If you suffer from insomnia or just a busy around the clock work schedule, you are probably familiar with the concept of napping throughout the day in order to catch up on the sleep that you’ve missed previously. Interested in whether or not this practice is actually beneficial, I did the research to get all of the answers.
Is sleeping during the day the same as sleeping at night? While it is true that you can get hours of sleep during the day and rest your body while doing so, it is not as effective as sleeping at night.
With all of the distractions that are present during daylight hours, it can be hard to get quality sleep. In general, our bodies need to follow a healthy sleeping schedule and sleep at night.
When it comes to sleeping in all morning due to missed sleep from the night before, or just taking long naps throughout the day, it is a common belief that it is not as effective as sleeping at night.
In this article, we will be exploring this theory and breaking down the facts to come to the conclusion of whether it is true or not. So, keep reading to find out if sleeping during the day really is the same as sleeping at night.
Is Sleeping During The Day The Same as Sleeping at Night?
Many people believe that sleeping during the day is not the same as sleeping at night. Our bodies are naturally set on a schedule to sleep at night and be awake during the day, so it makes sense that this theory is so popular.
In this section, we will be breaking down the characteristics of day sleeping and why it is not as effective as sleeping at night.
Here is why sleeping during the day is not the same as sleeping at night:
- Multiple distractions
- Throws off circadian clock
- Bodies don’t produce natural hormones that are present at night (Melatonin)
- Hormones that help us grow and heal are present at night (not during the day)
First and foremost, there are so many distractions that come with sleeping during the day. The sun is out, so it can be hard to get that pitch black darkness that makes for a good night of rest.
Additionally, most people are out and active during the daytime. So, if you are trying to sleep in your bedroom, you might hear construction, traffic, and just people in general.
At night, on the other hand, the average person is asleep or at least being quiet and considerate. The absence of light and noise during the evenings promotes relaxation and makes going to sleep a lot easier than it would be otherwise.
Aside from the daytime distractions, humans operate off of something called a circadian clock, or circadian rhythm. This is basically the schedule and flow that helps us sleep through the night and be alert during the day.
When you switch this up and sleep throughout the day, you are throwing off your internal body clock, which can come with a lot of issues of its own when not properly taken care of.
During the day, our bodies don’t produce the natural hormones that they do at night. More specifically, humans produce a chemical called Melatonin during this time, which is a main ingredient in a lot of sleeping supplements and tablets.
Along with melatonin, our bodies release natural hormones that help us to grow and heal in general while we are sleeping at night. These hormones, of course, will not be present during daylight hours, whether you make it a regular occurrence to sleep during the day or not.
How The Night Shift Affects Health
So, now that you have gotten the full scoop on why sleeping during the day is not as beneficial as sleeping at night, there is another big factor to consider: what if you work the night shift?
Night shift workers follow a schedule of working in the late hours of the night until early morning, meaning that they will need to sleep during the day in order to get any kind of rest. As a result, they must switch up their sleeping schedule entirely in order to adjust to this lifestyle.
Night Shift Workers:
- More likely to have health/sleep problems
- Disruption in sleeping rhythm during the day
It has been speculated that night shift workers are the most prone to issues involving health and sleep, which are in direct correlation with each other.
As previously mentioned, sleeping at night helps our bodies to rejuvenate and repair themselves, healing us and helping us to grow while we are snoring at night. When you switch this schedule up and do it during the day instead, all of this goes away.
This ties into night shift workers being more at risk to become ill, since they will not have adequate time for their minds and bodies to essentially restart before they wake up the next day.
This article is owned by Sleeping Report and was first published on June 3, 2019
Sleeping during the day comes with a disruption in the sleeping rhythm, or circadian clock. With that being said, there might be a long stretch of time that is being put into sleeping during the day, but it will never be as effective as laying down at night and getting the sufficient amount of rest that the body needs to thrive.
While this can be done from time to time as needed, it would not be beneficial to completely switch to a day-sleeping schedule, because it can contribute to a lot more than just being tired during the day.
How To Establish a Healthy Sleeping Schedule
After reading all of the information that was previously offered throughout this article, you can probably guess that it is extremely important to follow a healthy sleeping schedule.
Sleep is one of the most vital components of being healthy, productive, and happy, and is something that should be taken very seriously.
In this section, we will be going over some tips for how you can establish your own healthy sleeping schedule. The list down below will outline the main points, but keep reading to get all of the details.
How To Establish a Healthy Sleeping Schedule:
- Calculate the hours of sleep that you need to come up with a bedtime
- Establish a relaxing bedtime routine to help you sleep
- Make it a habit to complete this process every night (go to sleep on time)
- Wake up on time in the morning (don’t sleep in)
- Avoid sleeping during the day or taking naps in order to adjust to your new schedule
To begin establishing a healthy sleep schedule, you will need to create one. Start by calculating the hours of sleep that you will need every night in order to help you come up with a good bedtime.
The average adult needs somewhere around 8 hours of sleep, which is the general goal that you should shoot for. So, if you have to wake up every morning at six o’clock, you should plan for your bedtime to be ten o’clock at night.
In addition to just figuring out the time that you should be going to sleep, you need to take action in order to help your body do so. It would be nice if we could just roll into bed and instantly fall asleep on command, but this is not the case for the average person.
To assist you in following through with your new bedtime, you should establish some kind of relaxing routine to help you get there. This can be anything from sipping a hot sleepytime tea to meditating or even taking a warm bath.
This article is owned by Sleeping Report and was first published on June 3, 2019
This will be most effective if you make it a habit to go through with the entire process every night. That way, you can go to sleep on time and get further in establishing a healthy schedule.
Going to sleep on time is not the only thing that will push you to execute your new sleeping schedule, though. You must also make the effort to wake up on time in the morning.
If you are sleeping in instead of waking up when you are supposed to, there will be no point of establishing this schedule at all, because you will still be sleeping during the day.
Finally, you should avoid any daytime sleeping or naps while you are trying to get on track. This will help you to get properly adjusted to your new schedule in the easiest possible way. It might be hard at first, but with some discipline you can achieve your goal.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, sleeping during the day is not the same as sleeping at night. This is due to a variety of factors, including the natural cycle of our bodies and getting that restart that we need at the end of each day.
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With this in mind, though, you will be able to take the necessary steps toward creating and executing a healthy sleeping schedule to follow through with in your everyday life.
