Are your days tiring and feel mundane, is your creativity hampered, or have you been fighting with your loved ones because of a grumpy mood?
If you answered yes, chances are you need a nap right now. What is a nap? In short, a brief sleep period helps you recharge and live fully awake. But keep in mind that napping is not a substitute for proper sleeping. Optimally, you should follow a consistent sleep schedule giving you enough sleep for your age group daily. Following are the eye-opening benefits of power napping to help you understand why you should take a nap right now.
21 Life-changing Benefits Of Power Nap
1. It improves your mood
As the popular saying suggests, “good food, good mood.” Napping improves your mood and makes you happier as your body can get the essential rest it needs. Many creative geniuses also nap to remove their creative blocks, gain more motivation to work, or produce insights through a better mood.
2. It helps you relax your mind when you most need it
Imagine a situation where you’ve pulled an all-nighter but have another deadline you can’t afford to miss, or perhaps you have a date where you want to present your best self. Napping helps you relax when you most need it and prepares you for anything that dares to come your way.
3. It helps you organize and manage your time
Many self-help experts and successful people today preach napping for a single reason. It helps you organize your time and energy between various projects and makes you master time management. Knowing how to manage your time effectively can improve all aspects of your life.
Read more: 4 ways to combat decision fatigue
4. It gives you a hint of beauty sleep you may need
When we practice deep sleep, including naps, our body produces growth hormones that regenerate our skin, leading to a smoother, beautiful look for occasions where you want to stand out or look attractive.
5. It improves your judgment
Sleep deprivation compromises your judgment and can lead you to make pretty bad decisions. The effect of inadequate sleep can kick in during situations with high stakes (and you’re likely to stay up later for preparation). For instance, you might pull up an all-nighter for an exam or a presentation at work only to miss the event or have your thinking ability compromised when you get there.
6. It prevents burnout
The importance of power naps is that they can serve as an essential self-care activity you depend on at any time. Other self-care activities you can practice to prevent burnout from your daily responsibilities include journaling, going for a walk, talking to someone whose company you enjoy, etc.
7. It improves your recollection
Sleep deprivation can also cause problems with your recollection of events. One of the essential benefits of power napping is it helps you improve your memory and remembrance and remove the effects of sleep deprivation on the same. Remembering things right is critical to your work, relationships, building atomic habits, and almost all daily activities.
8. It balances sleep deprivation and keeps your health in check
As stated in different points throughout the benefits of taking a nap, it keeps your sleep in check and balances any effects of an inadequate sleep schedule. Sleep is nature’s way to let your body and mind relax from constant functioning. Hence it’s not wise to take this activity lightly.
9. It prevents you from overindulging
According to a Stanford University study, the less sleep you get, the more likely you are to gain weight. You are likely to snack on anything you find to stay awake, which might not be the best decision for your diet. Sleep also produces the leptin hormone that causes you to feel full, while lack of sleep causes your body to produce the hormone gherkin, which makes you want to eat more.
10. It improves your relationships
Lack of sleep makes you grumpy, leading to frustration and aggression. These feelings can cause you to act out and damage your relationships with family and friends. Besides improving your relationships, napping also refreshes you so you can be your best self around those you love.
11. It takes no effort
Napping doesn’t require much effort if you follow a few basic directions and ensure you don’t try to nap when you’re wide awake or having high emotional energy. Compared to other activities you may implement for self-care or relaxation, it requires the least effort. Although you have problems napping despite feeling tired or sleep-deprived, it may be time to consult a licensed professional.
12. It keeps your hormones in check
According to Hendrix College research, being fatigued has effects similar to being intoxicated. For instance, you can have your hormones take over and make decisions you wouldn’t usually.
According to researchers, sleep deprivation disrupts the brain’s frontal lobe, which affects judgment, impulse control, and social and sexual behavior. Hence, keeping your hormones in check is one the benefits of power nap.
