What is a "power nap?" It is what used to be called a catnap. The term power nap was apparently coined by Cornell University social psychologist James Maas. Basically it is a short nap that is designed to refresh you. What does the research say?
According to Dr. Sara Mednick, at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, napping benefits cell repair, heart function, and hormonal maintenance. A power nap maximizes these benefits, by getting the rejuvenative effects in as short a time as possible. The brain benefits as well. A study done by NASA found that although naps don't aid alertness, they do improve memory functions.
Recent research also demonstrates that power naps can boost productivity, lower stress, and improve learning and mood (no surprise there). Looking at the MRIs of nappers, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that with a nap, brain activity stays high throughout the day. However, skip the nap, and brain activity declines later in the day.
Why A Power Nap? Facts on Sleep:
While small children typically take naps in the afternoon, our culture generally frowns upon mid-day sleep; however, even in those who get enough sleep (but particularly in those who don't), many people experience a natural increase in drowsiness in the afternoon, about 8 hours after waking. And research shows that you can make yourself more alert reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid-day sleep, or a 'power nap', means more patience, less stress, better reaction time, increased learning, more efficiency and better health. Here's what you need to know about the benefits of sleep and how a power nap can help you!
How Much Sleep Do You Need? The body needs 7-8 hours of sleep per day; 6 hours or less triples your risk of a car accident. (Interestingly, too much sleep--more than 9 hours--can actuallybe harmful for your health; recent studies show that those who sleep more than 9 hours per day don't live as long as their 8-hour-sleep counterparts!)
The Effects of Missed Sleep: Sleep is cumulative; if you lose sleep one day, you feel it the next. If you miss adequate sleep several days in a row, you build up a 'sleep deficit', which impairs the following:
· Reaction time
· Judgment
· Vision
· Information processing
· Short-term memory
· Performance
· Motivation
· Vigilance
· Patience
Fatigued people also experience more moodiness, aggressive behaviors, burnout and more stress.
The Benefit of a Power Nap: 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). The body seems to be designed for this, as most people's bodies naturally become more tired in the afternoon, about 8 hours after we wake up.
How Long Should I Sleep? 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).
Many experts advice to keep the nap between 15 and 30 minutes, as sleeping longer gets you into deeper stages of sleep, from which it's more difficult to awaken. 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 30-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. (It's actually more the interruption of the sleep cycle that makes you groggy, rather than the deeper states of sleep.)
As there are pros and cons to each length of sleep, you may want to let your schedule decide: if you only have 15 minutes to spare, take them! But if you could work in an hour nap, you may do well to complete a whole sleep cycle, even if it means less sleep at night. If you only have 5 minutes to spare, just close your eyes; even a brief rest has the benefit of reducing stress and helping you relax a little, which can give you more energy to complete the tasks of your day.
Tips For a More Effective Nap If you want to obtain more sleep, and the health benefits that go with getting enough sleep, here are some tips for more effective napping and sleep at night:
· Avoid caffeine after 3pm. It's a stimulant that can disrupt your sleep and stay in your system longer than you think; its half-life is four to six hours!
· If you don't want to nap a long time, set an alarm.
Who uses Power Naps
Many busy executives who are deficient on regular night time sleep make time for short naps during the day. When Steve Fossett made his record 67-hour flight around-the-world alone in his jet, he took a couple dozen two-to-three minute naps as his only sleep, and claims that he awoke refreshed. When Lance Armstrong was training for the tour-de-france bicycle race, naps were an important part of his routine. In Iraq, U.S. Marines are instructed to take a power nap before going on patrol.
10 Benefits of Power Napping, and How to Do It
1. Less stress.
Curling up in a sunny patch on the floor or even lying your head down on your desk for a quick snooze brings relaxation. Research found that stress hormone levels were lower in those who took stress-reducing actions such as napping. Take a break each day from the stresses and reduce your risks, find a quiet, comfortable spot and take a nap. Even a short power nap can leave you feeling refreshed, renewed, and more focused.
2. Increased alertness and productivity.
If you have the opportunity for a power nap, particularly after a poor night of sleep, by all means, take one. You will feel more alert and energetic afterwards, and once rested after your mid-afternoon nap, your mood, efficiency, and alertness level will improve greatly. Scientists have even proven that taking a 20-minute nap approximately eight hours after you have awaken will do more for your stamina than sleeping another 20 minutes in the morning. Of course when you first come out of your afternoon nap, you will feel a bit groggy for around ten minutes, but once your decline in motor dexterity dissipates, you will reap the rewards of being well rested and ready to go for the rest of the day.
3. Improved memory and learning.
Naps aren't just for the very young, old, and sluggish. Daytime dozing may enhance a person's capacity to learn certain tasks. That, at least, is the eye-opening implication of a new study in which college students were challenged to detect subtle changes in an image during four different test sessions on the same day.
