I feel like you’ve already judged me from reading the title, but that’s alright. This article isn’t just about me, it’s about naps.
I’m a good sleeper, I sleep through my alarm, my cat scratching my leg and occasionally earthquakes.
I can also fall asleep whenever I lie (or sit) down. If you’re thinking I have narcolepsy, that isn’t true, I just love naps. And I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Prioritising your rest, and taking it when your body demands it, is healthy. Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and George W. Bush all had one thing in common: they all took naps.
Whether you’re a planned, emergency or habitual napper, there are a multitude of benefits to napping.
A study at NASA on sleepy military pilots and astronauts discovered that a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34% and alertness 100%. Moreover, sleep experts advise drivers who are sleepy to pull over to a rest area, have a caffeinated drink and take a 20 minute nap.
Is there something such as an ideal nap?
A recent study in the research journal, ‘Sleep’ revealed a 10 minute nap is ideal and it causes minimum sleep inertia afterwards. So the next time you see someone napping, don’t assume they’re lazy, lack ambition or are not ‘adulting’ properly, walk away. Because it’s not only the kids who need naps in today’s consuming and fast paced world.