Napping is an everyday phenomenon for most college students. Some might even take multiple naps in the day. I definitely am one of these people, sometimes I feel better after a nap and sometimes I feel worse. I’ve always wondered is my napping good for me or bad for me?
According to Markham Heid’s article in Time Magazine’s website, for certain people, naps are good, while for others naps are unnecessary because of genetics. For those people that need naps, they serve to be extremely beneficial to their work performance. I find this very true. In my own life, my dad never naps and is able to work all day and still have energy for the rest of the evening and into the night. However, my mom and I usually need a little nap after a long day to keep ourselves going, even though I may sleep a little more than my mom. That clearly shows that I must have my mom’s genetic inclination to need more sleep.
This begs the question that for those who need naps, how long should they be? The Mayo Clinic has a nice article on napping in general, but they do give an answer that is agreed upon across the board. Naps should be kept short, 10 minutes to 30 minutes tops. If you nap for too long, a thing called sleep inertia will affect you. Sleep inertia is the technical term for the phenomenon when you feel worse than you did before you took the nap.
There was an interesting study conducted by some British guys in 2008 that proves naps are good. It even concludes that naps are even more effective than getting more sleep at night. Also, it shows that if you try to do something to keep yourself awake when you feel sleepy during the day, like drink coffee, it is more beneficial to just take a quick nap instead.
In conclusion, it is still necessary to get a good night’s sleep, however if you feel a little sleepy in the afternoon, you should lie down for a short period of time to knock the edge off.
I take at least one nap per day. It has become a routine for me. I often only get six or so hours of sleep per night, but I compensate by taking a nap for an hour or so each day in between classes. Without naps, I am not sure I could function throughout an entire day. The Sleep Foundation says that naps improve alertness in the period of time right after taking a nap. For this reason, I try to take naps and then do my homework or studying that I need to do shortly after waking up. Naps are a necessity in my life.
I never was a big napper until I came to Penn State. Sometimes, I just feel it is so necessary. It’s like I can’t continue my day without a nap. The part of your blog which talked about keeping naps short was very interesting and helpful. It always bothers me that I don’t know if I’m gonna wake up feeling better or worse. I’m definitely going to start limiting my nap times. Check out this article! http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/napping/art-20048319 It talks about more postitives and negatives of napping.
Man do i love naps. An article explains that naps restore alertness, enhance performance, and reduce mistakes/accidents. The naps that are beneficial are usually (20-30 minutes). On the other hand naps that last more than 10-20 minutes can sometimes have negative consequences such as sleep inertia, which is when one feels groggy and disoriented. Napping can also mess up sleep patterns, by making it difficult to sleep at night.
I agree with this blog post. Sadly, I am one of those people who cannot ever seem to take naps. I agree that shorter naps are more beneficial than longer ones for the fact that we tend to feel more rested and aware according to article I found which I’ll add the url at the end of my comment. However, I feel that you did not really relate anything to science, rather I learned more about your family than I did about “Napping”. May want to take that under further consideration with your next post.
Here is that link I was talking about earlier:
http://www.mikestevens.com/gutenblog/2011/08/23/the-amazing-26-minute-nasa-power-nap/
I totally agree with your blog post, since I got to college I normally take at least one nap a day, but as you mentioned short naps are beneficial. So I guess my problem is that I nap for too long, but naps normally last me 2-4 hours just because my body is so tired because I didn’t get enough sleep from the night before. Maybe it is genetics because both my parents are always taking naps like my parents can take up to 3 naps a day. I wonder why the shorter your naps are make it more beneficial for your body, like if you take a 30 minute nap doesn’t your body feel even more tired. In high school I always assume naps were dangerous because once I slept I was never waking up again, but I feel like as you get older your body needs a rest. That’t why I believe that my parents take so many naps during the day, they need a little boost of energy to keep them going and they don’t drink coffee, so napping is the only other alternative.