Nap Update: Yep, They Still Rock.

Dude Hearts NapsAs the self-professed King of Naps, I feel it’s my duty to share a regular dose of nap awesomeness.

  1.  How Naps Affect Your Brain & Why You Should Have One Every Day: Improve memory & learning; avoid burnout. And my favorite tip from the article, “Practice.”  
  2. Five Reasons You Should Take a Nap Every Day: Energy, Memory Boost, Taking a Break, Refocusing, Less Stress
  3. Nap On the Go: I recently shared an upgrade to the classic beer koozy: Freaker. And now, an upgrade to the travel pillow?! Nap Anywhereis a sweet, sweet way to score a nap with no traveler’s neck pain. Not a pillow, just pure nap awesomeness…[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/58940816[/vimeo]

Bonus:

On the flip side of enjoying a regular afternoon nap session, the joys and benefits of getting up insanely early. To balance out my afternoon nap, I’ve been rocking a 5:30 AM eyes open time for the past year. I’m digging it. 

Napping is the Bees Knees

King of Naps

King of Naps

As the self-proclaimed King of Naps, I feel that it’s my duty to pass on this great napping info to my napping subjects.

Thanks to EdGalaxy.com for sharing the siesta stats.

Nap on.

Napping may save your life
A multi-year Greek study found napping at least three times per week for at least 30 minutes resulted in a 37% lower death rate due to heart problems.

Can’t sleep? Don’t stress
Even if you can’t fall asleep for a nap, just laying down and resting has benefits. Studies have found resting results in lowered blood pressure, which even some college kids have to worry about if they are genetically predisposed to high blood pressure.

Pick the right time
After lunch in the early afternoon
your body naturally gets tired. This is the best time to take a brief nap, as it’s early enough to not mess with your nighttime sleep.

It makes you smarter
According to Dr. Matthew Walker of the University of California, napping for as little as one hour resets your short-term memory and helps you learn facts more easily after you wake up.

Abandon all-nighters
Foregoing sleep by cramming all night reduces your ability to retain information by up to 40%. If you can, mix in a nap somewhere to refresh your hippocampus.

Drink coffee first
The way this works is you drink a cup of coffee right before taking your 20-minute or half-hour nap, which is precisely how long caffeine takes to kick in. That way when you wake up, you’re not only refreshed, but ready to go.

The ultimate nap
According to Dr. Sara Mednick, the best nap occurs when REM sleep is in proportion to slow-wave sleep. Use her patented Take A Nap Nap Wheel to calculate what time of day you can nap to the max.