What is Digg?66 Comments
- adcat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+70I believe George Costanza had the perfect solution - install a bed underneath your desk.
- dtd00d, on 10/12/2007, -0/+32And we wonder why our kindergarteners are so hyper...
I miss naptime. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Being a stay at home dad I am all about the power nap.
- deltaandroid, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22And when is anyone that goes to school or works going to be able to take mid day naps?
sure, it may be beneficial, but is it practical? - Kahnza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Fiesta is a party
Siesta is a nap - Kahnza, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Power naps are great if you can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. But it usually takes me 30-45min to fall asleep. So a "Power Nap" doesn't work so well.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Website slow as hell.
Power Napping - Improved Mental And Physical Performence
While small children typically take naps in the afternoon, our culture generally frowns upon mid-day sleep. However, even in those who get enougth sleep, many people experience a natural decrease in drowsiness in the afternoon, about 8 hours after waking.
Reserch shows that you can make yourself more alert, reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid-day sleep, or a “power nap”, means more patience, less stress, increased learning, better health, better reaction time, more efficiency and also many athletes find a daytime nap further increases their body’s ability to build muscle. Napping also benefits heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair, says Dr. Sara Mednick, a scientist at the Salk Institute for Biologicak Studies.
A power nap, says Mednick, simply maximizes these benefits by getting the sleeper into and out of rejuvenative sleep as fast as possible. No surprise that Lance Armstrong’s coach, Chris Carmichael, says that “naps were critical in his overall training plan.” In Manhattan, napping has become a lucrative business: MetroNaps in the Empire State Building provides darkened cot-like redoubts that attract Broadway actors between shows as well as investment bankers who otherwise would fall asleep at their desks. And in Iraq, U.S. Marine commanders have mandated a power nap before patrols.
Christopher Ketcham at Men’s Journal has written a great article on power nap. And here’s how he explains power nap works:
Here’s how the power nap works: Sleep comes in five stages that recur cyclically throughout a typical night, and a power nap seeks to include just the first two of them. The initial stage features the sinking into sleep as electrical brain activity, eye and jaw-muscle movement, and respiration slow. The second is a light but restful sleep in which the body gets ready — lowering temperature, relaxing muscles further — for the entry into the deep and dreamless “slow-wave sleep,” or SWS, that occurs in stages three and four. Stage five, of course, is REM, when the eyes twitch and dreaming becomes intense.
The five stages repeat every 90 to 120 minutes. Stage one can last up to 10 minutes, stage two until the 20th minute. Extenuating circumstances, like manning the controls of a jet, aside, experts believe that the optimal power nap should roughly coincide with the first 20 minutes in order to give you full access to stage two’s restorative benefits. In addition to generally improving alertness and stamina, stage two is marked by a certain electrical signals in the nervous system that seem to solidify the connection between neurons involved in muscle memory. “It’s like a welding machine,” says Mednick. “When you wake up, your neurons perform the same function as before, but now faster and with more accuracy,” making the 20-minute nap indispensible to the hard-working athlete looking to straighten out his putter or baseline shot.
The only catch is that you have to carefully time your nap to avoid waking in slow-wave sleep (third stage), which can produce sleep inertia. So it’s better to use an alarm clock in the beginning.
So, how to get the perfect nap? Everyone, no matter how high-strung, has the capacity to nap, but the conditions need to be right. Here are some helpful hints by Dr. Sara Mednick:
1. The first consideration is psychological: Recognize that you’re not being lazy; napping will make you more productive and more alert after you wake up.
2. Try to nap in the morning or just after lunch; human circadian rhythms make late afternoons a more likely time to fall into deep (slow-wave) sleep, which will leave you groggy.
3. Avoid consuming large quantities of caffeine as well as foods that are heavy in fat and sugar, which meddle with a person’s ability to fall asleep.
4. Instead, in the hour or two before your nap time, eat foods high in calcium and protein, which promote sleep.
5. Find a clean, quiet place where passersby and phones won’t disturb you.
6. Try to darken your nap zone, or wear an eyeshade. Darkness stimulates melatonin, the sleep- inducing hormone.
7. Remember that body temperature drops when you fall asleep. Raise the room temperature or use a blanket.
8. Once you are relaxed and in position to fall asleep, set your alarm for the desired duration (see below).
How Long Is A Good Nap?
THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds Sleep studies haven’t yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone’s shoulder on the train.
THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness.
THE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance.
THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes Includes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
THE LAZY MAN’S NAP: 50 to 90 minutes Includes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles.
Now, overall I’m completly sold on power napping. Gonna give it a 30-day trial.
New entry in my JoeGoals.com goals - Take a 20 min. Power Nap. - 4815162342, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I take a nap in my car at lunch almost every day
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11If I nap my whole mental day clock gets thrown out of whack and then I'm just groggy for the rest of the day.
