# Do you feel disoriented and feel like a lot of time has passed after a nap? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862 "2014-08-19T00:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/1 "2014-08-19T00:05:10Z")
Welcome to your forties. One of the first things I experienced was falling asleep watching tv or even at my pc. 😛 Fortunately I always wake up within thirty minutes. It’s not that comfortable sleeping sitting up. There’s this odd feeling of disorientation for a minute. It feels like hours have passed. There’s also this disconnect like I’m starting another day. On the plus side, I am refreshed. I’ve learned not to fight it. The best solution to getting sleepy is a nap. I occasionally fall asleep at my keyboard at work after lunch. I don’t feel guilty at all because I’m so much more focused and alert afterward. It never happens more than once a day. How do you feel after a nap? Briefly feel a little disoriented? Does it feel like a lot of time has passed even if it’s only been 20 minutes? Strange how it seems to hit people after hitting the big 40. I never, ever fell asleep watching tv or reading when I was younger. I might go lie down for a nap, but never just fell asleep sitting up. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/2 "2014-08-19T00:17:29Z")
I feel horrible after I nap, and always have. My husband has always been able to fall asleep watching TV and wake up without a problem, but if I fall asleep during the day I wake up and feel like a zombie the rest of the day. It doesn’t matter if its a short nap or long nap, either. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/3 "2014-08-19T00:26:24Z")
One time years ago, I took a late afternoon nap. When I woke up and saw that it was 6:30, I panickedly assumed I’d slept till the next morning, and I freaked out at all that study time I’d missed (I was in grad school). Then my synapses came together and I realized it was still the evening. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/4 "2014-08-19T00:58:11Z")
Yes! I rarely nap but when I do I get discombobulated and wonder what the clock is trying to tell me by the numbers it has on it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/5 "2014-08-19T02:26:20Z")
Odd-I’ll often drift off into this nether region when I’m in bed with my music playing-not 100% unconscious, I can (barely) follow the melody/lyrics, but a lot more time will have seemed to have passed when I wake up than actually did pass. ---
**Author:** ![CodeB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@CodeB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CodeB)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/6 "2014-08-19T02:40:47Z")
Most of the time I feel dizzy after I take a nap ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/7 "2014-08-19T02:49:37Z")
During law school, I perfected the 15 minute power nap between work and evening classes. That said, anything longer than 15 minutes and I am pretty much done for the rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/8 "2014-08-19T02:53:39Z")
It’s so odd that I don’t have that disorientation waking up in the morning. There’s something about naps. It doesn’t help that the tv is blaring away and I missed part of my show. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/9 "2014-08-19T03:42:17Z")
Most of the time I feel pretty good after a nap. I usually get tired around 4pm and a little nap is a good thing. If I am really tired though, a long nap will leave me feeling woozy and disoriented. I hate when I see the clock and don’t know if it’s morning or night. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/10 "2014-08-19T03:51:47Z")
Yep, I feel dehydrated and thick-headed as well. I never feel right after a nap. Both my daughters are the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/11 "2014-08-19T03:58:50Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > One time years ago, I took a late afternoon nap. When I woke up and saw that it was 6:30, I panickedly assumed I’d slept till the next morning, and I freaked out at all that study time I’d missed (I was in grad school). > > Then my synapses came together and I realized it was still the evening. When I was in elementary school I woke up at 6:00 and started getting ready for school. My mom wondered what the hell I was doing, and I told her I didn’t want to be late for school. It was then that I was informed it was 6:00 in the evening. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/12 "2014-08-19T04:17:27Z")
Groggy, nauseous, and exhausted for the rest of the day. I’m surprised to see so many others experiencing something similar. People usually don’t believe me and insist naps are refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/13 "2014-08-19T05:05:28Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Groggy, nauseous, and exhausted for the rest of the day. I’m surprised to see so many others experiencing something similar. People usually don’t believe me and insist naps are refreshing. I concur with everything in this thread. I always feel groggy, confused, and disoriented after a nap, and the zombie-like sensation persists for hours afterward. Yet all my life I’ve been surrounded by people who babble on and on about how refreshing and invigorating naps are. When I tell them I hate naps, they look at me like I’m from another planet. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/14 "2014-08-19T05:26:41Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > One time years ago, I took a late afternoon nap. When I woke up and saw that it was 6:30, I panickedly assumed I’d slept till the next morning, and I freaked out at all that study time I’d missed (I was in grad school). > > Then my synapses came together and I realized it was still the evening. It could happen even in one’s 20’s. I had substantially this same experience the night I sat up watching for Comet Kohoutek (December 1973), which of course was a famously ignoble no-show. (I wasn’t in school at the time, but I was sitting up in a 7th-floor lounge room on the Berkeley campus with a suitable-facing window.) Woke up at about 6:30 and sat for hours wondering why it wasn’t starting to get light already. Oops. Discovered it was 6:30 p.m., not a.m. (This was in December, remember.) ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-disoriented-and-feel-like-a-lot-of-time-has-passed-after-a-nap/695862/15 "2014-08-19T07:25:07Z")
I seem to keep track of the time pretty well in my sleep. After I wake up from a nap, I can usually guess the time to the nearest 15 minutes.