What is Napping?
It means to sleep briefly, especially during the day, napping is called going for a short duration of sleep, especially in the afternoon. It can be taken during any time of the day in modern days it is also called a small power nap. These naps are considered as a sign of drowsiness during waking hours. A short period of sleep for 20-30 minutes can initiate your energy. It also helps to overcome daytime fatigue, maintains alertness and improves your ability to work for the remaining day. You feel active, energetic, and focused for the remaining course. For a preferred nap, you must choose a comfortable, quiet spot and time so that you can avoid disturbances and grogginess after being involved.
From early morning to mid-noon you keep performing your daily chores, you get exhausted and tired for which your body demands rest from a health perspective, it’s healthy to go for a short nap in a dark, quiet and comfortable place of your house. You may also wonder why you feel like having a short nap everyday. Well that could be due to less sleep at night. As per the recommendations, you must sleep for 7 to 9 hours each night but you are not getting that deep sleep properly. It may be difficult for you to stay awake in the afternoon after being bright and alert in the morning. Moreover, you may feel fussy and cranky all day at home or at your workplace due to continuous work.
Afternoon sleep is not a sign of laziness. It is just a way of retreating your body and mind. Your daily activities make you feel exhausted and tired during the day at that particular time you feel sleepy or your body wants a short sleep. It’s an important sign from your health to consider it to keep it function smoothly.
Feeling sleepy in the mid-afternoon doesn’t mean that you are lazy and for a short nap you don’t need to feel lazy during the day. A short nap in the afternoon has its own health benefits, it can lift your mood, increase your attention, allow you to focus sharply, eases stress, improves job performance, and boosts your memory.
Let’s read below to find why afternoon naps are healthy and not sign of laziness
Improves Concentration And Increases Productivity
Sleep deprivation is the main cause of always being irritated and annoyed. Quality sleep helps in improving cognition, concentration, productivity and performance at the workplace , at school , at home , and at public places. Short naps during the day improves logical reasoning. Problem solving skills. Enhanced memory improves. Decision making skills improves learning balances more napping for short duration of 5 to 15 minutes is beneficial to brain functioning and instantly improves your mental health
A short nap during the day is not evidence of you being lazy, but it can reduce fatigue. There are several studies that suggest afternoon. Sleeps are way healthy and improves productivity alertness and concentration
It Maintains Or Lose Weight
There are several studies that suggest something interesting about weight and sleep isn’t it a weird combination? Study shows that sleeping fewer than 7 hours per night poses a risk of weight gain and high body marks index. Sleep deprivation can cause rapid weight gain and various health issues. It brings rise in the level of Ghrelin and decreases in level of Leptin. Leptin makes you feel full for a longer time, whereas Ghrelin hormone makes you feel hungry very quickly. Imbalance of hormones due to sleep deprivation can cause either to feel hungrier and overeating or reduces appetite and you don’t feel like eating anything, consuming a short nap in the afternoon may help you to get quality sleep and this can help improve levels of hormones that support weight. The increased weight of your family makes you feel tired and exhausted.
May Lift Your Mood
Day-To-Day activities and regular work schedules may lower your morale or you may feel down to brighten up yourself. You must fall asleep for a short duration of time. There are experts that suggest that relaxation comes from lying down and resting. It lifts your mood.
Help You Face Frustration
People who are involved in continuous working from morning to midnoon easily get stressed and feel irritated. A short nap in the afternoon will not cause any laziness but it will improve their ability to face frustration, enhance their mood and revitalize their body to deal with the day ahead. There are researchers that show that after a midday nap, people are less impulsive.
Enhanced Physical Performance
Having short naps in the mid-afternoon does not cause laziness but it improves energy, increases stamina and brings other benefits to your body physically and mentally. People who remain physically active throughout the day must take short naps in the afternoon for the improvement of their working abilities.
People who are more involved in physical activities like athletes must experience good sleep without any interruptions. Napping for short durations offers them a great way to rip out the sleep loss. There are researchers that prove that 90 minute daytime for a physical performance improves their focus and attention.
Relief for Shift Workers
For improved concentration and alertness, considering short naps in the afternoon is healthy. It does not cause you laziness shift workers who have to stay awake for long hours, especially at night hours must sleep for long and short hours. It allows them to work effectively in staying alert and active. Workers have to work hard at night. They have to stay awake for long and irregular hours that can reduce their ability to sleep properly. Having short naps during working hours helps night workers or shift workers to stay alert for their shift ahead as their body clock doesn’t allow them to stay awake for long hours which makes them feel tired and exhausted. Long and short naps can benefit workers both physically and mentally to stay awake, stay fit and active during their shifts, especially at night.