13. It helps you focus better
Quality sleep leads to greater involvement and mindfulness in the present moment. Napping refreshes you and manages your stress with little effort. When you get up, you can focus quickly on the tasks you are currently engaged with and perform better than if you had continued with them. A lack of sleep compromises your ability to focus or hold something in your attentional space. You can practice focused meditation before sleep to increase your focus.
14. It acts as a suitable replacement for other(less favorable) habits
You might be going to watch some TV, scroll through social media and end up wasting time whenever you want to relax. What are power nap health benefits and advantages over other habits?
Taking a nap instead can relieve you from the stress, help you take a break, and return to a better person with little effort. Most importantly, it stops you from feeding other unhealthy habits, relaxing you rather than distracting you. And leads you to be happy in life.
15. It can boost your testosterone level
The majority of daily testosterone production happens in male bodies while undergoing sleep. Low testosterone can reduce energy levels, cause insomnia, and change sleep. In older men, sleep is even more critical for testosterone levels making it one of the vital benefits of power nap.
16. It lowers your chance of developing diabetes
As we mentioned before, lack of sleep can cause you to overeat, as it is harder to control your urges and be aware of what you’re doing in a sleep-deprived state. It also increases your body’s resistance to insulin, a necessary chemical for digesting and controlling glucose(sugar) in your bloodstream at any given time.
Inhibited insulin production can make diabetes more likely or harder to manage if you already have it. Hence, reducing the risk of diabetes is one of the benefits of the power nap.
17. It keeps your immune system healthy
Power nap advantages include better time management, eating habits, and your ability to avoid the adverse effects of sleep deprivation. All these factors combined keep you in better shape and support your physical capacities working at an optimum level.
18. It acts as a preventive measure for dementia and insanity(disorientation)
Lack of sleep can aid the possibility of dementia and leaves you disoriented. Even if you manage to stay up for too long in anticipation of something important, chances are you will be too unstable to go through with the task.
19. It’s a preventive measure for heart problems
Lack of sleep is related to heart diseases and problems with blood pressure, increasing the chances of stroke and other cardiovascular problems. Napping also reduces stress which is one major cause of such issues, thus adding double the benefits of power napping in one.
20. It increases your creativity
According to a study by Georgetown University, taking a power nap can boost your creativity. Studies have shown that power naps create an increase in right brain activity. The right hemisphere of your brain is associated with creativity, while the right is associated with logic, reasoning, and mathematics. During naps, the right hemisphere is much more active, and thus, your brain is kept fresh.
Read more: Signs of a creative person
21. It prevents traffic accidents
A study by Daniel J.G shows that the risk of traffic accidents increases with a deficient or lacking sleep schedule. One of the most significant benefits of having power naps is avoiding disasters that can harm you and others around you.
Now that you’ve learned the excellent benefits of power napping, the question naturally arises:
How & When To Take A Power Nap?
Taking a nap depends entirely on your sleep schedule, but generally, you can take naps in the afternoon in a comfortable space with average room temperature. Eliminate all distractions before taking a nap. Keep your phone and other devices just distant enough so you can’t directly reach them but can hear the alarm or timer. It also helps to have peace while napping, making the experience more relaxing and rewarding.
Deciding your nap duration beforehand is essential. The benefits of a 15-minute nap or the benefits of a 20-minute nap, or longer naps vary because of brain chemistry, sleep cycles, and the quality of your slumber. It is generally said that resting for 10-20 minutes is optimal since a long time leaves you disoriented, may initiate Rapid Eye Movement(REM) sleep cycle, or interrupt proper sleep during the night. Hence, there are not many benefits of a 20-minute power nap. But according to some, having longer naps can help clear your mind. If you find longer naps to work better, you can plan them in the morning for more effectiveness.
Conclusion
Napping is a technique for self-care that helps you refresh your brain with a short sleep period while not substituting it. The benefits of power napping are both numerous and powerful. To make the best of your naps, you can adjust them to the most effective time of the day that works for you and couple them with activities like journaling, art, or other self-care practices.
One of the best self-care practices you can accommodate with napping is gratitude. Here is a list of 11 best gratitude apps to help you get started on a journey to greater happiness and understand gratitude better.
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