The density of daily activities makes naps often missed. In fact, there are various benefits of napping for health, you know. Even so, you need to know the rules for the right nap hours so that the benefits can be optimal.
Table of Content
1. What are the benefits of napping?
2. Beware of the bad effects of sleeping during the day
3. Good and proper nap rules
Napping is often done for those of you who are sleep deprived and feel extraordinary sleepiness or fatigue during activities during the day. However, the density of activity often makes this habit often overlooked. Even though it’s only for a short time, there are various benefits of napping that can be obtained.
To get optimal benefits, you need to know the rules of the right nap time.
What are the benefits of napping?
Dense activities often make naps often missed. In fact, there are various benefits of napping that are good for health, namely:
1. Increase alertness
Being active since the morning is very likely to make you feel sleepy and need time to rest. Well, the benefits of napping for approximately 20 minutes can eliminate the drowsiness and fatigue experienced.
Napping can also relieve fatigue while replenishing the body’s lost energy so you can concentrate better and be energetic.
A study published in the journal Sleep Medicine revealed that napping can reduce adenosine levels in the brain. Adenosine is a neurotransmitter that encourages a person to sleep easily.
2. Improve mood ( mood )
The benefits of napping can actually improve mood. So, if you’re feeling stressed, anxious, restless, or angry, try to relax by taking a short nap.
Taking a nap or resting for a while closing your eyes can change your mood ( mood ) for the better and more vibrant.
3. Improve memory
Want the brain to function optimally in receiving and remembering the information learned? You can get it with a nap, you know.
A study reveals the benefits of napping is important for the brain in storing various memories. Thanks to napping, you can also remember things that were learned earlier in the day.
Naps are also good for preventing you from forgetting important things, including motor skills, sensory perception, to verbal memory.
4. Reduce stress
If you are under pressure from work that accumulates, the benefits of napping are able to reduce stress while increasing endurance. In fact, experts believe that a 30-minute nap can make this happen.
5. Lowers blood pressure
The benefits of napping for 45-60 minutes were able to lower blood pressure after experiencing psychological stress. With a nap, your body can recover from stressful situations both physically and psychologically.
According to the researchers, every hour you nap can also lower systolic blood pressure by an average of 3 mmHg. Systolic blood pressure is the pressure when the heart contracts to pump blood throughout the body.
In fact, research in the journal Personality and Individual Differences shows that napping appears to be just as effective at lowering blood pressure levels through other lifestyle changes, such as reducing salt and alcohol consumption.
The study found that an average nap can lower blood pressure by 5 mmHg. This value is also comparable to taking low-dose blood pressure medications, which can usually lower blood pressure by 5 to 7 mmHg.
Keep in mind that a decrease in blood pressure of 2 mmHg can reduce the risk of heart attack by as much as 10%.
6. Boost immunity
A tired body and the effects of lack of sleep can lower the immune system. As a result, you become susceptible to various kinds of diseases.
Well, it’s important for you to take the time to take a nap when your body isn’t fit . That way, the immune system can be boosted again.
The benefits of napping can help reduce levels of inflammatory cytokines in the body and norepinephrine, a chemical compound that helps control immunity.
7. Increase creativity
Some people might take a nap to get a good idea. Well, it turns out that this is also one of the benefits of napping, which is to increase creativity.
REM sleep, or rapid eye movement , is said to activate parts of the brain associated with imagery and dreams.
That means that REM naps can help you incorporate new ideas or answers to the questions you need. This phase usually begins 70-90 minutes after you fall asleep.
8. Improve the sleep quality of the elderly at night
Although it sounds illogical, the benefits of napping can help elderly people have better quality sleep at night.
One study showed that sleeping for 30 minutes between 1 and 3 p.m. coupled with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, such as walking or stretching at night, can improve sleep quality at night. Thus, physical and psychological health will also improve.
9. Good for children
As a child, you may often be asked to take a nap. This is not without reason because the benefits of napping for children are important for the learning process and growth and development at that age.
Children who nap regularly are easier to remember what they have learned. Given that short-term memory is limited at this age, children need more hours of sleep so that memory can stick to the brain.
Beware of the bad effects of sleeping during the day
There are many benefits of napping to be had. However, if you apply it incorrectly, this can actually have a negative impact.
For example, if you take a nap too long into the afternoon. Your body, which should be preparing to rest at night, is constantly awake. As a result, you find it difficult to sleep at night.
Therefore, people who experience insomnia are not advised to take a nap because it can interfere with sleep at night.
Not only that, people who experience sleep inertia ( sleep inertia ) are also not recommended to take a nap. This is because sleep inertia is a sleep disorder that makes a person feel dizzy and dazed after waking up from a nap.
Good and proper nap rules
If you feel tired during the day and want to take advantage of your afternoon break to sleep, you can do that.
However, so that the benefits of napping can be obtained optimally and wake up feeling refreshed, consider the following good and proper nap rules.
1. Pay attention to bedtime
You may be wondering, what time is a good nap time? Well, a good bedtime is between 1-3 pm.
This is the time when people feel tired from activities or feel sleepy after lunch . However, do not go to sleep immediately after eating. It would be nice to give a break of 2-3 hours first.
In addition, this time span is less likely to disturb your sleep at night.
However, it is important to know that you should not sleep later than 3 pm. Sleeping at this time can actually interfere with sleep at night.
2. Sleep duration is not too long
Sleeping during the day really shouldn’t be too long. Experts recommend that daytime naps are only 10-30 minutes long to wake up feeling refreshed and able to return to focus on activities.
Nap for 10-30 minutes is the most ideal duration. Sometimes, these are referred to as “ power naps ” because they provide recovery benefits without causing drowsiness afterward.
Sleeping for more than 30 minutes or longer makes the body enter a deep sleep phase. As a result, you may wake up feeling dizzy, dazed, and unrefreshed. This condition is also known as sleep inertia.
The longer the nap, the longer it can interfere with the quality of sleep at night. You can also be awake when it’s time to rest at night.
However, an exception for those of you who are sick. Because, people who are sick need more sleep, including during the day, to restore the body’s condition.
In children, the duration of the nap is not limited to only 20 minutes. This is because children have more sleep needs than adults.
3. Create a supportive atmosphere for midday sleep
The atmosphere of sleeping in the middle of the day is not much different from sleeping at night, which is a quiet and dark place with a cool room temperature and not too noisy.
4. Don’t forget to set an alarm
Napping too long can make you wake up feeling tired and dizzy. So, so you don’t go too far, you can ask someone else to wake you up or set an alarm to wake up on time.
For example, if you want to take a nap at 1 p.m., set an alarm at 1.20 p.m. or at least 1.30 p.m.
Instead of sleeping on a mattress, you can choose to sleep on a comfortable sofa or bench so that it is not difficult to get up and return to your activities.
If conditions allow, you can take advantage of sleeping time during the day. Especially when you have free time or there are no important activities.
In fact, a number of studies have shown that people who regularly take naps have better quality sleep at night. Therefore, there is nothing wrong for you to start applying it as a lifestyle.
For workers who want to take a nap, you can do it in between breaks. However, make sure there is adequate space for you to take a nap and don’t neglect work.
However, if you feel tired constantly and interfere with daily activities, even making you want to continue sleeping during the day, you should consult a doctor to get the right diagnosis and treatment.