Improved Thinking and Mood
Having a good night’s sleep is a sign of good health, but if you are deprived of sleep, your brain may not function well. Causes impaired cognitive function and lethargicness lacking sleep causes negative effects on your mental health, considering short naps in the afternoon helps in improving brain health and keeps you calmer in processing emotions easily. You are more informed and presentable, afternoon naps reduce the effect of stress caused by complex and worse situations. Afternoon naps can help to lessen these effects. Proper sleeping or taking short naps during the day is the best way to put your mind and body to rest for some hours or few minutes so that it could revive itself for the day ahead.
Cardiovascular Effects
There are several studies that show that taking short naps of less than 30 minutes helps in reducing stress levels and reduces the risk of heart disease. Healthy people who take shortness everyday are less likely to die of heart-related diseases. Well, there is some other research also that shows that cardiovascular problems arise with both short and long napping hours, more research is required to understand how napping can improve or affect heart health.
Reduced Stress
Sleep restores your body system and helps in activating your energy levels. It regulates mood and improves concentration better for adults, teenagers or adolescents. They all feel stressed when they don’t get enough sleep and you are not ready for your next day hustle. When you do not sleep properly, your body releases stress hormones that can cause irritation and annoyance on a regular basis. Consider short naps during the day, this will help regulate stress hormones such as cortisol. It also helps the people to stay calmer in the negative situations, allows you to move away from stressful complex situations and reduces the pressure buildup in your body.
The small naps during the day will not make you lazy but it will energize you and make you feel active. You will feel more comfortable and ready for your combat at your workplace.
Strengthens Immune System
As food is required to fulfill your body ‘s nutrient requirement the same way having good quality sleep or a short nap in a mid-afternoon plays a vital role in improving your body’s immune system. A less active, less energetic and less effective body does no good to your health. Getting enough sleep makes the cells of the immune system active and reduces the risk of inflammation and infection. Short naps during the daytime does not prove that you are a lazy person but it helps in restoring your body, its natural defense system and also aids in recovering from a night sleep loss. For a healthy mind and body it is necessary that good quality sleep and short naps are your daily perk.
Lack of sleep all the time or severely suffering from excessive sleep deprivation makes you retarded and low all the time you may feel like sleeping during the day so don’t bother and go for a short nap in the mid afternoon and this will not make you lazy, if you still don’t feel alright then seek help from the doctor.
How can you take the best naps?
Well napping is an important part of your day to revitalize yourself let’s read below to find the tips about how to get the most out of a nap:
Short duration naps are best: you will alway try to get what’s best for your body so why not to get best naps of 10 to 20 minutes, the more you sleep the more you feel edgy so it’s best to keep it short. Babies take long naps which is important for their growth and brain development whereas the young adults must prefer only 10 to 20 minutes of sleep.
Early afternoon naps are best: do not try napping around 3 pm or later as this will interfere with your full night sleep. Midnoon naps are best to relax and enjoy but there are certain factors that also contribute to your naps such as your need for sleep, sleeping schedule, age and medications.
Create an environment: for a perfect midnoon nap find a quiet, dark place with a comfortable room temperature and few distractions in your place, allow yourself to wake peacefully and don’t begin hustling after a short nap.
Taking short naps in the afternoon is not a sign of laziness it’s a sign to good health napping refreshes your mind and body and you’re more alert for your day ahead, its beneficial for your physical, mental and emotional well being but a nap mean a short duration nap it doesnt means that you can sleep for long two to three hours.
Taking short naps in the mid afternoon boost Your mood There are several researches and scientific studies that prove that considering short naps makes you feel happy and better the University of Hertfordshire studied a group of thousand participants in which they realized 60% of those who took short duration naps for about 30 minutes during the day reported that they felt greater and happy then those who took longer naps more than 30 minutes so probably mid day nap boosts and enhance your mood.
There are always people who will let you down and prove that what you are doing is wrong, taking short naps in the afternoon whether you are in an emergency or in habit or it is planned to take a short nap. No laziness is seen in this it is considered healthy. Short naps allow you to deal with anxiety, stress and work related pressure.
Staying Sleep deprived for long makes you feel groggy and furious all the time which can cause full blown anxiety disorder there are studies that proves that When you are not able to get sleep properly the certain regions in your brain does not compact well with excessive stress and pressure taking short naps allows your brain to stay calm and deal situations in best way try to get full night sleep so that you can restore your brain health and maintain its sharpness and alertness.
