Anyone else can't take naps?

[nightowl]

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I was really tired today, so I laid down for a 30 minute nap and ended up sleeping four hours!!!😡 I have tests coming up, and I was hoping to "recharge" but I really just passed out solid, on the couch in clothes and everything, missed three phone calls (didn't even stir) and actually had my dog running all over me and all over the place. So here I am, it's 9 PM now, and I'm wide awake (sure sleep is going to be hard tonight).... it just really sucks bc I was so exhausted earlier and was really hoping to get in a "power nap", whatever that is!

 

[nazdar]

The same thing happened to me today. I had an exam at 8am this morning so I decided to take a nap afterwards before studying for the rest of my exams. Well I ended up sleeping for hours and wasted most of the day.

No more naps for me. I'm going to tough it out with extra caffeine from now on.

 

[Blade28]

Have you tried drinking a caffeined beverage BEFORE the nap? It'll kick in about 30-45 minutes later and you'll likely wake up. I mean, set an alarm as well, but you might want to try this...

 

[Abilene85]

Ditto for me today. I set my cell phone alarm for 20 minutes. Returned to consciousness 3 hours later.

 

[MossPoh]

Have you tried drinking a caffeined beverage BEFORE the nap? It'll kick in about 30-45 minutes later and you'll likely wake up. I mean, set an alarm as well, but you might want to try this...

Caffeine is a good idea. I never really thought of that. An alarm is usually all it takes for me. I tend to make it my cell phone and put it out of reach so I have to get my *** up.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

Have you tried drinking a caffeined beverage BEFORE the nap? It'll kick in about 30-45 minutes later and you'll likely wake up. I mean, set an alarm as well, but you might want to try this...

This works.👍

Also if I think I'm really going to pass out cold I'll arrange for someone to wake me up at a certain time.

 

[167649]

I can't usually take naps. I freqently suffer sleep paralysis when I try to sleep mid-day. I get it sometimes in the morning when I wake up, but it is much more frequent when I try to nap. So I almost never do it, when I'm tired I just try to bug out and watch golf or something.

 

[TMP-SMX]

I just finished phys/biochem and I found that since I could stream most of my classes I tended to not need to nap but I always went to bed earlier than usual. In Anatomy/Histo I had to stay up late in addition to going to class/lab early in the day just to get all of the stuff done.

I think that neuro/genetics/nutrition will be the same way as anatomy since I will have labs and will be on campus more. So perhaps I will get more done by getting up early but still being tired the rest of the day and hoping I can get enough done on weekends.

 

[Blade28]

Also if I think I'm really going to pass out cold I'll arrange for someone to wake me up at a certain time.

That doesn't work once you hit residency though. 🙂

 

[coffeebythelake]

I just finished phys/biochem and I found that since I could stream most of my classes I tended to not need to nap but I always went to bed earlier than usual. In Anatomy/Histo I had to stay up late in addition to going to class/lab early in the day just to get all of the stuff done.

I think that neuro/genetics/nutrition will be the same way as anatomy since I will have labs and will be on campus more. So perhaps I will get more done by getting up early but still being tired the rest of the day and hoping I can get enough done on weekends.

BTW, what did you think of that last physio exam. There was a lot of minutiae don't you agree?

 

[45408]

Yeah, I often feel the same way. If I could, I'd sleep for a few hours for a nap. I take naps in the school library periodically. I just set the quick alarm on my phone for 30-60 minutes, and it vibrates to wake me up. There's no way I could sleep through it. Snooze is good for another five minutes, and I usually hit it once or twice.

 

[TIGIBedHead]

Yea, I literally can't take naps, like a poster above. No matter how exhausted, when I lay down to nap, my mind is too focused on what I have to do that I can't fall asleep. While I can't sleep, I also can't study because I'm too tired. Oh the irony.

 

[TMP-SMX]

BTW, what did you think of that last physio exam. There was a lot of minutiae don't you agree?

I agree but I think that was more in line with the difficulty we usually see. There were very few if any things I hadn't seen before. There were definitely some tricky questions and a couple I swore I had two answers. I'm also not sure about that organ to reduce calcium question because it seems to me they discussed calcitonin (thyroid) saying it had a very minor role in reducing calcium. On the other hand, I juggled with cortisol but it seems to me it kind of has varied roles with calcium. I haven't been able to find a single answer for it.

