Adult Napping: Helpful or Harmful?

Napping is just for babies; Naping throughout the day causes me to be less productive and MORE tired

Yup, I hear you and I sued to think the same things. Actually, this is the Stigmas around adult napping that most people have. The reason being, I found for myself and probably the most of the world, is that we are just not educated enough about napping and the benefits. 

There are 3 types of napping:

Planned Napping: This is when you may nap before you get tired if you know you will be up longer than your usual.

Emergency Napping: Occurs when you find yourself so dang tired that you can't continue to function. Usually when driving or operating something. I don't think I am the only one who pulled over on a long road trip to cat nap. 

Habitual Napping: Is when a person taps a nap at the same time each day. Most young kids are like this as they have routine or even someone who takes a quick siesta after lunch each day.


Are you a napper? If so let me know in the comments which one you are. 

Benefits of Napping:

• Naps can enhance performance, restore alertness and reduce mistakes and accidents
• Ease stress and help with memory.
• Naps can restore alertness directly following the nap and even into a few hours after
• Napping can have some psychological benefits like feeling a sense of luxury, a mini-vacation, and can be an easy way to get rejuvenation. 
• Naps can help you be more consistent in your everyday tasks

Although there are great benefits there are some negatives as well:

• Sleep Inertia
• Nighttime sleeping problems

Tips on how to figure out if napping should be something for you to start:

If you are experiencing new fatigue or tiredness maybe from a switch in work hours , pregnancy, illness, #NewMama life you may want to figure out how to incorporate a nap time into your daily routine. 

If you know you are going to experience sleep loss that night then might be a good idea to get some shut eye or rest.

If you just feel it is something you want to try then by all means follow the tips below on how to nap in a way that will benefit you.

Tips for nappers:

You want to create a restful sleep environment - nap in a dark place comfortable room temp and very few distractions.

Keep your naps short - ideally you want to aim for 10-20mins anything longer can create a negative effect on your body and make you more groggy and less functional. The ideal time is 15min cat nap.

Nap in the early afternoon- I don't know about you but usually around 2-3pm I start to have "stupid" brain. Meaning I basically stop functioning. (My usual wake up time is 3:30am because I am the most functional early morning before the pitter patter of little feet followed "mama, mama, mama, mama," starts). So usually after lunch is a quiet time for everyone and it does help a lot.

Now that you have an idea about napping are you going to give it a try? Remember you don't need to actually fall asleep to rest and get the benefits. Mindful breathing, meditation in a similar environment as you would for napping will also be beneficial as well, unless you are dog gone tired and then please have a power nap for the sake of all those around you :)