my behavior after adopting. My wife and I had been empty nesters just a bit. But responsible teenage years for my son made it seem longer.

I noticed after we adopted and the wife was retired, I'd get lambasted the moment I got home. I'd work, then return home and get the shit kicked out of me the moment I walked in the door.

It didn't sit well and the response was everyone got an ass chewing. Eventually she figured out to give me some peace. Once the adopted daughter got in school I had until 3:30p to get home from work, but left the hell along, maybe nap, but absolutely be left alone to unwind. Things got better.

A working man cannot go to work, deal with shit shows all day, return home to a wife who dumps shit in his lap the minute he walks in. I will kill your soul quickly.

When I finish work I try to get that quick nap before my daughter gets home. Then I take charge of her before the wife has to. It seems to help us both. Being old and having a young kid is hard. That nap helps me stay relaxed and be in the right mind when my girl gets home from school. It also helps the wife by unloading that on me to deal with until bed time.

I don't know how other people do it. But grandparent retirement age folk aren't as capable of keeping up with a child as a younger person. So we figure it out and cope the best we can. My daughter is a great child. I'd change nothing. But she is special needs and we don't know what we will get when she returns from school. So I nap to prep for handling whatever that is. I don't look forward to the teen years. But I will manage whatever comes our way. She's a good child but can't control her emotions well. Navigating that stormy sea is not something that comes natural. But GOD speaks to me sometimes on a whim and I can get inspiration to control the emotions. But without the nap, it's difficult. I think that's why I've developed the need to finish work and get that nap before I need to deal with whatever comes my way.

I was never a napster.

Then I retired.

Now Boho and I both love to take a nap together. And I'm not talking about a 15 minute nap either. I'm talking about taking off your clothes, closing the blinds, cranking down the AC to 68 and taking like a 2 hour serious nap kind of nap. Almost like a second sleep. in order to counter the "blah" feeling when I wake up after they 2 hours nap, I have begun to have a cup of hot black tea with cream and sugar like the British do in the afternoon after i wake up. That really helps.

What I like about it, and I'm serious and not kidding at all, is that it's like we get two days in one. You get day "1a" where you get up in the morning have your coffee and go do stuff, then you have your nap after lunch, get up and have day "1b", have your tea and go do more stuff. It's like two days in one. So I get 14 days a week now.

During the week when I’m home alone, I normally take a 45 minute to an hour long nap every afternoon in my recliner. All I have to do is tell Lilly “nap time” and she’ll jump up on the couch and lay down. She’s the most routine driven dog I’ve ever seen. If I haven’t fixed lunch by 11:30, she starts whining at me. If I haven’t gotten up by 4 to walk to the mailbox, same thing. At 9 every night she starts whining at me to put her in her crate.