A week from now, as you recline in your easy chair, kicking back for a much-anticipated nap after a hearty plate of turkey and stuffing, you may find it useful to know that not only does that cat nap you're about to take feel good, it's actually doing your body good as well!
In a world consumed with work and activities, our society often looks at napping as a sign of laziness.
Scientific studies, however, find napping to have numerous health and mood benefits as well
a contributing to improved performance.
Several
studies have shown naps improve
reaction time, mental accuracy, energy and
overall mood.
Not all naps are equal however.
Naps between 3-5pm seem to fit best with our normal
circadian rhythm, while naps between 7-9pm often interfere with our regular
sleep schedules.
Naps of 10-30 minutes of duration seem to provide good
benefits without as many of the potential side effects such as night-time sleep
disturbance and the drowsy feeling upon waking up (what researchers refer to as
sleep inertia).
Long naps may also leave
people in poorer moods after waking.
Regular nappers also tend to receive a greater benefit from
naps than those who nap infrequently.
So this holiday season, find time to treat your body and your mind to a little extra R&R, and take a nap.
Happy holidays!
REFERENCE:
Benefits of napping in healthy adults: impact of nap
length, time of day, age, and experience with napping. Milner CE,
Cote KA. J Sleep Res. 2009 Jun;18(2):272-81.
Review.
Curr Opin Pulm Med.
2006 Nov;12(6):379-82. Good sleep, bad sleep!
The role of daytime naps in healthy adults.
Dhand
R, Sohal
H.
