I’m a religious napper. I rarely go a day without one.
According to Sara Mednick, PhD, napping will allow you to:
- Increase alertness
- Make better decisions
- Preserve youthful looks
- Lose weight
- Improve stamina
- Boost creativity
- Help memory
- Alleviate migraines
- Speed up motor performance
- Improve perception
- Improve your sex life
- Reduce risk of heart attack and stroke
- Elevate mood
- Reduce stress
- Reduce dependence on drugs/alcohol
- Improve the quality of your nocturnal sleep
And finally, it just feels good.
NASA states that "an afternoon nap increases productivity by 35% and decision making ability by up to 50%".
Hopefully you’re convinced… Besides, who doesn’t enjoy a nap? :)
Adult humans are naturally biphasic. We’re neurologically wired for the afternoon nap. The “afternoon dip” occurs between the 6th and 8th hour after waking up – that’s 1pm-3pm if you rise at 7am. But there’s no hard and fast rule on when you should nap. Listen to your body.
Naps naturally (i.e. without an alarm) last for 20-60m, sometimes up to 90 but rarely longer. I can wake up after 20m without an alarm. If a nap lasts longer than 90m it can mean two things:
1. You are sleep deprived.
2. Your nap occurred much later than 3pm.
2. Your nap occurred much later than 3pm.
Late naps are more likely to include deep sleep (SWS), which is fine, but makes naps longer. Earlier naps include more REM.
Regardless of natural nap duration, I limit naps to 20m. Naps shorter than 20m are called power naps and include only stage 1, stage 2, and sometimes REM. Stage 3 and 4 sleep (a.k.a. Slow-Wave-Sleep/SWS/deep-sleep), will make you groggy since core parts of your brain shut down. Waking up in the middle of an SWS episode means those parts have to reboot. Result: you feel groggy.
Naps with SWS are natural and immensely restorative. So 60-90m naps are definitely OK. But I find they take a bit more skill to execute properly. Power naps are an easier and more time-effective solution.
