March 05, 2007
The Power of Power Naps
Power Naps are great after lunch!
WE'VE ALL HAD THOSE moments: Usually sometime after lunch, we start to feel lethargic. Our limbs grow heavy. The eyelids begin to feel like 10-pound weights and the head begins to bob.
We jerk upright as we lurch forward, hoping that no one saw us nearly fall asleep on the job.
But according to sleep studies, we'd be a whole lot better off — and so would our employers — if we simply curled up somewhere and went to sleep for a while.
Just like when we were young and needed a nap when we became cranky, tired and unfocused, American adults need a rest period every day in order to perform their best, researchers say. But just the word "nap" is likely to stir controversy in the workplace.
"Talking about taking a nap makes people look at you like you're sleeping with the boss or selling heroin at work," says Dr. Sara C. Mednick, a researcher at the Salk Institute at the University of California, San Diego, and a nap guru. "It's like it's an unbelievably illicit experience."
Mednick says that not only do American workers need to take a nap, but their companies should require it. Studies have shown that sleepy workers have more accidents, are less productive, are more prone to health problems and have poorer morale.
Still, Mednick says she knows it's very hard to convince Americans — who believe hard work 24/7 breeds success — that napping can have a great payoff.
"It's really a lack of foresight," she says. "People just keep working as they are, thinking that they'll have time later to deal with it. But it's like the environment, in that you have to do something now in order to affect the future in a positive way."
Mednick says that napping can "change your life," which is why she has written a new book with Mark Ehrman called "Take a Nap! Change your life," (Workman, $12.95) that outlines how anyone can — and should — incorporate napping into any lifestyle. It provides useful tips on napping, including finding the ideal nap time and duration for you. Some ideas from the book include:
You must be your own sleep therapist. That means you have to understand when, where and how you best can take a nap. Maybe it's in your car at lunch, maybe it's on a mat in a quiet room or maybe it's putting your feet on your desk. You may need to nap only five minutes, or you may require more than an hour, depending on your own body clock.
Napping takes practice. Stress might indeed keep you awake when you first try to nap, but chances are that if you practice relaxation techniques and keep at it, you will soon be able to drop off on a regular basis. Also, many people are sleeping even though they believe they are awake.
Making napping a priority. Don't think that a soda or snack will perk you up and help you get something done. In fact, snacking is just another sign that your body needs sleep. Researchers have found that learning after a nap is equal to learning after a full night's sleep. Test scores of non-nappers were found to drop throughout the day as they became more tired.
Labels: nap, power nap, powernap
