Naps

Naps: Enhancing Cognitive Performance and Productivity

Naps, often known as power naps, are brief periods of sleep during the day. In layman’s terms, naps are brief periods of day sleep lasting between twenty and ninety minutes. Naps are typically thought to alter the view of sleep patterns during the day, ideally between 1:00 and 4:00 PM. Modern lifestyles are full of activities and over-engagement, leaving no time for sleep, particularly leisure sleep during the day. However, naps are welcomed, acknowledged, and accommodated in the busiest schedule of the day. It improves “reaction time, logical thinking, and symbol recognition” (Milner & Cote, 2009). It is not frowned upon anymore because naps prove good for cognitive performance and improve productivity by enhancing neurobiological functionality of the body.

Napping: Boosting Mental Abilities and Creativity

Human body works, just every living and even non-living things operate, through a definitive pattern that do require rest at certain intervals to endure competence. It sustains energy level and regains cognitive efficiency of the body as it resets the neurobiological functioning of the person. Napping is beneficial for acquiring and enhancing mental abilities of a person as it improves alertness, helps in quick learning, boosts memory, and enhances performance. It is great way for improving our ability to increase productivity while working. Napping has a great impact on the creative output of a person and helps to unleash his or her real creativity. That’s why corporate houses and many MNC’s like Google, Huffington Post, Infosys, the Arizona, and many others have started creating dormitories as sleep spaces for their employees. Such nap-supportive environments yield better results at the end of the day both at the professional as well as the personal level (Brooks & Lack, 2006).

The Importance of Napping: From Cognitive Knacks to Improved Learning

Napping does not mean sleeping at all. There is huge difference between the two though both involve physical as well as cognitive spheres of the people. Napping means a short doze of sleep to shred away the unwanted amassed undesirable oomph in the body and relaxes the motor operation. The mounting negative energy seriously damages the efficiency of the individual, making him or her feel fatigued and that ultimately results in poor performance. Taking long sleep during the day time can have the opposite impact on the person as it fatigues his or her biological rhythm. It pledges dullness and flatness and can even harm his or her cognitive knacks.

Napping: Beneficial for All Age Groups

Napping is good for all age groups and could prove beneficial to old people who tend to have more fatigued body and mind. Daytime short sleep keeps them active by instilling energy and keeping them more fit for recreational activities. In fact, naps regulate their blood pressure. And there are lots of scientific studies which reveal naps show good deal of results and are very effective in children as well. Day time sleep boosts learning capabilities of young ones and enhances retaining power. Another research (Kurdziel, Duclos, & Spencer, 2013) shows daytime sleep is crucial for effective learning in children as it instigates effective intra-personal communication. Naps help to memorize better and counter sleep deficits better. So, if a child falls asleep in a classroom that will not cause damage.

Naps: Better than Caffeine for Cognitive Skills

Some studies showed that naps are better than caffeine for improving cognitive skills in an individual who tends to have problems in verbal memory, motor skills and perceptual memory (Tassi & Muzet, 2000). Afternoon naps boost free recall memory compared to caffeine takers. Even ultra-short sleep naps which is about six minutes duration, could help to improve declarative memory, which includes recalling facts and knowledge better. Naps have shown great results scientifically and are very encouraging to deal with mental and cognitive health. Psychological therapies encourage napping among the patients for fast cognitive development and restoration.

Beyond Cognitive Benefits: Naps and Overall Health

Beside cognitive benefits naps are good for keeping many diseases at bay. There is immense health benefits associated with naps, as it improves heart rate and reduces risk to heart diseases. Short sleep waves help to strike a balance in mental and emotional levels. It lifts up mood by relaxing the mind. Naps are prescribed by psychologists to improve behavioral issues as overthinking mind could lead to frustrations and can hamper creativity and productivity (Landis, 2011). A nap puts kind of break in over engaging brain and gives a refreshing start which eventually helps in maintaining balance of mind. It also is helpful to rejuvenating the mind. Besides heart, napping is good for reducing stress levels and fatigue.

