There are people who like to sleep even in the day time. When the sun is over their head. It’s a good thing, their window shades are down making the room quite dark to sleep.
Then, there are people who just don’t know how to sleep at the day time. These people (including me) think sleeping in the day time is not good for your health and brain. In fact, its a waste of productive time if you take naps in the morning.
But what if I tell you, napping can be beneficial for your health and your brain too. And the benefits of nap actually makes up for the time you might have lost during your morning sleep. These are the benefits of napping not just for kids but for adults as well.
1. Improves memory
Taking a nap after learning something new will make a memory of it. That too, 5 times stronger than usual. According to a study, German neuropsychologists found that just like sleeping, taking a nap also helps your brain to process all the information that you have learned just now. In turn, making it easy for your brain to remember it for a longer time.
This way you can be sure that you pick up something new really fast and even be good at it.
Also Read: Music Disrupts Your Creativity, You Better Stop Listening Music While Doing Something Creative
2. Helps to decrease stress and improve blood pressure
Stress has become one of the most common health problems. It gives rises to many other illnesses as well. It can cause heart problems and blood pressure issues. But according to research, it is proved that taking care of stress and your blood pressure can be done simply by shutting your eyes off and taking a nap.
Average napping can reduce your blood pressure by 5mm Hg, offering almost the same benefits as a blood pressure medication.
3. It can restore your alertness
According to the results of research done by NASA that included military personals and astronauts, it was found that napping helps restore your alertness by 100%. Not just this but it also helps to improve your performance by 34%. You don’t have to sleep for hours and hours to gain focus, just a 40 minutes nap is enough.
That’s why when you are driving at night and feeling sleepy, it is advisable to stop your car and take a short nap before continuing.
4. Helps you get relaxed
In many European countries and other parts of the world (not including India), companies follow the siesta culture. For those who don’t know siesta means, it is an afternoon rest or nap. Taking a break from your daily work (which employees can even use to take a nap) helps you to get relaxed.
It improves your performance and that’s what all the companies always try to do.
5. Improved mood
Toddlers are the most common example that proves taking day naps can help you improve your mood. Many parents don’t know why their kid won’t take a nap in the afternoon. Eventually, it becomes really hard for them to control their kid. You napping habit can help you from becoming a monster and be calm.
I don’t think, it is important to prove this point, as this is something you must have know already.
6. Get better physique
Improved blood pressure and decreased stress are not the only benefits of napping. Other than just calming your brain, napping also offers many benefits to your physical self. In a study carried our Stanford University found that athletes who get to sleep better perform better during their daily workouts.
They showed better endurance, lower heart rate, and improved recovery.
7. Improved attention
People often suffer from sleep deprivation, their daily workload is the main reason for that. But in some cases, people like to party all night which is certainly not a good choice. It leads to sleep deprivation, improper attention etc. Luckily, this can be easily fixed with the help of short naps in the day time.
Research published in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine concluded that improper sleep can spoil your attention.
In Conclusion:
I’m sure you didn’t know about these benefits of napping. Taking a nap is not a bad habit, especially when you do a full-time job. Taking short power naps or a long 40 minutes nap will be a great idea.
I’m sleepy right now, I wish I could take a nap. But there is too much pending work.
Hope this is not the case with you.
