Did you know that power naps could be THE answer to you feeling tired, groggy, and de-motivated in the afternoon? We often consume loads of coffee, soda, and energy drinks to try and push ourselves through the long hours of work, yawning continuously and fighting the fatigue.
The very solution we try to avoid all along is SLEEP.
The magical power naps are the most impactful way to rejuvenate your mind.
What happens when you take power naps?
The 4 stages of sleep cycle
- The first two are relatively light sleep
- The third one puts you into a deep sleep.
- The fourth one is known as Rapid eye movement when you begin dreaming.
The benefits of sleeping are directly related to the length of the nap. Power naps that last for 30 mins only allow your mind to enter stage 1 and stage 2. If somebody wakes you up in between, you feel like you didn’t even sleep!
When you continue to stage 2, your brains incepts the processing and is deemed to ignore any external stimuli to give you a peaceful sleep. It also favours memory consolidation which in turn increases productivity levels, cognitive ability, etc. This is the stage which makes you feel less tired.
If you continue to sleep for more than 30 minutes, then your mind enters deep sleep. We often feel groggy and moody when we wake up after an hour of sleep. As your body comes out of the deep sleep, it experiences sleep inertia making you feel like you need more sleep and resisting the body to be active.
Most of us have grown up listening to things like “if you nap in the afternoon your mind will slow down.” It’s just that you shouldn’t nap for too long.
A lot of initiatives are being taken by Japanese companies where they encourage their employees to take power naps in nap salons to increase alertness at work.
The Dali Technique for Power naps
Dali credits his unique sleeping before sleeping for coming up with artistic ideas.
The Dali technique for power naps was no different than the modern power nap. Interestingly, he wasn’t the only one who came up with the technique. Thomas Edison also did the exact same thing. All these people were quite aware of the benefits of a power nap.
This is probably the only technique that is hassle-free, involves no work, and results in productivity!
So how can you get the most out of power naps? To answer this, we first need it to ponder upon why do people prefer afternoon naps in the first place?
The most important reason could be sleep deprivation and the other reason could be experiencing a dip in energy levels from 1 pm to 3 pm.
Tips to be a master at taking power naps
So, to get proper power naps and not feel like you just moved a mountain, here are few tips, other than the time duration of 30 minutes.
- Once you start out, you may find it difficult to fall asleep, but just laying down and closing your eyes rids your body and stress and tension.
- The best environment for taking a nap is the best environment you would choose to go to sleep. Someplace where it’s dark and quiet.
- You might not find peaceful places to nap everywhere, for example, when at work, in such cases, eye masks and earbuds could help.
- There are a lot of apps that can help you fall asleep in a push of a button. They emanate sound waves that help you sleep and have guided meditation features too.
Aside from taking enough sleep, you should make sure you exercise, go out enough, and get some sunlight. Eat the right food, drink enough water, and take enough nutrients. With all this, powernap would just be another feather you add in your hat to have more productivity in the middle of the day!
Read Also: Irregular Sleep Cycle: Harmful Impacts and 5 Tips to Reset it.
