Some people are made to feel a little guilty about taking naps during the day like it equates to being a slacker. Then I read an article about sleep and the importance of naps. Snoozing is no longer considered losing, but gaining. Most people think the secret to being productive is managing your time, they believe that sacrificing sleep is necessary in order to be successful in their industry. But I know it’s all about managing your energy and will reveal some reasons why;

Daily naps reduces the risk of heart disease. Those who take daily naps are 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease? 

“Taking a nap could turn out to be an important weapon in the fight against coronary mortality,” said Dimitrios Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who led the study.

Daily naps help to restore alertness. Most afternoons you start to feel drowsy, especially at work. This lowers your alertness and focus. 

The National Sleep Foundation recommends a nap of twenty to thirty minutes. This supposedly, “improved alertness and performance without leaving you feeling groggy or interfering with nighttime sleep.”

Daily naps prevents burnout. In a crazy busy world, we are all in the “rate race” but we shouldn’t be racing without resting. Doing so leads to frustration, burnout, and stress. 

Napping is the ultimate reboot of your computer, I mean body. It relieves any stress giving you a fresh start. The same reason we can’t wait to jump in the bed at night. Those who nap show greater emotional resilience, improved cognitive function, and more. All we need is 20 to 30 minutes daily to protect from frying our circuits.

Daily naps heighten sensory perception. Dr. Sara C. Mednick, author of Take a Nap, Change Your Life says, napping can restore the sensitivity of sight, hearing, and taste.

Napping relaxes your mind, which allows new associations to form in it, improving your overall creativity. So, rest before coming up with ideas and making important decisions. 

Daily naps make you productive. 

Numerous studies have shown workers becoming increasingly unproductive as the day wears on. This is where slacking comes from, and it’s mainly after lunch. Instead of taking a nap, they drink coffee or an energy drink, even worse, get up and walk. A twenty-minute nap defeats any and all energy drinks.

Daily naps improve mood. Which improves any and all actions and reactions.

A happier person makes better decisions, has a nicer demeanor, and is easier to approach. 

Daily Naps improve performance including better mental memory and quicker reaction time. 

Napping Tips

Take a twenty-minute nap right after lunch. If you can’t, try to squeeze it in before 4:00 p.m.

Keep it twenty to thirty minutes, anything longer may lead to “sleep inertia”, that feeling of grogginess when you awaken from a deep sleep. Long naps can also interfere with nighttime sleep. Set an alarm to avoid oversleeping. 

Sleep deprivation affects work performance along with mental and physical health. At 36, 48, and 72 hours without sleep, your body and your mind begin operating in altered states that put your health, and your life, at risk,

There are many successful leaders who were known for napping, names you recognize. Could these leaders know that napping was the key ingredient to their success? You be the judge, here are a few.

• John D. Rockefeller, who was an oil industrialist and philanthropist napped daily in his office.
• Thomas Edison napped daily, but his ego forced it to embarrass him.
• Ronald Reagan, a known nap taker was criticized for it.
• Leonardo da Vinci preffered napping over long sleep.
• Winston Churchill’s knew he would get twice as much work done daily if he took a nap, this wasn’t up for negotiation.
• President John F. Kennedy took naps religiously after eating lunch.
• Albert Einstein not only got 10 hours of sleep at night but napped daily.
• Napoleon (The French Emperor) took naps daily.
• Eleanor Roosevelt napped before speaking arrangements to boost her energy.
• President Lyndon B. Johnson figured out a way to break up his day into 2 by taking a nap daily at 3:30 p.m.

The desire to stay connected

Mobile notifications can feel important—leading people to keep their phones close by, even when they’re asleep. An alarming amount of people sleep with their phones near their beds, mostly Millennials. It looks like technology is literally getting in the way of our dreams if you’re allowing it to. 

Yearly we have #NationalNappingDay: 

It typically falls the Monday After Daylight Savings. It’ a yearly celebration of naps that allow us all to re-evaluate naps and recover from the time change.This year it falls on…

2018: March 12

If lack of sleep can seriously harm you, how much sleep is enough to ensure that our brains are functioning properly?

Current guidelines say between seven and nine hours nightly for adults.

What are your thoughts, Please leave comments. 

Some companies are offering their employees nap rooms. Does this mean in the future we will all be snoozing to improve the bottom line?

Some presenters at CES think so,  See link -> http://ow.ly/KDva30iSRlX