Participants improved on the task throughout the first session. The students' speed and accuracy then leveled off during the second session. The scores of the participants who didn't nap declined throughout the final two sessions. In contrast, volunteers who took a 20-minute power nap after completing the second practice session showed no ensuing performance dips. What's more, 1-hour power nappers responded progressively faster and more accurately in the third and fourth sessions. It looks like napping may protect brain circuits from overuse until those neurons can consolidate what's been learned about a procedure.
4. Good for the heart.
Taking 40 winks in the middle of the day may reduce the risk of death from heart disease, particularly in young healthy men, say researchers. They studied 23,681 individuals living in Greece who had no history of coronary heart disease, stroke or cancer when they first volunteered, and found that those who took a 30-minute siesta at least three times a week had a 37% lower risk of heart-related death. The researchers took into account ill health, age, and whether people were physically active. So go ahead and nap — a short daily snooze might ward off a heart attack later in life. It is known that countries where siestas are common tend to have lower levels of heart disease.
5. Increased cognitive functioning.
In a recent study, researchers at NASA showed that a 30-minute power nap increased cognitive faculties by approximately 40 percent! Tests carried out on one thousand volunteers proved that those who continued working without rest, made lower scores in intelligence tests like the IQ test. More importantly, their capacities to work and memorize decreased in comparison to those who napped after lunch.
In concordance with NASA's work, biology students at Berkeley determined that the nap must be short in order to produce maximum effectiveness. Over forty five minutes, the beneficial effects of napping disappear and it is therefore suggested to take a fifteen to thirty five minute "power nap". This is the time necessary for the organism to rest and enables brain neurons to recuperate.
6. Get motivated to exercise.
Sufficient sleep and naps help motivate exercise. Some 28 percent of adolescents say they are too tired to exercise, due to sleep. As adults, let's not let tiredness ruin our jogs. You're guaranteed to run longer, faster, more efficiently and mindfully when your body has it's required amount of zzzz's. So, store-up, shore-up and build-up your energy reserve with a power nap. It's easy (free!) and proven effective.
7. Boost your creativity.
Rest and relaxation isn't only vital to your health — it might also make you a more creative person. People tend to be more imaginative after a good night's sleep. Other experts agree that taking a nap or stepping away from a problem or project refreshes the mind and could lead to better ideas later. Power napping allows your brain to create the loose associations necessary for creative insight and opens the way for a fresh burst of new ideas. So if you feel stuck, then you might want to take a nap. Return to the problem after diverting your attention for a while. The best part is that there's no need to feel guilty, because taking some "me time," in this case, could help your business in the long run.
8. Make up for midnight tossing and turning.
Some of the most recent research suggests that a bad night's sleep can stress the body as well as the mind. One such study, suggests that missing sleep throws the body's metabolism off kilter. Scientists at the University of Chicago studied physical changes in 11 young men who slept four hours per night for six nights in a row. They found that sleep deprivation seemed to trigger a diabetes-like condition, harmed hormone production, and interfered with the ability to use carbohydrates.
According to some studies, power napping is clearly beneficial to someone who is a normal sleeper but who is getting insufficient sleep at night. Researchers still don't understand the underlying neurobiology, but it looks like sleep time is cumulative. They compared the alertness of people who slept eight hours a night to that of people who slept less but took a nap during the day. Both groups were equivalent.
9. Protect yourself from sleepiness.
Scientists had also found benefits in the "prophylactic" nap for people who have to stay up late. It can protect you from sleepiness. If you have to be up all night, a two-hour or a four-hour nap does provide additional alertness the next day. Research conducted by NASA produced similar results. Naps are clearly useful for some people, including shift workers, students, and anyone doing long-haul work, such as pilots on transcontinental runs.
10. Better health.
Napping in general benefits heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair, says Dr. Sara Mednick who is at the forefront of napping research. A power nap, says Mednick, simply maximizes these benefits by getting the sleeper into and out of rejuvenating sleep as fast as possible.
Everyone, no matter how high-strung, has the capacity to nap. But the conditions need to be right. Here are some helpful hints from Dr. Sara Mednick, author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life.
Getting the perfect nap
The first consideration is psychological: Recognize that you're not being lazy; napping will make you more productive and more alert after you wake up.
Try to nap in the morning or just after lunch; human circadian rhythms make late afternoons a more likely time to fall into deep (slow-wave) sleep, which will leave you groggy.
Avoid consuming large quantities of caffeine as well as foods that are heavy in fat and sugar, which meddle with a person's ability to fall asleep.
Instead, in the hour or two before your nap time, eat foods high in calcium and protein, which promote sleep.
Find a clean, quiet place where passersby and phones won't disturb you.
Try to darken your nap zone, or wear an eyeshade. Darkness stimulates melatonin, the sleep- inducing hormone.
Remember that body temperature drops when you fall asleep. Raise the room temperature or use a blanket.
Once you are relaxed and in position to fall asleep, set your alarm for the desired duration (see below).
MORE ON POWER NAP:
http://ririanproject.com/2007/09/05/10-benefits-of-power-napping-and-how-to-do-it/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_nap
http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslifestyle/a/powernap.htm
http://www.increasebrainpower.com/power-nap.html
