Should I take a nap or stay active after work?

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Unfortunately there is no such position in my store outside positions in corporate. Our stores are highly focused on customer connections and all positions from sales associates to stock to managers share equal responsibility and roles on the floor in this and other things.

I worked retail sales for 14 plus years. I never did find anything worked well, but what did work well enough to keep me going was to find the ways that did recharge my batteries and spend as much time as I could doing those things. For me that involves a lot of reading, particularly science fiction, listening to certain music, spending time visualizing myself in a favorite place or setting, and getting good regular sleep. Some things that affect good sleeping patterns is keeping to a fairly regular schedule of going to bed and getting up, no coffee or other stimulants immediately before going to bed, keeping the bedroom a little cooler, and keeping the room as dark as possible. I have always had a problem with my sleeping pattern slowly creeping around the clock. As a rule I tend to tend to begin go to sleep later and later, then wake up later and as a result my sleep cycle starts getting way out of whack. What I have found that helps for me when it starts drifting too far is to take melatonin several nights running about a half an hour before my regular bedtime and it seems to help bring things back into sync.

All I can really say is try things in order to find what helps you recharge and do those things as much as possible.

Dear Chickems

Look up "sleep hygiene".

There is a lot of scientific and conventional wisdom behind "sleep hygiene" which are any habits that promote good sleep and good sleep patterns.

The main advice about napping is very well established:
- never nap longer than 40 mins; most people should nap for 20 mins
- don't nap after 3pm
- establish regular sleep patterns to avoid the need nap altogether

The reason for the first is "sleep inertia" - over 20-40 mins (depending on the person), you will get so deep into your sleep that you wake up feeling worse (despite being rejuvenated to an extent).

The reason for the second is that you'll find it affects your attempts to go to bed at 10-11pm.

You can find MANY websites discussing sleep hygiene. Apart from checking those out, I would also recommend having a little coffee or tea at 1.30-2pm (that's a normal lull in the body's circadian rhythm of energy and wakefulness), and doing exercise (even just tai chi, deep breathing, walking outside) as soon as you can after work. Also, limit caffeine after 3pm, and always limit your alcohol because it makes you tired but also ruins the effective restfulness of sleep. Read the info and figure out what works for you.

Good luck!

Sleeping for more than an hour is not a nap--it's just sleeping.

20-30 minutes is perfect. In a rational universe, we would all have a nap after lunch. Productivity in the afternoon would go up, rates of error would go down. There is a lot of research on this for neurotypical workers. I have no doubt the benefits are at least as great for autistics.

I second the recommendation of exercise-- it can really help. I found Tai Chi, karate and yoga very effective because of the combination of meditative focus and physical action.

Good luck!

I have the same problem as well. I am trying to find a way to regenerate in the evenings after work. It really starts a terrible cycle where you have a 3 hour nap, wake up, be a night owl, get no sleep for work. Exhausted and overwhelmed and you can guess where that goes....