Nap Time

With the switch to daylight savings time , March 10, 2019 all those involved will lose an hour of sleep. Many of us will need a nap to compensate for the lost hour. A nap is a short period of time that allows our bodies to unplug. How long will that nap be??

Napping is something we have all had a chance to do from time to time. We start napping in early infancy and continue through adulthood. Kids may dread naps that parents insist on but as they grow older they may their selves become demanding on taking naps. The trick of napping is knowing how long to take one. Thus finding a medium between sleeping too much will lead to not getting proper sleeping patterns to getting a nap that is long enough to rest our bodies just enough.

Napping can help to reduce sleepiness, improve cognitive functions, psycho-motor performance, short term memory and mood. While not all of us take naps the health benefits suggest we should. However, knowing how long to take that nap will make the benefits even better:

• A short nap between 10 to 20 minutes is known as a power nap. I often take one of these at work during my lunch. This quick nap allows you to get a jolt of alertness and helps to decrease fatigue. This is a great nap to take if you are on a road trip and feel a bit drowsy a power nap will help greatly. 
• Be careful taking a 30 minute nap as this may be too long of a nap. The effects of sleep will start settling in and your brain goes to sleep and struggles to quickly wake up
• A 60 minute short term nap allows the brain waves to slow down and start:      Remembering facts                                                                                            Remembering places you’ve been                                                                    Remembering names and faces                                                                                                                                                                                                napping helps to push our memories to our brains permanent storage facility while we sleep. In turn we are prevented from losing any data However, there is a down side that is still in point and that is the grogginess that may be present after a short nap
• A longer period of time (90 minutes) is known as REM napping. Rapid Eye Movement napping is where you reached your full sleeping cycle and dream. This type of napping can improve                                                              Creativity                                                                                                           Emotional and procedural memory, such as learning a new skill                                                                                                                                        REM style of napping will help you to avoid sleep inertia and make it easier to wake up. Save this for the weekend as a nap of this length may not be a good thing

Happy napping!

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