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Why napping improves performance
Benefits of napping
Siestas, nana-naps, power-naps – call them what you will, but they have major benefits to brain function and wellbeing. Benefits to the body include better heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair. It is believed naps help you live longer, stay more active, and look younger. They recharge the brain resulting in greater alertness, improved memory retention and creative insight. Napping can make you a faster typist, better dancer and improve motor skills and coordination. Effects on mental health include improved mood, decreased stress and greater psychological balance. Power naps increase memory by almost 20% during the remainder of the day
Researchers tracked 23,681 Greek men for 6 years. Those who napped 3 times a week had a 37% reduced risk of dying from heart disease
How little, how long?
Professor Leon Lack from Flinders University in South Australia led a study into the effectiveness of power naps. He says it’s the length of sleep that is crucial to our post-nap performance.
“Ten to fifteen minutes of sleep seems to be the optimum period in terms of improving mental operations, performance, reaction times and subjective feelings of alertness,” he says. “And that improvement in performance and alertness seems to be maintained for up to two and sometimes three hours after the nap. Interestingly, the five-minute nap just didn’t produce the same amount of improvement, while longer naps of 25 to 30 minutes led to subjects being somewhat drowsy and less alert for up to an hour after the nap.”
Will napping make me feel groggy?
A full sleep cycle lasts between 90 and 100 minutes, so waking up after 40 to 60 minutes will put you in phase 3 or 4 of the sleep cycle, also called Slow Wave Sleep (SWS). This groggy feeling is called sleep inertia and in terms of brain activity, is the polar opposite of wakefulness when the brain’s electrical activity is busily multitasking and operating on many frequencies. During SWS, we have almost completely tuned out the external world and our entire brain rhythm synchronizes into a slow, uniform pattern.
Sleep Inertia can be minimised by either shortening (20 minutes) or lengthening (greater than 90 minutes) the nap to avoid waking up in SWS. Otherwise, it can be quickly dispelled by physical activity, noise or other sensory stimulation (such as a shower) or, for those who must, with a shot of caffeine.
Do naps interfere with nighttime sleep?
No, as long as your nap lasts less than 3 hours and is completed at least 3 to 4 hours prior to your normal bedtime.
Working under fatigue
When you’re sleepy, you are seven times more likely to make an error. Some of the world’s greatest disasters have been directly attributed to fatigue including Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez and the Challenger space shuttle disaster.
Napping tips
1. keep naps to 20 minutes or greater than 90 minutes to avoid sleep inertia
2. ensure you have a quiet, well ventilated room
3. clear your mind, breathe slowly and deeply to help switch off and relax
4. if you’re going to nap at work –make sure you have permission!
5. best to nap 6 to 8 hours after normal wake up time
6. shift workers can use a late afternoon nap to help stay alert during the night
7. use naps to recharge, refresh and reinvigorate the body and the brain
For those not able to set aside a full 20min for a snooze – at the end of a Body Balance class we just lie down, breathe and ‘chill out’ for about 8mins and that is enough for a recharge and release any stress - Try it! | 
