Power nap, that little breath of sigh that generally eats up your lunchtime after a long boring meeting.
We all love little power naps between the day to make ourselves feel relaxed and energetic.
What is so good about a power nap that makes us rely upon it more than a good night’s sleep?
Before answering this question, let’s have a look at what exactly power nap is.
A power nap is a short period of sleep. It is usually practised when the normal course of sleep gets hampered.
Remember staying up late thinking about the next day and waking up feeling incomplete?
A power nap is a saviour in those times.
Now, we know what power nap is but is it really effective?
We mean, will it make up for the days when taking a wholesome sleep wasn’t possible?
Let’s look at how a power nap works
Power naps in reality are aimed at beating the sleep-deficits that we have due to our modern lifestyles
The human sleeping pattern is divided into five categories
- In the first stage, the electrical brain activity gets slow alog with the rate of respiration. It usually doesn’t last long, just about 10 minutes.
- The second stage makes your body ready for slow-wave sleep, which takes about another 10 minutes. The muscles of your body get loose and relaxed while in this stage
- The third stage is the extremely slow sleep wave
- Stage four comprises of deep sleep when the eye movement is put a halt
- The final stage is Rapid Eye movement, you might be dreaming the most in this.
This cycle repeats every 1.5- 2 hours.
When it comes to power nap, it coincides with the first two stages lasting about 20-25 minutes.
While performing this in between your work, you tend to.improve the accuracy and the working of the neurons.
The study shows better productivity, improved mood and a significant boost in memory.
The advantages of a power nap
- Increase in alertness : Power nap helps you by improving your concentration power and the alertness.
- A cure for Narcolepsy: Planned Power nap is a suggested cure for the ones affected by narcolepsy, which is a neurological disorder that affects your ability to wake and sleep.
- Significant psychological benefits: Power naps help you to rejuvenate leaving a relaxing effect. It helps you to get a better mood
- Reduces the risk of heart disease: studies have shown that eliminating sleep deficits by power naps can reduce the risk of any potential heart disease.
- Improvement in stamina: Power naps improve your stamina, preventing you from burning out too often.
And of course, improvement in overall productivity by ameliorating creative problem-solving skills, logical reasoning and retention.
So whenever you are stuck in some problem or don’t know how to deal with the chaos, try taking a power nap. There’s a good chance that you will be able to solve whatever’s troubling you and increase your overall efficiency.