Day Fourteen - Recovery
Short naps can improve our performance on tasks by 34%, and overall alertness by more than 50%.
Today's challenge is to try a power nap. Research suggests that ideally naps should be no more than 20 minutes long, anything longer, and you risk drifting into what scientists call slow-wave sleep, which can leave you feeling groggy. The good news is that this can easily fit into most working days. Schedule the time in your diary - it might be after lunch - and organise a quiet place to ensure it happens.
Why is napping a useful tool in helping you recover better? NASA – an organization that has long understood the occupational benefits of sleep – researched naps and they found that short naps can improve our performance on tasks by 34%, and overall alertness by more than 50%. Taking a short nap has also been found to also improve the alertness and performance of air traffic controllers.2 A study of Italian Police officers found that taking a nap immediately before working an afternoon or evening shift halved the risk of a traffic accidents.
An afternoon nap may even make us smarter, it can boost our short term memory, increase our capacity to learn new tasks and have greater creative insight. After a nap we’re twice as likely to be able to solve complex problems, and process our emotions better. It seems that taking a nap is like hitting a refresh button for our brains that clears the scratches and roadblocks in our mind, making the way for smoother and better functioning afterwards. 3
And if you’re not able to find a suitable place, get yourself some eye masks and headphones. Then set your alarm, take some deep meditative breaths or use relaxation techniques if required, and enjoy.
Reference
NASA research www.businessinsider.com
Scheduled napping as a countermeasure to sleepiness in air traffic controllers air traffic controllers
The effects of napping on cognitive functioning pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Further reading
Read: Ideal Nap Lengths for the Perfect Shut-eye how-long-to-nap or nappuccino
Watch: The upsides and downsides of napping Mayo Clinic Minute
** Disclaimer – Part of the Build Your Ideal Day Program – 30 Day challenge by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.