- ngmcs8203, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Probably because you are sleeping too long during your nap. You don't want to go into any deep states of sleep. That's why the 20min power nap is perfect.
- Philodox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I've got a corner in my office that people can't see from the hallway... perfect :)
- Arahka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I wish I could have a nap right now. Schools and companies need to learn about this. It's like the spanish siesta, that's what our society needs.
- kehvin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I used to do this at my old job when I had an hour lunch break. Scarf down lunch in 10 minutes, then go to car and nap for 30-45 minutes. It was the best and it did help my mood and productivity.
- xutopia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@Hootyea I tried that technique when I was trying to reach rank 14 in WoW. It's not all it's cracked up to be.
- 1randomnumber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6A power nap... Is sleeping on top of someone who's weaker than you...
- wobitnobby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I've been starting to use pzizz software for naps, and it's great! They're on the web, if you're looking to buy. No I'm not involved in the company. Just needed to learn to nap.
- l0tharnt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I nap on my lunch and 15 minute brakes
- dantexas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Apparently it does not improve one's spelling :)
- Brodels, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3^ I play football (soccer) about 3 times a week and ride my bike around 8-10 miles a week between friends houses etc.
- Fhionnlaoch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Oh, power naps are quite a lot better than what I did this morning (y'know, one of those days where you sleep in 'til noon and miss all your lectures for the day).
PS. I'm making up for it by playing GRAW on the hard level. - Mewchu11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm so ashamed. Three years of Spanish well worth my time and effort. :D
- Firehed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3A power nap can still be effective if you don't fall asleep. It's more about the short relaxation than just grabbing a few extra minutes of sleep. Or, at least, that's been my experience.
- tseif0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4So when I get yelled at for sleeping in school, I'll just use this excuse. Thanks Digg!
- Mewchu11, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Whoops. Yeah, Siesta.
They're both awesome though. - Brodels, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Yea, I'm in the same boat. I can't stand napping, setting the alarm doesn't work because I don't know when I'll fall asleep so I always end up feeling really groggy for the rest of the day.
- xutopia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm curious... do both of you do any sports or are you pretty much sedentary?
- chip0wa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I laughed so damn hard when i read that. Classic.
- MrTea, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I lmao'd.
- AlKo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I heard an odd trick... I think in an interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar or some other actress...
When taking power naps for around 20-30minutes, elevate your legs and you will be less groggy and more alert when you wake up. It works as far as I can tell... don't know why though. - Dmitrik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm gonna have this printed out and handed to my teachers.. especially the ones who protest.
- Hootyea, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Check this out then.
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=892542&lastnode_id=124
A lot more extreme, but it works. - TheKillDoctor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It does for m... Zzzzzz.....
- Brightside, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@ adcat
I concur, Kramer's attempt to copy Da Vinci's sleep pattern didn't work out very well. - kehvin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1do you mean 'siesta'?
- Biledog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Power naps? You want Polyphasic sleep is taking it to the ultimate level. Think of it as power naps only with no actual sleeping. Steve Pavlina did it for months, and only quit because of social not physiological issues.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/
He kept detailed logs of the whole process, fascinating stuff. - lookitsbeige, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm power napping right now! awesome! wait...
- NJMtwtd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've always had mixed feelings for the 'power nap.' For me, 20 minutes of transcendental meditation is inimitable.
- MarkReaves, on 07/12/2008, -0/+1Cars are nearly the most uncomfortable places to nap. However, good idea.
- TBagwell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1my thoughts exactly.
- futaris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1fiesta? siesta maybe, but a fiesta?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siesta - Gatesophile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Today I fell asleep during gym class (good gym class we have going lol)
It was beautiful. - allaboutdatiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Don't need a typo-ridden article to know that naps kick ass.
- burnnbuild, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1The best chest workout - http://burnfatnbuildmuscle.blogspot.com/2008/12/be ...
- dugR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it should say increase , not decrease, in the article
- yuutokun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Violent secular rapist! I will power nap on your mother's grave!
- Wolfboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Link Directly to the Source: Save people time by linking directly to the original news story."
http://www.mensjournal.com/healthFitness/0601/napping_power.html - mmortal03, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My opinion on power naps has always been that they "work" for people because they don't get enough (or quality) sleep at night time. If people would sleep more each night, or get more effective sleep, they wouldn't need their power nap during the day to function just as well.
- marksmayo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Boy am I glad I remembered to proof-read that sentence before I posted then ;)
- marksmayo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Amusing - and I'd even gotten this far by following the link from another link harvesting website. Sigh, well atleast it was one less step for y'all ;)
- Photographer7, on 10/30/2007, -0/+0Interesting that one reader says that "that's why they have all the powernap road signs all around Victoria (Australia)." Does that mean that you're allowed to pull over for a power nap if/when needed? I think that should be allowed everywhere because driving sleepy is about the same as driving under the influence of alcohol. Gives new meaning to "rest areas"...
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