I’m a night owl, to begin with. And I know I’m not alone!
I notice that most of teenagers and adults nowadays are suffering with this common issue. SLEEP DISORDER it is! Whether it’s insomnia, sleep inertia, or sleep deprivation, which is simply speaking that they’re struggling with their distorted body-clock. Resulting in difficulty to hit the bed earlier in the evening and wake up at noon instead of in the early morning like a human being should. Yet however, this is one condition that hardly to overcome. Some people didn’t choose to be a night owl. The environment and psychological conditions are several of many factors that might made it happen.
If you’re one of those guys who have ever experienced sleep deprivation before, you would agree if I say that sleeping less than 4 or 5 hours practically makes you to to feeling grogginess upon waking up. This is can be a problem if you have to start your activity such as go to work, school, or classes in the early morning. In that case, there’s nothing you can do but immediately hitting the ground and make your way throughout the day with the energy that hasn’t even fully charged. Although some caffeine can actually support, but that’s not what you want to always do for lifetime, am I right?
I will share my experience about how power nap can effectively benefited me for these past two weeks. Yes, I’m a newbie in it! I knew about power nap since long ago but hadn’t got the willingness to give it a try until recently. So, I’m a night owl, just as I said before. I tend to sleep around 4 or 5 PM and have to wake up 3 hours after due to my activities which are mainly started in the morning. Meaning that I only have approximately 3 to 5 hours of sleep a day. Such condition made my stress hormone levels peaked up and not rarely caused me depression and anxiety during the day. Resulting in bad performance at school and workplace. Power nap did just wonder for me. I can already feel the benefit instantly ever since I put it in my daily ritual. During the break time, I always took a nap about 70-90 minutes despite the fact that I only had couple of hours of sleep last night and sometimes I just feel like crashed (just like an over-heated computer! — bad humor). And that 90 minutes snooze in fact, has successfully made me feel like I’m fully charged right when I hit the ground upon waking up! But there are some rule for an effective nap. It’s all about the duration you take during the nap !
Okay, so here are some scientific fact that I managed to find about the time setting of power naps:
10 to 20 Minutes Nap
This power nap is ideal for power boost in alertness and energy. This lengths usually limits you to the lighter stage of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Making you easier to hit the ground running after waking up.
30 Minutes Nap
Sleeping this long may cause sleep inertia. A hangover-like groggy feeling that lasts for up to 30 minutes after waking up before the nap’s restoratives benefits become apparent.
60 Minutes Nap
This nap is best for improvement in remembering facts, faces, and names. It included slow-waves sleep, the deepest type.
90 Minutes Nap
This is a full cycle of sleep. Meaning the lighter and deeper stages including rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Typically linked to the dreaming stages. This leads to improved emotional and procedural memory and creativity. Making it easier to wake up.
Those are some fun facts about nap. So, next time if you happened to having little sleep, why don’t try one of these nap techniques to gear yourself up back instead of grabbing another caffeine.
Mysidia IV 