We all have those friends who have fully realized the benefits of napping. They’ll take any chance they can (especially on the weekends) to grab a few zzz’s mid-afternoon. Should we be jealous and try to emulate our siesta-driven friends or be thankful we have extra time for productivity?
We decided to sit down with Jennifer, our Chief Scientific Officer, to ask: Are there real benefits of napping? Because if science can’t help us, the debate will surely continue.
Ok, Jennifer, should we be planning a midday nap?
Well, that’s a tricky question to answer because we don’t all have the luxury of stepping away from the office to take an afternoon break and catch some shuteye. But those little power naps have been proven to give us a boost of energy, increase our brain power and alleviate any sleep deficits we may have.
Sleep deficits? Is that when we run out of steam?
Basically, yes. We hear people say all the time that they’ve hit a wall. Maybe it’s during the holidays and they’re just trying to get through all of the parties, activities and planning or at the beginning of the school year when parents are frantically trying to get their kids back on schedule, homework done and meals prepared before fall sports activities. Whatever the reason, there are times when we’re just not getting enough sleep over multiple days and sometimes even weeks. Each day we sacrifice our sleep, we add to our sleep deficit.
What are the benefits of napping to our brains?
One of the benefits of napping is that it essentially recharges your brain. Think of it like a reset button that increases alertness, improves memory, clears thinking and often releases creativity. In fact, several years ago, neuroscientists studying the effects of napping found that the right side of the brain (where most creativity is formed) remained active while the left side remained relatively quiet. Interesting, right?
To reap all of these benefits, how long should our naps be?
You’ll want to avoid reaching sleep inertia which is essentially why some people think they are terrible nappers. When you’ve reached sleep inertia, you often wake up crabby and even more tired than you were before your nap. Ideally, a power nap should be 15 to 20 minutes. Once you hit the 30-minute mark, sleep inertia begins to set in.
Some of us use coffee to recharge our brains. Does that work too?
When we find ourselves dragging late-afternoon, most of us do turn to the world’s most widely consumed stimulant, caffeine. However, studies have shown that a daytime nap had an even greater impact on learning performance when compared to an afternoon coffee break.
Are there famous nappers out there?
Some of the most famous folks who saw the benefits of napping were Leonardo da Vinci, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison. Not bad company, right?
The benefits are clearly there but what if there’s just no time?
We asked ourselves this very question when we began studying sleep and its effects on our bodies. We saw the incredible benefits of napping and knew we had to research a supplement that could give us the same results, even if you didn’t have time to take a nap. And that’s where Power Nap comes in. It supports a calm, positive mood and reduces the effects of occasional stress but doesn’t cause drowsiness. In fact, it improves alertness, focus, memory and learning. While it is most effective in conjunction with a 20-minute nap, it still provides incredible benefits without one.
Thanks, Jennifer! We’re convinced and now it’s time to power down and take a little nap. See you in 15.
For more information on Power Nap visit our shop page.
