Happy Monday! With the weekend behind us, maybe napping is the furthest thing from your mind as the energy gears up for the workweek ahead. It's funny, though. The one thing that's least on your radar, can actually be of the most benefit. With seven promising bits of knowledge under your belt and an easy choice from five simple categories, you can guarantee measurable results.
We all know, humanity knows, through personal experience and scientific study, that being in nature helps us feel better. Add to that the proven health benefits of napping, and you have a recipe for success and wellbeing.
Here are seven extraordinarily exquisite health benefits of napping:
Napping reduces stress, preventing burnout and alleviating the effects of information overload.
It increases alertness, as it reduces fatigue.
Your memory will be sharper, which improves your ability to learn and retain knowledge.
Napping helps improve physical and mental reaction time. Go you!
It improves energy, even a micro-nap can give you that extra boost.
A nap produces good feelings, which is a great way to improve your mood.
And the big one... napping improves job performance! Woot! Woot!
Did you know? There are different types of naps! You can have a nap style. You can gain increasing benefits based on the amount of time you spend in a nap. Let's take a look.
The Nano-Nap (10 - 15 seconds): Unknown or unproven benefit at this time.
The Micro-Nap (2 - 5 minutes): These nap snapshots are surprisingly good at reducing fatigue.
The Mini-Nap (5 - 20 minutes): Affects your physical wellbeing with increased alertness, physical learning ability and muscle performance.
The Original Power Nap (20 minutes): Includes the benefits of both the micro and mini naps with the added benefits of improving physical muscle memory and reversing the effects of information overload, which helps your long term memory.
The Macro-Nap (50 - 90 minutes): This is great for repairing muscle and bones after physical exertion, it improves how you are able to perceive the world around you, and induces slow wave and dream states (REM) of sleep. Very relaxing. Bye, stress.
So, how are you going to resolve that horrifyingly, unstoppable need to nod off on the boardroom table, release a jaw-cracking yawn in a meeting with your boss, nod and drool over the lunch table (and not in a good way)?
You can take one easy step. One easy step to heighten your senses, boost your creativity and drop the fatigue ... take a nap! How to make that even better? Step outside for a moment and reconnect with the natural world, lean against a tree, rest on a hill, take a micro-nap in a safe and welcoming nature area. You'll feel better. Guaranteed, and you won't fall asleep at your desk, in front of your boss, or while driving. Embarrassment, humiliation and injury prevented. Win! Win!
Choose your nap style, micro, mini, whatever, and have a great week. Welcome to the Extraordinarily Exquisite 7 Health Benefits of Napping...
Sources:
The National Sleep Foundation
The Mayo Clinic
UKEssays. (November 2018). The positive effects of napping: Physical and mental. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/psychology/benefits-of-napping.php?vref=1
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