However, there could be some health benefits if people take power naps correctly. Potential health benefits of power naps include enhanced memory, improved cognitive performance, and stronger logical reasoning.
Keep reading to learn more about power naps, including the optimal duration and potential health benefits, and some further information about the importance of sleep. For those working during the day, naps after 4 p. However, for shift workers or those who work nights, the ideal time for a power nap may be earlier or later.
There is some discrepancy among experts over what length of nap is most effective and beneficial. Sara Mednick, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, states that by taking a minute nap , a person can get the same benefits they would from sleeping 8 hours. However, another study suggests the ideal nap length is 10 minutes.
The science behind limiting the duration of a power nap boils down to something called sleep inertia. This term refers to the drowsiness a person may experience upon waking from a very long nap, which may significantly impair cognitive performance throughout the course of a day. There are many health benefits associated with taking regular power naps, among them long-term memory improvement , enhanced cognitive function , and increased creativity.
Research also shows that naps might be beneficial for heart health. A recent case study followed Swiss adults who took 1—2 naps per week. Research analyzed by the American Heart Association AHA shows that those who napped for an hour or more per day had 1.
However, this is probably due to correlation rather than direct causation, as that group may have had underlying health reasons that led to them taking frequent naps. Ultimately, if a person is able to take short naps on any given day and feels more alert upon waking, they should feel free to do so. The benefits of napping seem to outweigh any potential drawbacks. However, researchers must continue to study the overall effects of napping on health.
While those who meditate are conscious and those who nap are unconscious, both groups enjoy an improved mental state afterward, accompanied by reductions in blood pressure , stress, and anxiety.
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Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. And research shows that you can make yourself more alert, reduce stress , and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Most experts agree that the body needs hours of sleep per day, depending on personal and genetic factors. Some research shows that 6 hours or less triples your risk of a car accident.
Sleep is cumulative; if you lose sleep one day, you feel it the next. Fatigued people may also experience more moodiness, aggressive behaviors, burnout, and more stress.
Studies show that 20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon provides more rest than 20 minutes more sleep in the morning though the last two hours of morning sleep have special benefits of their own.
When you sleep you pass through different stages of sleep, known together as a sleep cycle. These stages include light sleep, deep sleep which is believed to be the stage in which the body repairs itself , and rapid-eye-movement sleep, or REM sleep during which the mind is repaired. Also, longer naps can make it more difficult to fall asleep at night, especially if your sleep deficit is relatively small. However, research has shown that a 1-hour nap has many more restorative effects than a minute nap, including a much greater improvement in cognitive functioning.
The key to taking a longer nap is to get a sense of how long your sleep cycles are and try to awaken at the end of a sleep cycle. There were days when stacked deadlines made an extra 23 minutes tacked onto my lunch break impossible. The come-hither glances my queen bed threw my way were almost too much to bear. I also developed the not-ideal habit of resetting my alarm for another 20 minutes after my first nap was up. As good as naps could be for my productivity, there were days where I blasted through an hour or more of work time because I lacked the discipline to hop out of bed on my first try.
Towards the end of my experimental month, I found my golden ticket for napping: The coffee nap. Researchers have shown that drinking caffeine right before lying down for a short nap results in fewer work mistakes than just drinking coffee or taking a break or rest alone.
The idea is that your body processes the caffeine during the nap, so you wake totally alert. Now I finish lunch with a cup of coffee, set my alarm, snooze peacefully for exactly 23 minutes, and wake up swinging. Bikes and Gear. United States. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Are Wider Tires Always Faster?
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