SOLUTION: Shorten your nap

Sounds like a chicken-and-egg problem: Did the naps cause the nighttime insomnia, or did the nighttime insomnia cause the daytime napping? Either way, I can understand why it’s difficult to cut out those naps. When you’re tired during the day and worried that the evening will bring on insomnia, you want to get some sleep when you know you can. And for you, it’s during the day. But you’re right that those naps are just hurting your chances of sleeping at night. Instead of going cold turkey on naps, try shortening them by 15 minutes each day until you get down to zero. See how that affects your ability to sleep at night. If you’re napping in places other than your bed, avoiding daytime naps will also help strengthen the important association between bed and sleep. Taking a nap on the couch in the living room, for example, weakens this connection and likely makes it more difficult to fall asleep in bed that night.  --Michelle Drerup, PsyD

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