Get Some Sleep

Surely you have heard the recent story covered by practically every major, minor, and health news media that, according to a recent article in the Archives of Internal Medicine, naps are not just pleasant—they are good for you. A scientific study has made a guilty pleasure okay. That story and P.J. Hamel’s recent “sleepless” blogs have inspired me to address the subject myself.

Much like P.J., I have rarely enjoyed a full eight hour’s sleep since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, before which I was an eight- or nine-hour-a-night gal. Why? Hot flashes, mostly.

My bad-news diagnosis day was followed the next morning by a cold turkey withdrawal from hormone replacement therapy. I spent the following year yanking clothes off and pulling them back on in a nonstop hourly freeze/fry cycle. At night I kept a fan going winter and summer. Every time I turned over in bed, a slow burn that started in the soles of my feet would scorch the backs of my legs, fire up my back and shoot out my scalp. I’d throw off all my blankets and lie gratefully in the breeze. Then, just as I’d fall asleep, I’d start shivering and have to flop back the bedclothes.

This hourly routine left me exhausted and unable to cope with anything, much less a life-threatening condition. Finally I (who resists almost any “heavy med”) began taking Ambien, a drug that my insurance wouldn’t cover. Ambien is ridiculously expensive—about $3.50 a pill—so I could afford only 1/3 of a pill each night. For a while, that would get me six hours. Now it gets me about four.

My doctor insists that Ambien is not habit-forming. I disagree. Maybe “it’s all in my head”, but the result is the same: I can’t sleep without it. But I take it, because I experience long-term insomnia as a form of torture, and many studies have shown that not sleeping can have a disastrous effect on health.

But now there’s good news: Napping is good for me. According to a study of 24,000 Greek men (okay I’m not Greek and not a man, but hey…), a 30-minute midday nap three times a week can reduce one’s chance of heart disease by 50%! Wow. I don’t trust those statistics much, but I like this one. Even if one isn’t at high risk for heart disease (and I am), the heart’s a good thing to pamper.

And I do take naps. In the first year and a half—during and after treatment—I used to sink into the most delicious snoozes while reading or watching TV. Oprah would be going on about something as only Oprah can, and I’d wake up halfway into the local news. I didn’t care. Those deep sleeps felt so good.

These days I don’t nap as often or as easily. Back then I was supposed to be tired and napping felt virtuous. Now I don’t feel wiped out the way I used to, but I don’t feel rested either. I think I should add napping to my new healthy lifestyle, along with almonds, red wine, and chocolate.