Difference Between Nap and Sleep
Nap and Sleep are two words in the English language convey the same meaning. Actually there is some disparity between the two words.
The word ‘nap’ is used to mean ‘sleep lightly or briefly’ as in:
1. Philip took an afternoon nap.
2. I like to nap in the afternoons.
In both the sentences you can see that the word ‘nap’ is used as a verb and it is used in the sense of ‘sleep lightly or briefly’. The first sentence means that ‘Philip slept lightly in the afternoon’. The meaning of the second sentence would be ‘I like sleep briefly in the afternoons.’
Interestingly, the noun ‘nap’ is often preceded by the expression ‘take’ and the phrase would be ‘take a nap’. Thus ‘nap’ is not understood in the sense of serious sleep.
On the other hand ‘sleep’ is used in the sense of falling into a state of idleness due to tiredness and hard work. The inactivity is anxious with the nervous system in the body. Both the body and the mind rest in sleep. This is the main dissimilarity between the two words.
It is significant to note that both the mind and the body don’t rest in an inactive state in the case of a nap. The mind is receptive to sounds and such disturbances in the case of a nap. On the contrary,while sleeping mind is totally indifferent to sounds and other disturbances. This is an important difference between nap and sleep. This dissimilarity should be known to shun any sort of perplexity amid the two words.