Naps......

[Phate]

I'm not sure what section this should have gone in but I feel any section almost would have been sufficient... ;]

So I came home today after work and took a nap from like 6:15p.m. - 9:30. How do you guys adjust for this?

1.) if you take a 3 hour nap can you sleep 6 hours over night instead of 8 and be ok? (are those 3 hours in the nap a nice 'growing' 3 hours?)
not as good as night rest as your body takes a little while to enter REM sleep, which occurs 4-5x during the night and increases in duration towards the end of sleep, so a nap might have 1-2 short REM cycles while a full night of sleep might have 4-5 with some short and others longer towards the end
2.) Last time i ate was 5 p.m. it's now 10 p.m. which is 5 hours with no food.... seems bad but I feel full?? Should I go eat a meal right now anyway? I would imagine so but what tips or info could anyone provide me with when it comes to eating / napping?
you can eat right before, though that can disturb your sleep as your body has to digest food during sleeping, if you eat make it something easy to digest, like liquid egg whites
anything else on napping would be great!! I'm curious, thanks for any info that can be provided... :]

that being said, sleep is vital for several functions so if your body wants sleep, let it sleep

[Rockstar1990]

that being said, sleep is vital for several functions so if your body wants sleep, let it sleep

YES! i totally agree 100%, your body is a very smart mechanism, listen to you body and give it want it wants. If your going to take a nap that consist of 3 or more hours then drink a casein shake before taking it. Your body grows wuscle when you are at a state of rest(even if your just laying there) when your muscles have no tension this is when the brain signals to repair muscle. So that being said if you can take a nap and sleep 8 hours go for it. I would suggest to always sleep 8 hours at the end of the day and if you can add naps that is awesome

Also, just like when your hungry if you plan your eating schedule and eat 4000calories or w/e it may be and u are hungry in between the meal, just eat a protien bar or snake but still eat the meal you planed on eating at the same time.