When feeling your energy draining or overwhelmed by stress is the perfect time to consider power napping. Unlike regular sleep, catching about 15 to 20 minutes over longer amounts of time can rejuvenate the body as well as the mind. Power napping can calm, help inspire the thought process, learn new things, improve reaction time and your sex drive to overall general health just by taking that short sleeping break during the day.
With all that this napping has to offer, it is safe to assume that you want to find more ways to fit it in without disrupting all that you still have to do. Being said, the best plan of action is to eliminate chances of any noise that could interfere with your rest. Therefore, turn off the potential noise makers such as the television, radio, CD player and phone as well as gadgets that can buzz, beep or ding to easily cause you to stir.
Since it is not always possible from your location to lie on a bed or couch, you need to find the most comfortable chair like a recliner or a spot on the floor to stretch out. If you’re at work, you might want to stash a small pillow in your office or just roll up a sweater or jacket to temporarily use to rest your head. The main thing is want to rest without waking up with pain from a stiff neck or sore muscles.
If your schedule allows it, extending the napping to an hour can revive you. It also can give you more creativity in how those few extra minutes can improve cognitive functioning during that deeper state of sleep. However, you need to be careful because sleeping beyond that sweet spot of 15 to 20 minutes during the day and extending it to 30 to 50 minutes can do the opposite. It can leave you feeling disoriented.
In order to get the most out of napping, you also need to do it in daytime. After all, as more hours of the day pass, the more tired that you’ll become to accidentally drift in a state of deeper sleep.
You may think that power napping is just for the elderly or the very young, but it can be a useful tool to better your life and get more from a stressed, average day in what it can do for you brain, mood and physical well-being.
