The Benefits of Afternoon Naps

Naps are not just something that lazy people do to pass the time away, in fact great minds like John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Albert Einstein were all known to take naps during the day, and many top athletes take long naps in the afternoon as part of their training regimen. So pull out the futon or stretch out in that Lazy Boy, because naps are beneficial to your mental health.

It would almost seem that we are biologically programmed to nap, after all we start our lives out by napping, but this quickly ends once school begins, and then most of us enter the work force, which can have a great affect on how much sleep we get or the lack of it. The fact is that we are a sleep deprived nation that heavily relies on caffeine and power drinks to get us through the day.

Sleeping often becomes a problem for people whose shift ends in the morning. After all, they have been awake all night, and at a time when they either wanted or needed to sleep. This pattern can leave an unrested person quite irritable as they attempt to get a recuperative sleep when the rest of the world is awake and noisy, leaving them groggy throughout the late afternoon.

Employers are now looking at the benefits of napping on the job, where as at one time you would have been fired for this type of infraction. The Detroit News reported that daytime napping is an important part of full-spectrum fitness, and one Connecticut metals company actively encourages its employee's to nap by giving them a napping area where they can unwind.

Many companies will even allow employees to have a bed in their office. A big reason for this type of attitude from employers toward their employees is the increased error and accidents caused by a lack of sleep. The cost to business's from workers being groggy on the job can also include increased absenteeism, high turnovers, higher group insurance premiums, and decreased productivity from employees in need of a nap.

If you have the opportunity for an afternoon nap, particularly after a poor night of sleep, by all means, take one. You will feel more alert and energetic afterwards, and once rested after your mid-afternoon nap, your mood, energy, and alertness level will improve greatly. Of course when you first come out of your afternoon nap, you will feel a bit groggy for around 10 minutes, but once your decline in motor dexterity dissipates, you will reap the rewards of being well rested and ready to go for the rest of the day.

Surveys given throughout the last two decades have shown that a high percentage of people feel sleep deprived and it is not getting any better when you consider rush hour traffic during long commutes to and from work, and longer work days. In fact many people complained in the survey that they didn't get enough sleep during the night or that they did not feel refreshed after a full night's sleep.

*The benefits from napping as little as five minutes to as much as two hours are miraculous, and research has proven that taking a 20-minute nap approximately eight hours after you have awaken will do more for your stamina than sleeping another 20 minutes in the morning.

*MRI scans show that brain activity stays high throughout the day in people who nap, and people who go without a nap report that their daily activities greatly decline as the day wears on. After a nap, the brain has greater alertness, improved memory retention, and an enhanced ability to think creatively and insightfully.

*A study conducted by Nasa found that naps improve memory functions.

*In the Australian state of Victoria, the Transport Accident Commission has invested in advertising campaigns, advising drivers to take a "15 minute powernap" to help reduce the risk of fatigue when operating a motor vehicle.

*Researchers of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Societyrecommend napping in a dark comfortable room anywhere between 30 to 120 minutes in the early afternoon, and they recommend not letting the nap go past 5 or 6 p.m. in the evening.

*A recent survey by the National Sleep Foundation, a Washington D.C., nonprofit organization that focuses on sleep and public health, found that 26 percent of adults get a good night's sleep only a few nights a month or less. Another 24 percent say they get a good night's sleep only a few nights a week.