 

[Red Beard]

If I take a nap, I usually end up waking up with a headache then having a really crappy night of sleep that night. I've probably taken 3 naps total in the last 5 years because of this.

However, I do sleep 8-10 hours a night...

 

[Whaty]

I agree but I think that was more in line with the difficulty we usually see. There were very few if any things I hadn't seen before. There were definitely some tricky questions and a couple I swore I had two answers. I'm also not sure about that organ to reduce calcium question because it seems to me they discussed calcitonin (thyroid) saying it had a very minor role in reducing calcium. On the other hand, I juggled with cortisol but it seems to me it kind of has varied roles with calcium. I haven't been able to find a single answer for it.

The parafolliculer cells of the thyroid produce thyrocalcitonin which decreases blood calcium and the parathyroid produces PTH(parathyroid hormone) that increases blood calcium. (So my understanding is that the thyrocalcitonin is going to cause you to lay more calcium down as bone and the parathyroid is going to cause the breakdown of bone to increase the blood calcium levels hmm...) <---- don't qoute me on this 😕.

 

[Slide]

The parafolliculer cells of the thyroid produce thyrocalcitonin which decreases blood calcium and the parathyroid produces PTH(parathyroid hormone) that increases blood calcium. (So my understanding is that the thyrocalcitonin is going to cause you to lay more calcium down as bone and the parathyroid is going to cause the breakdown of bone to increase the blood calcium levels hmm...) <---- don't qoute me on this 😕.

This is what the previous poster(s) were referring to earlier; calcitonin does have an effect to "tone" down calcium levels in the blood by doing the exact opposite effects of PTH, but the issue is that in adults, calcitonin plays a very minor role in calcium regulation. It does play an important factor in children, but hasn't been proven to be a strong indigenous regulatory factor in adults.

I do remember seeing some cases where high levels of ACTH can cause osteoperosis, but I don't know if that's a good enough answer. My fallback answer is that for long-term regulation of ions, the kidneys do everything; it will stop absorbing so many Ca2+ ions and stop making 1,25-VitD. Since I don't know the exact question though, this is basically a blind shot in the dark.

Edit: After reviewing renal/endocrine, it seems that chronic renal failure can cause a drop in calcium levels. Also, if there's an excess of calcium, the PTH glands just stop making PTH and the kidneys sorta take care of it.

 

[Whaty]

Slide thanks for the info 🙂. Thats really interesting that in children thyroid and parathyroid takes a large effect on calcium levels and in adults has little to do with calcium levels. Maybe the reason being as a child they are laying down more bone/changing cartilage to bone and adults tend to lose bone density the older they get. I barley know anything hehe just a pre-med so any knowledge dropped on me is a blessing since my knowledge base is VERY limited and im always looking to expand! 🙂

 

[Slide]

Slide thanks for the info 🙂. Thats really interesting that in children thyroid and parathyroid takes a large effect on calcium levels and in adults has little to do with calcium levels. Maybe the reason being as a child they are laying down more bone/changing cartilage to bone and adults tend to lose bone density the older they get. I barley know anything hehe just a pre-med so any knowledge dropped on me is a blessing since my knowledge base is VERY limited and im always looking to expand! 🙂

Yeah that's pretty much the gist about PTH and calcitonin as you age (I think). Don't worry about the knowledge going around here; in fact in intro bio I learned exactly what you learned. In the physio-orientated section of biology I had, calcitonin was treated as if it were a normal hormone in everyone. Once you take physiology though, there are gonna be a lot of things you learned in college that aren't exactly true.

 

[Whaty]

I had that happen to me allready lol. Most of my life I thought RNA is always single stranded but once I hit genetics my teacher was like we fibbed a little to dumb it down. I was thinking you sons of #$%#$#. Why can't they just tell us the right way to start with! Its like learning how to serve in tennis then a pro telling you "Your serving is a little off you should change your grip a little bit" Its so hard to change what has allready been learned!!!!!! hehe sorry rant over.

 

[vtucci]

I have a problem with naps but it is usually that I cannot fall asleep if I know I have to be up in 30-45 minutes. I hate oversleeping and almost always wake up even before my alarm. Yes- I am one of those annoying people who is never late for anything.

The lack of the ability to power nap really sucks in the 3rd year. Esp in my surgery rotation. It has come down to either my reading or sleep and I choose sleep every time. I am just so exhausted at the end of the day that I cannot retain a darn thing. Hopefully my butt won't be handed to me on the shelf exam.