Napping makes you more alert
Napping sometimes gets a bad rap, as if shut-eye during the day indicates laziness. But some of the brightest minds in history, including Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, were famously nappers. And now, a new body of scientific research is showing the benefits of napping, and how a quick bout of sleep can regenerate body and mind. When you start falling into that mid-day slump, “a short nap interferes with ‘sleep drive,’ that sometimes irresistible feeling that you need to go to sleep, which will wreck concentration and alertness,” says Carl Bazil, MD, director of the Division of Sleep and Epilepsy at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. By taking the edge off with a nap, you feel restored, and more alert and attentive. According to the National Sleep Foundation, a NASA study on military pilots and astronauts found that a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34 percent and alertness by a whopping 100 percent. Use these tips for taking a nap that truly energizes you.
Napping helps you remember stuff
Along with this boost in mental function from napping comes an increased ability to retain learned information. “Napping strengthens the neural connections that form our memories,” says Elizabeth McDevitt, a researcher at the Sleep and Cognition Lab at University of California, Riverside, where she works with famed napping expert Sara Mednick, MD, author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life. “During sleep, brain areas that were involved in initially acquiring a memory might be reactivated, essentially ‘replaying’ neural activity during sleep.” By doing this, memories are reinforced and moved into long-term storage areas of the brain. One German study found that subjects were five times better able to recall random word pairs they had learned if they took a nap.
Napping improves heart health
Sleep is not only good for your brain—it helps your heart too. “Sleep has been referred to as a ‘cardiovascular holiday’ because during restorative deep sleep, including naps, there is an overall reduction in cardiovascular output,'” McDevitt says. Instead, the parasympathetic system, known as the “rest and digest” response, takes over. One study in Greek men found that those who regularly took a siesta were 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease. It’s also known that sleep deprivation can lead to heart risks, so it stands to reason that heading off sleepiness with a daytime nap can only be beneficial.
Naps reduce stress
Sleepiness is also linked with increased blood pressure and greater levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol, so reducing the tension caused by stress through napping is good for your body. “Cortisol levels drop during a nap, suggesting that a nap can help reverse the effects of nighttime sleep loss on cortisol,” McDevitt says. Another study from Greece shows that those who took naps had lower blood pressure than those who didn’t. “Daily naps reduce the amount of stress hormones in the body, decreasing stress and lowering risk of heart disease,” says Richard Shane, PhD, a behavioral sleep specialist and founder of the Sleep Easily method.
Napping helps keep the pounds off
You know when you just can’t resist that sugary mid-afternoon snack? It comes from a natural dip in circadian rhythm at that time that makes you feel tired and look for a pick-me-up. But if you take a nap, you can help stave off cravings that lead to unhealthy food consumption, and, therefore, weight gain. According to McDevitt, there is some evidence that sleeping curtails ghrelin and increases leptin, two metabolic hormones that regulate hunger and appetite. But there’s another likely explanation too. “Individuals who are feeling sluggish during the day due to poor nighttime sleep may be more likely to make poor food decisions, especially if they are looking for an energy boost—they may be more likely to choose sugary food and drinks,” McDevitt says. “From this point of view, napping is a healthier alternative to combat sleepiness.”
Napping improves your mood
Anyone who’s seen the effects of skipping a nap on a toddler knows that sleepiness increases crankiness—and this goes for adults too. “When we have a poor night’s sleep, it creates a hormonal neuroendocrine imbalance that contributes to our feeling of tiredness and irritability,” Shane says. “Napping has been shown to help restore the neuroendocrine system back to levels we have after a good night’s sleep.” But to make sure you don’t wake up groggy and feeling worse, try a power nap of only 20 to 30 minutes, according to Harvard Medical School. These sleep routine tweaks can also improve your mood.
Naps boost your immune system
Another of the regenerative benefits of napping may be helping our body ward off invading germs. “Sleep loss impairs immune function, and napping might help restore immune function after sleep deprivation,” McDevitt says. “One study found that leukocyte counts [white blood cells, which fight infection] were increased following a night of sleep restriction, but a nap followed by a night of eight-hour recovery sleep restored leukocyte levels to baseline.” The group that was allowed only the nighttime sleep—but not the nap—didn’t show this effect. Along with helping our body fight disease, the health benefits of napping extend to skin and tissue regeneration, helping us look younger.
Napping refines physical performance
Napping can help enhance your workout—or even fine-motor skills like piano playing. “The motor system can become fatigued from overuse, leading to slower or less accurate motor performance,” McDevitt says. “Napping can help alleviate this motor fatigue, restoring speed and accuracy.” Should you snooze before or after physical activity? Turns out, both have benefits. “Growth hormone levels spike during sleep, suggesting it is an opportune time for muscles and connective tissue to repair itself, so a nap following physical training might help jump-start the process of muscle repair,” she says. Napping has also been show to improve sprint times in athletes who were sleep deprived, suggesting it might help prepare the body for physical exertion as well.
Napping sharpens sensory perception
You’ve probably had the feeling of your eyes being tired when you need sleep, and you might have even felt like your ears are more sensitive to noise. “The development of many sensory skills depends on the brain being able to form new neural connections, which might be strengthened and stabilized during sleep,” McDevitt says. “Sleep might also help our systems filter out distracting sensory information that bombards us.” Your senses can feel fatigue, but a mid-day slumber can give them a restorative rest. This might be especially useful for perceptual skills, like a radiologist spotting tumors in medical images, or differentiating between similar auditory tones, like a musician might do.
Naps enhance creativity
Napping can boost your performance in general—but it can specifically bolster your creativity. “When a computer stops working well because it is overloaded with too many open files, rebooting it clears away the clutter and the computer functions better,” Dr. Shane says. “When you nap or sleep, that ‘reboots’ your brain, clearing away the clutter.” This may help explain why when you “sleep on it,” even for a short nap, you suddenly have solutions and new ideas. A recent study found that the brain’s right hemisphere, which is associated with creativity, was active during naps, while the left remained quiet. Dr. Shane says that longer naps, which allow people to enter to the dream REM state, have helped performance on creative problem-solving tests. This boost might be why Google has installed “nap pods” for their workers. To get the most out of your nap, wear an eye mask and ear plugs, and set your cell phone alarm.
