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In a recent study, researchers at NASA showed that a thirty to forty-minute power nap increased cognitive faculties by approximately 40%!

What Exactly Is a Power Nap?

A power nap is a short nap, normally between 10 and 30 minutes long, taken in the middle of the day in order to reinvigorate and refresh you for the next part of the day.

Power naps are not similar to normal sleep, so you will not be groggy after taking one.

While you might have “dreams”, power naps are more similar to meditation, where thoughts are allowed to move from the sub-conscious mind to the conscious mind and back again without you concentrating on them.

Some famous self-proclaimed nappers include people like Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci , Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Johannes Brahms, John D. Rockefeller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gene Autry, Nikola Tesla, Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy, Napoleon Bonaparte, Salvador Dali and Sylvester Stallone.

Why Take a Power Nap?

Research also says that taking a nap of 30 minutes a day is better than sleeping in for 30 minutes in the morning.

Sleep is a daily need, as it is during this time that your body carries out cell repair, and it helps memory and hormonal functioning.

If you go short of a night’s sleep, your physical coordination (including reactions while driving); memory and judgment; energy level; patience; and general stress-tolerance drops. Lack of sleep affects all your bodily, mental, and emotional elements.

A power nap of 15 to 20 minutes can, surprisingly, bring all those functions back to or much closer to normal functioning than we might imagine.

10 Reasons Why the Power Nap is Beneficial and Healthy

• boost in productivity and energy at work
• increased motivation
• improved ability to concentrate,
• better mood
• improved hand-eye coordination
• improve emotional state
• increased learning
• maintain peak brain activity during the course of the day
• protect yourself from sleepiness
• decrease and eliminate stress

How To Take a Healthy and Effective Power Nap

• Time: choose a mid-morning or in the middle of the afternoon when everything is usually lulled.
• Have a silence place to power nap without interruptions or distractions, eg turn off the phone.
• Avoid eating too much caffeinated or sugary products before your power nap
• Use a blanket to stay warm if necessary, since your body temperature drops during sleep.
• Darkness is known to help you fall asleep faster.
• Plan the length of your nap and make sure you wake up at the planned awakening time
• Light sounds such as classical or jazz music help relax your mind so you can go to sleep especially if you’ve had a stressful day.
• Be proud of your nap – don’t be ashamed of telling people and asking them to help you separate naptime from the rest of the day by leaving you alone to rest.

This article is courtesy the Sleep Aid Centre’s guest writer Andy SZEN of www.egodevelopment.com