#228 : How To Take The Perfect Nap
Friday, February 27, 2015 @ 9:57 AM
Ah, napping! That is the thing that I used to do before I had a baby. Naps are rare around my house these days, so when I do get the chance for a mid-day snooze, I want to make the most of it. The infographic below shows you how to time out your naps so that you wake up feeling refreshed!
Have you ever woken up from a nap feeling worse than when you settled in? I call this the nap hangover, and it’s such a disappointment. The whole idea behind napping is to wake up feeling bouncy and caught up on
sleep, so those nap hangovers are a serious let-down.
Napping: Tips and Benefits
For folks who don’t get enough
sleep at night – whether it’s due to insomnia or a plain old hectic schedule – tend to get the most benefit from napping. When you don’t sleep enough at night, you accrue
sleep debt, which the graphic below mentions. Napping can help you pay back that sleep debt and feel more alert and rested overall.
It turns out that there is quite a bit of science to napping, and timing out your naps properly can help you avoid the dreaded nap hangover! Of course, everyone’s
sleep rhythms are a little bit different, and the times listed in the graphic below are averages.
That means that while a 10-20 minute nap might leave most folks ready to face the world, you might need a little bit more or less time. Think of these numbers as jumping-off points to finding your ideal napping lengths. You can click the graphic to view a larger version.
Of course, the first key to napping is actually falling asleep, right? Here are some resources to help you sleep, whether it’s at night or during the day:
Labels: reads, sleep
