How to Take the Perfect Nap

PSA: Napping isn't just for kids! The benefits of a quick 10-20 minute nap can be as powerful as a full 8-hour snooze. So next time you nod off at your desk, don't feel too bad about catching some extra Z's.

Research has shown a full night’s sleep is good for your memory, mood, and immune system just to name a few benefits. But what about taking a nap during the day? Is it helpful or harmful? How does the length of the nap impact you? And is there an optimal time to grab a quick snooze?

Depending on a person’s age, napping is downright necessary. Generally speaking the younger a person is the more sleep their developing brains and bodies need, so experts recommend that newborns get 14 to 17 hours of sleep while preschoolers should get 10 to 13 hours of shuteye every day. That is a long time to spend unconscious and it’s not going to happen all in a row, so the kiddos need to take naps, no matter how much they kick and scream when they hear it’s nap time. Guidelines also say that kids age 6 to 13 should get anywhere from 9 to 11 or even 12 hours of sleep daily.

Once people are adults though, do they really need to sneak in a siesta? Our modern way of life with our 9 to 5 jobs and our fancy electric light bulbs may have altered how we sleep compared to our ancient ancestors. Napping isn’t necessary for adults, but it still could have potential upsides. Because our brains go through different stages during sleep, the benefits of a nap are correlated with its length. If you find yourself slowing down in the middle of the day after lunch, a quick 20 minute power nap could be all you need to wake up feeling refreshed and alert.

#Nap #Napping #PowerNap #Sleeping #SleepCycle #HowToNap #Seeker

Read More:
Scientists agree: Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone
It might sound crazy: conventional wisdom is that caffeine interferes with sleep. But if you caffeinate immediately before napping and sleep for 20 minutes or less, you can exploit a quirk in the way both sleep and caffeine affect your brain to maximize alertness. Here's the science behind the idea.

Natural Sleep and Its Seasonal Variations in Three Pre-industrial Societies
How did humans sleep before the modern era? Because the tools to measure sleep under natural conditions were developed long after the invention of the electric devices suspected of delaying and reducing sleep, we investigated sleep in three preindustrial societies.

Napping
Researchers found that five-minute naps are too short3 to move deep enough through sleep stages to produce a notable benefit. On the other hand, sleeping for 30 minutes or longer gives the body enough time to enter deep (slow-wave) sleep.
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[stevenhoog]

You know. Out of EVERYTHING they said about sleep the ONE THING they failed to mention was just HOW TO TAKE A PERFECT NAP which is the title of the video. I came here to learn how to take the perfect nap and it wasn't even mentioned.

[FrancoSciaraffia]

I once tried, for about a year. to just sleep whenever i felt like I needed to. Seems like sleeping 4 hours, then being awake for 8, twice a day. is what works best for me.

[TedToal_TedToal]

Being 68 now, I wanted to hear about naps and nap time in older people.

[rhondahuggins]

Definitely a napper...have chronic conditions that zap my energy and naps are the only way to constructively reboot. And that length is varies. 😬Many millennium ago in grad school, one semester, my daily schedule was just brutal! And I had an small window of time between responsibilities. I lived close enough to campus that I could zip home, shed my clothes, sleep for an hour, then reverse to process. I got my body so well trained that I could fall asleep within about 5 minutes and wake up just before the alarm went off. It was cool, but thinking about that time these many years later, makes me want to nap! 🌞

[Henchman_Holding_Wrench]

The trick I learned from the ol college days was to eat a protein bar, chug an energy drink, and nap for 20 minutes. I do it once in a while during my lunch break now. I go full supernova by the time I wake up and clock back into work.

[saulgoodman]

I don't plan to take a little cat nap. It just happens.
Sometimes you just get tired, and you need a nap.

[glibaudiostories]

Personally, if I don't rest my eyes for at least 15 mins in the middle of the day, I will be falling asleep for the entire end of the day.

[TheYafaShow]

HIS PROCLIVITY TO EXPLORE IS THAT OF AN ANCIENT EXPLORER FROM A PRINCIPALITY, FROM CIRCA B.C.E. YET HIS TENDENCY OF BENEVOLENCE IS THAT OF AN ANCIENT EXPLORER FROM A MUNICIPALITY FROM CIRCA A.D.
NONETHELESS, SHALL YOUR CREATIVE PROWESS PROSPER, AND THE TIDES OF HISTORY ALWAYS IN YOUR FAVOUR.

[jamieism]

I’m team “so much I want to do I resent having to sleep at all.”

[justinleong]

Thank you very much for this info, all this while I never knew human need to sleep.

[The_Cyber_System]

It depends drastically on what disorders are affecting me and what medications I'm on. If I'm more hypomanic then I sleep very little at night (<6 hours, sometimes less than 3), wake up feeling zoomy and refreshed and a morning person, and may rarely feel like a nap in the early to mid-afternoon for between 10 minutes and an hour.
If I have a lot more low mood and sleep medications then I could be sleeping for 8 hours or more, always feel tired especially in the morning, and never able to nap.

[gendissaray]

I tried the whole micro sleep schedule for a while, 2-3 short sleep sessions a day, and it was great! Less total time sleeping and felt more energized than ever.

[adamiyevsty]

3:02 I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the only one who yawned 2 seconds after watching the woman do the same

[cmanicgaterau]

Napping around 3pm seems to work for me.

[philplasma]

I've found my perfect nap length is 80 minutes; without setting an alarm that is almost exactly the time I awaken after having started my nap. I don't nap every day as I have found if I nap on one day the next day I am not at all sleepy at the time of day (13h-14h) that I would normally prefer to nap. Fortunately with work at home my job allows for this so long as I meet deadlines otherwise by working later, or more effectively. Oh and as for how quickly I fall asleep, generally it is just a few minutes and somehow I don't feel the inertia Julian mentioned once awake.

[babayada]

I don't know why it happens but Black coffee makes me go to sleep

Works for me

[estudiordl]

So 20m nap, noted. I just need 40-60 m to get sleep, so 😅😅😅

[LJGrindewald]

If I have naps late in the day I wake up feeling acidic, yucky and sometimes get a headache. The sort of naps where you struggle to stay awake before hand.

[yay-cat]

yeah have a coffee nap - or if you have ADHD like me, have a ritalin nap. So when you’re tired and want a break you have a stimulant like and energy drink and then immediately go to sleep before it’s kicked in.
The combination is more than the sum of its parts

[Teacherguy]

Team nap, I teach school and nap at lunch ...sometimes before I go home as well. Only way to cope with the kids. Lol