Sleeping in 20-40 minute intervals

I wonder… do ten 20-40 minute long naps equal 8 hours of sleep a night?

It is so difficult to keep focused during the day when I have to get up an average of six times a night.  Maybe it is to cover my dad back up for one reason or another, or he might need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night – which means I have to get up to help him in there and back to bed.  If he can’t sleep I am the only one there is to be woken up to talk to him.  When he wakes in the middle of the night, thinking it is morning, I have to get up and let him know it is not yet morning, the clock says 12 midnight, not noon…

Sometimes I completely give up on sleeping.  I’ll get up at 4 in the morning (or stay up until 5) in hope of getting a little bit of work writing advertising online.

Sometimes I can not sleep because he has sleep apnea and I will sit and listen for him to start breathing again.

Sometimes the stress is simply too much.  To try to sleep means I let in the stress and that means I break down crying.  So instead I force myself to stay awake and loose myself in something else to do.