Napping: Culturally Accepted and Emulated

Naps are seen growing popularity in developed nations and are culturally accepted like Japanese culture where naps are seen as symbol of discipline and gives sense of significance in workaholic culture. As Japanese people tend to sleep less but they encourage taking naps in order to counter sleep deprivation. It implies nap is a good thing to re-energize and revitalize oneself. Moreover, the Japanese people are often spotted sleeping while traveling or enjoying a siesta in a park. They don’t frown upon such behaviors even at office, because naps give them kick to start with a new vigor (Achermann & Borbley, 2011). Naps have been proven fruitful and hence this culture is worth emulating because it reflects peaceful attitude.

The NASA Example: Naps for Improved Performance

NASA’s research conducted in its pilots who were allowed to take naps before any task. The results showed upbeat in their performance. There was significant improvement in their task handling abilities post their nap routine (Brooks & Lack, 2006). It sums up the importance and goodness of taking daytime sleep especially after lunch. It also helps in proper digestion and takes away laziness and sluggishness. These simple techniques of napping, give impetus to cognitive abilities are overarching.

The Different Types of Naps

There are different types of naps, ranging from their duration and pattern. The deep sleep pattern involves non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and the other one includes rapid eye movement (REM) which is not so deep but is more beneficial. So the point is deep sleep naps with longer duration are not beneficial rather could be counterproductive.

Conclusion: The Advantages of Napping

Overall, taking small naps in between exhaustive work helps in decision-making abilities and hence is a good habit to inculcate. Enormous studies and researches already prove the advantages of naps so there is nothing to feel shy about dozing off at work or at home (Anthony & Anthony, 1999). These small changes can give desired results in the longer run.

Naps: Regaining Vigor and Improving Performance

Naps are certainly good for well-being and well mind. It does not impede any sort of performance especially mind work rather it gives a push to thinking capacities and thus makes performance better. Another fact of naps is the body gets reenergized after hectic and exhaustive work. The unlimited advantages of napping have been scientifically and people recognize its importance in today’s busy lives. It boosts physical as well as cognitive and even facilitates improved body-mind communication for better performance. Strictly speaking, napping is very much important to regain one’s lost vigor to improve the overall personality. It is quite accommodating for children, young, adults, and old-age people. Naps are must to incorporate in busy life to keep up the pace of the fast-moving world which demands not only energy but productive energy. Moreover, to sustain an optimistic outlook towards work and to evade monotonous boredom, napping could prove best.

References

Anthony, C., & Anthony, W. (1999). The Art of Napping at Work. New York, NY: Larson Publication.

Achermann P., & Borbely A. A. (2011). Sleep homeostasis and models of sleep regulation. In M. H. Kryger, T. Roth, & W. C. Dement (Eds.), Principles and practice of sleep medicine (pp. 431–444). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Brooks A; & Lack, L. (2006). A brief afternoon nap following nocturnal sleep restriction: Which nap duration is most recuperative? Oxford Academic, 29(6), 831-840.

Landis, C. A. (2011). Physiological and behavioral aspects of sleep. In N. S. Redeker, G. McEnany (Eds.), Sleep disorders and sleep promotion in nursing practice (pp. 1–18). New York, NY: Springer.

Milner, C. E., & Cote, K. A. (2009). Benefits of napping in healthy adults: Impact of nap length, time of day, age, and experience with napping. Journal of Sleep Research, 18, 272–281.

Ruggiero, J. S., & Redeker, N. S. (2013). Effects of napping on sleepiness and sleep-related performance deficits in night-shift workers: A Systematic Review. Biological Research for Nursing, 16(2), 134-142

Studte, S., Bridger, E., & Mecklinger, A. (2015). Nap sleep preserves associative but not item memory performance. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 120, 84–93.

Kurdziel, L., Duclos, K., & Spencer, R.M. (2013). Sleep spindles in midday naps enhance learning in preschool children. Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, 100(43), 17267–17272.

Tassi P. & Muzet A. (2000). Sleep inertia. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 4, 341–353.