Many studies seem to indicate that taking a nap after eating has many benefits for your health and mind. Therefore, napping will have a beneficial effect on your well-being and can increase your alertness, your concentration, or your productivity.
1. IMPROVE MEMORY
Many studies seem to indicate that taking a nap after eating has many benefits for your health and mind. Therefore, napping will have a beneficial effect on your well-being and can increase your alertness, your concentration, or your productivity.
The University of Haifa (Israel) and the Sleep Laboratory of the Sheba Medical Center (Tel Aviv) have shown that napping brings benefits to memory. This study, in collaboration with researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal (Canada), concluded that napping plays a vital role in consolidating memory and learning.
2. INCREASE YOUR ABILITY TO LEARN
Complementing the positive effects on your memory, taking a nap also has positive effects on learning ability. The University of California provided evidence that by resting our mind during a nap, we help our brain learn more after waking up.
Along the same lines, research carried out by Harvard Universities, and New York University found that taking a short nap improves memory and learning and has a positive effect on mood.
3. NAP AND WORK BETTER
According to NASA studies, taking a nap improves alertness, performance, reduces errors and accidents at work. In this study, carried out on its pilots and astronauts, it was found that a 26-minute nap is capable of increasing performance by up to 35% and alertness level by 55%.
If the “nap” is 40 minutes, it improves alertness by up to 100%. Attention and reaction time also appear to benefit from napping, according to a study by Kimberly Cote, a professor and neuropsychologist. According to their research, people who do not make use of this “moment of relaxation” may feel more fatigued, have a higher probability of making poor decisions, and a greater risk of suffering accidents at work. Naps can increase alertness in the period immediately after a nap, and this state can extend into a few hours later in the day.
SOME TIPS FOR A GOOD NAP
- The ideal is a short nap, of about 20 or 30 minutes. This time is sufficient to benefit from better alertness and higher performance without feeling groggy.
- To prevent napping from affecting sleep patterns at night, avoid complications when it comes to falling asleep at night; it is preferable not to nap too late in the day.
- If you Take care of the environment when napping, it significantly affects the moment of rest and the ability to fall asleep. To make the most of this time, you have to find a comfortable place, with little light, without noise, and with a comfortable temperature.
Want to learn more about Sleep?
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