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Are micro naps actually effective?
Thanks for asking.
After lunch many of us get that familiar afternoon slump.
An overwhelming urge to just doze off for a little while.
And on weekends or during holidays it's easy enough to sneak in a short nap.
But at work it's another story.
Firstly, it simply wouldn't be practical in a lot of working environments.
And even if it was, would you really dare to go for a kip in the middle of your work day?
You might be afraid of incurring the wrath of your boss or giving your colleagues the impression that you're a slacker.
But maybe it's time that we rethink those attitudes.
In actual fact, even a very short nap can be far more effective than that extra cup of coffee we often tend to turn to for a boost in energy.
What's the ideal nap length then?
Over the years, research has consistently pointed to 20 minutes as being the sweet spot.
Any longer and you risk drifting into deep sleep, leaving you groggy for the rest of the afternoon and potentially making it harder to get to sleep at night.
For optimal results, you want to get your nap in before 4pm.
That said, in reality, a nap doesn't need to be anywhere near 20 minutes long in order to be effective.
Back in 2010, a study published in Progress in Brain Research found that naps of 5 to 15 minutes could also reduce sleepiness and improve cognitive performance.
The authors behind the study suggested that sleep onset followed by only 7 to 10 minutes of sleep can result in a substantial increase of alertness because it allows the rapid dissipation of inhibition in the wake active cells associated with the sleep switch mechanism.
Well, you could definitely make an argument for that.
It's something that NASA did as far back as in the 1990s, giving pilots a 40 minute interval in which to take a power nap in between flights.
The agency looked into the benefits and came to the conclusion that napping could lead to an alertness increase of up to 54 and a 34 performance improvement.
Micronaps of under 5 minutes won't wipe out fatigue the way a full 20-minute nap can.
But they do help sharpen focus, wake up your brain and banish that heavy lidded feeling.
They're far more effective than an energy drink and don't necessarily require finding a quiet room.
What about longer naps?
If you go beyond 30 minutes you may struggle to wake up and could find it harder to sleep later that night.
But with micro naps, there's no real downside.
It's not just at work either.
On a long drive.
For example, it's far better to close your eyes for five minutes at a service station than to down that fifth cup of coffee of the day.
In fact, some penguins survive on four second naps.
When they're guarding their eggs.
They can't risk sleeping through the night, so they grab rest in tiny bursts, accumulating more than 10000 micronaps over the course of a single day.
There you have it.
Now you know whether micronaps are actually effective.
In under three minutes, we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines.
Listen along and you will really know for sure.
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