Why are my naps so weird?

[Boadicea]

So for quite a few years now, my body works a certain way whenever I take a nap. I don't know how other people nap, but when I fall asleep at any time other than my normal sleeping-through-the-night time, I always sleep for either 2 or 3 hours. 3 if I'm really, really tired. I've tried shortening my nap times before, so that it wouldn't mess with my sleep schedule much, but if I try to wake up any time before I've slept 2 hours I can't wake myself up enough to get up.
I can hit the snooze button on my alarm, but I for all the world can't wake up enough to get up. I've got to the point where I don't even set an alarm because I know I'll just wake up in 2 hours. I don't take naps every day, just when I'm extra tired, like when I come home from church or on any other day that I have to get up earlier than normal.
What's weird is when I wake up from my naps, I'm always terribly thirsty and I feel a little sick for several hours after. This doesn't happen when I sleep through the night on my regular schedule.

I've always wondered why I have such odd naps, so I wanted to ask you all if you knew anything that might be a reason for this weirdness. Or is this just normal? What are your naps like?

[mentalenforcer]

I have noticed the times that it's easier for me to wake are roughly every 45 minutes from the time I fall asleep.  Every 90 minutes feels more natural, but this duration feels as if it is composed of two parts that are like mirror images of one another.  This applies to both naps and longer sleep.

When I've not felt well on waking, I interpreted that as having slept either not enough or too much.  Possibly both.  Though, too long is rare and is generally over 12 hours.

I haven't noticed any pattern with being thirsty.  Do you eat before naps?  Maybe you use water to digest and end up thirsty.

[Rebel Seven]

wow I'd like to hear more responses on this as well because my naps are similar to yours Boadicea.

I rarely nap because the side effects are rarely pleasant. It takes me a longer than average time to fall asleep at night and for naps, (about 45 minutes even when tired) so if I'm tired enough to nap, I'm tired enough to need 2-3 hours of sleep, AND I get that odd nausea for a while after as well. I have no idea what causes this. But if I ever DO nap its like dreaming on overdrive, sleep paralysis, OBE's, hypnagogia, the works

[howitzer]

I wanted to touch on the subject of our circadian rhythm and how touchy it can be.
I am not up to speed on any of it so I did some brief online research.

Check these out Boadicea
http://lifehacker.com/5897352/a-quick-nap-can-boost-your-cognitive-ability-but-only-when-timed-just-right

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10666138

There sees to be a lot of information out there.

[Boadicea]

I have noticed the times that it's easier for me to wake are roughly every 45 minutes from the time I fall asleep.  Every 90 minutes feels more natural, but this duration feels as if it is composed of two parts that are like mirror images of one another.  This applies to both naps and longer sleep.

When I've not felt well on waking, I interpreted that as having slept either not enough or too much.  Possibly both.  Though, too long is rare and is generally over 12 hours.

I haven't noticed any pattern with being thirsty.  Do you eat before naps?  Maybe you use water to digest and end up thirsty.

I drink a lot of water throughout the day, and actually keep a quart water bottle with me all the time. Part of my thirst is from the steroids I've had to take since birth, having been born 2 1/2 months early. I usually have a good gulp or two before I go to sleep at any time, but I only wake feeling really dehydrated from naps, not from my regular sleep. Sleeping too much or too little might be the case, but I always wake up after about the same time of sleep each nap, without alarms. I may make an experiment of my naps and try to wake after different lengths of sleep; perhaps I can find my personal rhythm.

wow I'd like to hear more responses on this as well because my naps are similar to yours Boadicea.

I rarely nap because the side effects are rarely pleasant. It takes me a longer than average time to fall asleep at night and for naps, (about 45 minutes even when tired) so if I'm tired enough to nap, I'm tired enough to need 2-3 hours of sleep, AND I get that odd nausea for a while after as well. I have no idea what causes this. But if I ever DO nap its like dreaming on overdrive, sleep paralysis, OBE's, hypnagogia, the works

I never get that "dreaming on overdrive". I either dream normally or have no recall whatsoever after my naps, just like when I sleep at night. It doesn't usually take me more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, either at night or for naps. I wonder if you and I should find out what other sleep habits we have in common to see if we can pinpoint a possible explanation for the nausea!

I wanted to touch on the subject of our circadian rhythm and how touchy it can be.
I am not up to speed on any of it so I did some brief online research.

Check these out Boadicea
http://lifehacker.com/5897352/a-quick-nap-can-boost-your-cognitive-ability-but-only-when-timed-just-right

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10666138

There sees to be a lot of information out there.

Thanks for the links, Howitzer. I've heard of naps only helping when done for a certain amount of time or at a certain time, but I've never really tried it myself. I wonder now if my waking naturally after 2-3 hours is totally natural, or if my brain has been inadvertently been programmed that way from all the times that I've set my alarm for 2-3 hours later when I nap. Maybe I can gradually shorten the time via alarm clock and see if I can change when I naturally wake from a nap after making it a habit.
I remember a couple years back I always set my alarm for 9am, and I got to the point where I didn't need an alarm anymore. I don't think I can do that now, but maybe it's a hint as to why my naps are so scheduled.
Also I don't think my nap habits are dependent on the situation around me, i.e. darkness, timing, etc. because I take naps at random times in the day, just depending on when I'm tired that day. It's not every day, just some days when I haven't got enough sleep. I just take my nap whenever I manage to, which is generally in the early to mid-afternoon; 2 to 5pm, sometimes even as late 6 or 7.

This morning I was woken earlier than normal, and an hour or two later got back to bed and slept another three hours. My body treated it like a nap and I woke thirsty and a little nauseous (to my alarm; I don't know when I would've woken without it), though I got back to bed before the time that I normally wake up for the day. This tells me that perhaps it's not based on when I nap. Thanks for y'all's responses! I shall be looking forward to more deliberation on this mystery...
 

[Shellidfl]

I rarely nap, as it affects my sleep the next night.  I have rarely napped after supper, but that's usually after a long day and a poor night's sleep the night before.  If I do, I usually feel hung over.  I think this goes back to my shift working time, which the last bit of it was over 3 years ago now.  I just don't feel good after naps.  Sucks, but am glad to hear some people have success with them.

[Boadicea]

I napped again today. That's three days in a row! I've gotta fix my sleeping habits. I didn't set a timer or anything, I just slept. It was about 3:50pm. Dad woke me at 5:50pm. I learned a few minutes later that he'd been trying to wake me for half an hour, and I don't remember any of it until the last! I guess I haven't grown out of teenage sleeping yet. But I woke so easily when that mysterious 2 hour duration was up. Hmmm. I shall have to do more general sleep research. Wikipedia, here I come!