America is a
sleep-deprived nation. A brief snooze during the day doesn’t come close to
making up for the nightly sleep we lose on a regular basis. Though naps may
improve our overall daily functioning, they are often stigmatized as a sign of
laziness. They can be beneficial for performance in life in reducing mistakes
while improving attention and concentration. Naps improve moods, provide
energy, and the ability to manage stress.
Shift workers benefit
greatly from brief naps just before night work or during a break. A short snooze can combat drowsiness while
using heavy machinery. Planned naps may be necessary for some people with
narcolepsy, who find them crucial for managing daily sleepiness. Here are both
the advantages and disadvantages of that naptime snooze.
1.
Daytime
dozing linked to diabetes: There may be a link
between diabetes and long naps in adults. It’s unclear if diabetes causes the
naps, or if naps cause higher risk of diabetes. Those who often felt the urge
to sleep during the day had a fifty-six percent higher risk of diabetes than
those who stayed awake.
Those who regularly took
naps for an hour or more had a forty-six percent chance of developing diabetes.
Your level of drowsiness should be assessed by a sleep doctor.
2.
Naps
can improve memory: Taking an afternoon nap can be
beneficial to the memory of younger adults. Young adults
(aged eighteen to thirty) were able to remember more words they learned during a
pre-nap memory test than older adults. Adults aged sixty to eighty. The older
group (aged sixty to eighty) remembered just as much from the test whether they
napped or not.[i]
3.
Naps
can mess with nighttime sleep: Napping
isn’t for everyone, and
that for some people
it can do more harm than good. If you engage in a nap at your
desk or in your own bed during the day, it can cause insomnia
(sleeplessness) or lower the quality of sleep overnight. This can make you
feel groggier in the morning.
Controlling the frequency
and length of your naps can help combat these negative side effects. That means
naps that are ten to thirty minutes in length during 2 and 3 p.m. will help
with the post-lunch slowdown.
4.
Naps
reduce mistakes: When we get very tired, we tend to make careless mistakes,
whether we’re driving, putting together a car, or writing. Sleepy military
pilots and astronauts determined that a forty minute nap increased job
performance by thirty-four
percent and alertness by a whopping one hundred percent.
Getting in a bit of shuteye
prior to a longer drive can help prevent accidents. The same source recommends
that if you’re already on the road and feeling drowsy, you should pull over to
a rest area as soon as possible. Drinking caffeine and getting twenty minutes
of rest while pulled over can also help.
5.
Resting
lowers blood pressure: While napping may not improve the
memory of seniors, it markedly reduces high blood pressure that has been linked
to increased dementia risk. So while there are no apparent immediate benefits
of napping for older adults, they could be helping their future brains.
A nap a day could literally save your life.
Middle-aged men and women who took a regular nap around noon had measurably
lower blood pressure than those who are awake all day. This lowered blood
pressure means less chance of heart attacks.
6.
Resting
may jeopardize respiratory functions: An afternoon nap for
adults can raise risk of dying earlier by a third. The same findings showed
that the chances of dying from breathing problems such as bronchitis, emphysema
and pneumonia are increased by two and half times.
Napping can increase inflammation
in the body. It may be an early marker that health problems already exist.
Other research that says naps cut risk of heart failure.
“Taking naps sounds so childish. I prefer to call them horizontal life
pauses.” (Someecards)[ii]
“When I was a child I thought nap time was a punishment, these days nap
time feels like a vacation.” (Aunty Acid)
[i] Foods that promote sleep include walnuts, almonds,
cheese, lettuce, pretzels, tuna, white rice, cherry juice, cereal, chamomile tea,
honey, and elk meat.
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