7 Benefits of Napping

Unless you’re a toddler, taking a nap may not be on your schedule. Well, you might want to figure out how to steal away and get some midday shuteye because a nap may enhance your health in ways you never considered.

These 7 benefits of napping show the importance of rejuvenating sleep in the middle of the day so you can reboot your brain better than any cup of coffee or synthetic stimulant.

It Only Takes About 10-20 Minutes

You may be rolling your eyes at the thought of taking a nap. You’re way too busy to shut down and count sheep. Well, believe it or not, a beneficial nap only takes about 10-20 minutes.

There are probably plenty of time wasting things you do a day that take at least 10-20 minutes or more so why not swap out a cell phone game, Facebook peruse or even part of your lunch hour to get some healing Z’s.

Wake Up

That’s right, taking a nap can actually make you more alert. In a study of pilots and astronauts by NASA, subjects scored much higher on alert tests after a nap than the non-nappers.

Harvard Health Watch reported that shift workers performed better after just 20 minutes of napping and even a 10 minute nap studied by researchers at the School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia reported that,

“…the 10-min nap resulted in significantly improved alertness and cognitive performance relative to a no-nap control.”

Remember That?

It seems that as you age, your memory takes a nose dive. In many cases, this decline is due to lack of sleep. In fact, recent studies at UC Berkeley showed how poor sleep may result in a buildup of “beta-amyloid the key suspects in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease,”. Taking a nap may help alleviate this potentially dangerous finding.

According to a study by researchers from Saarland University in Germany, it was stated that,

“a short daytime nap could significantly boost brain power.”

Get Your Right Brain Up to Speed

Creativity is said to come from the right brain hemisphere. Now you may think of something artistic when you hear the word ‘creativity’ but thinking outside the box can be applied to just about anything including business, education, machinery, culinary, etc.

Andrei Medvedev, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging, in Washington, D.C. found significant activity in the right brain during and after a nap, even after a short duration, stating that,

“The right side of the brain was better integrated [fused],”

The Worker Bee

Combine alertness, sharper memory and creativity for some impressive results.

If you nap for 10-20 minutes, science says you could very well improve your productivity. Maybe you’ll be able to finally hone in on that project rather than struggle with afternoon fatigue, previous research recall and lack of ideas. It’s a pretty good trade off for a small time investment.

Happy Ending

Ok, that sounds funny, but if you take a short nap every day chances are you’re going to be happier.

Researchers at the Department of Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, studied the effects of napping on mood dealing with every day situations concluding that,

“The results suggest that a short 20 min nap in the mid-afternoon had positive effects upon the maintenance of the daytime vigilance level.”

Nap when you can and you may become a nicer person. Researchers at Texas A&M University and Washington University in St. Louis conducted a napping study which stated that,

“Results showed that napping and resting served to improve mood regardless of whether a person habitually naps or not.”

The Mini “Vay-cay”

Until you can sprawl on a tropical beach you can just take a daily nap to relieve stress. One of the top five causes of adverse health conditions is stress and it can creep up on you when you least expect it.

Medical Daily reports that,

“…in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), researchers found that a short nap could reverse the negative health effects of a night of poor sleep, and also reduce stress and bolster the immune system.”

 

These 7 benefits of napping could be your reward, all from taking a few minutes out of your day to settle down, recharge and reboot. You can nap just about anywhere such as lying on your office floor, sitting in a chair, traveling on a train or plane and even in your parked car.