Friday, April 06, 2007

Napping for Peak Performance

Having a newborn around the house (well, she's 10 weeks old now) has once again reminded me of the restorative power of a good nap. When I saw today's "Weekend Reading" article from David Schlosser on the subject (a reprint from the original Men's Journal article, Jan. '06) I was interested to read it.

Here's a link to the article, if you're interested. They give tips on why and how to nap, but I needed neither of those questions answered. =) I was most interested in the "How long?" for the most effective nap. Here's the summary from the article...
How Long Is A Good Nap?
THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds Sleep studies haven't yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone's shoulder on the train.
THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness.
THE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance.
THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutesIncludes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
THE LAZY MAN'S NAP: 50 to 90 minutesIncludes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles.
Pretty interesting... That gave me an idea. Someone should develop an eyeshade for napping that measures your eye movements to tell exactly how long you've been napping. You could set a timer on them and you'd be awaken after the proper amount of napping. Without something like that, you'd never really know when you'd fallen asleep and how long you'd been napping. Royalties accepted made payable to Christian Sangree... Thanks!

On a side note, it's snowing in Oklahoma as I type. Crazy weather. Gotta run cover all the plants that we planted 3 weeks ago and that are blooming nicely.

3 comments:

SES said...

From the info you posted one can easily theorize that the longer the nap, the greater the benefit! I personally never nap for anything shorter than 3 hours. The only downside is jolting wide awake at 2 in the morning with all the lights on and dinner still uneaten. Or, as happened to me more recently, waking up around 8 pm and discovering I'm still at the office (just got a new couch for my office =).

Allison Sangree said...

If you napped all day you might live to 200!
Actually, I have proved that even a short 5 min. nap can revive me when I need it. Good stuff!!
So go in the garage and sit in your car for a couple of minutes when you need it - it's dark and quiet - just don't start the engine or it might be a REALLY l-o-n-g nap =)

Erin said...

Now if I could just find the time to take a nap.....