![]() ![]() Visualizations and self hypnosis are two very useful techniques that help achieve this by quickly entering your mind into a state of deep relaxation. The objective is to think only relaxing thoughts, if any thoughts at all. Once your body is comfortable, now it’s time to change the focus of your mind from the outside world, onto to your own inner calm. To eliminate noise, you might find it worthwhile to use earplugs. Your bedroom is most ideal, but alternatively you can power nap on a chair, while traveling, or in a parked car. During these times you experience a natural dip in alertness due to your circadian rhythm, making it the most ideal time to power nap.įollow these three simple steps for successful power napping:įind somewhere comfortable to relax where you won’t be disturbed. The best time to power nap is either mid afternoon after lunch or just before dawn. How to Power Nap Like a Pro – A Simple 3 Step Process Adopting this alternative sleep pattern has many practical drawbacks but it’s more effective than normal sleep and there are people who utilise it very successfully. It requires careful planning and sometimes heavy lifestyle changes. Adopting this sleep pattern is not easy however. The Uberman Sleep Pattern does just this, requiring only 3 hours of sleep per night. Power naps work so well that it is even possible to survive and thrive on just power naps alone. NREM stage 2 provides the perfect balance between restorative sleep and being able to wake up again feeling fresh and alert, and power naps are designed to maximise this type of sleep. If you did, you would feel more groggy and less alert than you did before the nap. The reason why we shouldn’t allow ourselves to enter into deep sleep whilst napping is because you can’t easily wake up from it. The goal of power napping is to stay in this stage of sleep for as long as possible whilst avoiding going into NREM stage 3, the deepest stage of sleep. A power nap starts in light sleep, but then becomes slightly deeper and moves into NREM stage 2. ![]() Power naps take advantage of the effectiveness of this early part of sleep. So our first initial portion of sleep is much more refreshing than the later portion. The first part of the night is filled with deep sleep, while the later part of the night is mostly light sleep. ![]() Our sleep comes in different stages throughout the night. Because power naps have such high sleep efficiency, just 20 minutes sleep can feel like much longer. The better your sleep efficiency, the shorter amount of time you will need to sleep. Sleep efficiency is the time spent asleep vs. Power naps offer the perfect compromise between sleeping deeply enough to be restorative, and being able to easily wake up again. So what makes these short 20 minute naps so special? Essentially, the power nap can be likened to mini sleep, but one that provides much greater sleep efficiency than your normal night time sleep. There is a real possibility that in the future power naps will become a part of everyday life.Ĭonsidering that we humans have historically slept in two separate chunks, and the growing evidence that suggests one big sleep at night is actually unnatural, power naps could be an early step into a revolutionary shift of our sleep habits. Google have gone a step further and provide dedicated relaxation pods for its employees containing soothing music and light shows, with a gentle rumble function to wake them up after the 20 minutes have past.Īs the amount of research supporting the humble power nap continues to be produced, the old notion that napping is just for lazy people is beginning to change. Such companies include Nike, British Airways and Continental. ![]() Research from Nasa showed that pilots who take a 26 minute “Nasa nap” in flight (whilst the co-pilot takes the controls) perform 34% better and are 54% more alert.Ĭonsidering the productivity boost power naps provide and the recent research which found that sleepiness is linked to $31 billion in lost revenues each year, even big multinationals have begun to allow and even promote power naps in the workplace. Recent research has shown that a 20 minute power nap boosts concentration, alertness, creativity, and mood. In this article we will take a look at the benefits of power naps, why and how power naps work so well, and finally, how you too can power nap like a pro. Short afternoon naps are a normal part of daily culture in a number of countries such as Spain, Japan, and China. While the term ‘power nap’ is a relatively new addition to our vocabulary, short afternoon naps have been around for centuries.įamous people such as Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, and Napoleon all share the same fondness for the power nap. Power naps have become hugely popular in recent years but they are far from a new age fad. A power nap is a short nap that lasts between 20 to 30 minutes, often taken mid afternoon after lunch. ![]()
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