The Power of Napping

As a first time tourist to Spain, you will notice something odd about the opening hours of local businesses: for two hours in the afternoon, they are closed.

What’s going on here?

Apart from being rather inconvenient, the Spanish are simply taking what’s known locally as a siesta.

They are napping.

Whilst this might be written off as lazy behaviour in most countries, modern science has revealed many reasons why this is a very good thing.

In fact, a study of the health of 27,000 people in Greece had to be stopped after six years as the people in the ‘regular nappers’ category simply never died! They also had a 37% lower risk of a heart attack.

The are some general rules for napping to keep in mind. Ideally, you should keep them to an hour and leave any strenuous activity till at least an hour after you wake.

Also, avoid napping after 4pm as it’ll impact your main sleep later on.

Aside from the health benefits from taking a mid-afternoon break, there are some other key pluses of taking a nap at work.

We’ll leave it up to you to share them with your boss.

1) MEMORY CONSOLIDATION

Sleep is essential for memory formation and retrieval. That’s why if you are tired you become forgetful. Not forgetting things at work is probably a good thing. Napping will help with this.

2) PROBLEM SOLVING

Good quality sleep improves your ability to problem solve. You’ve probably heard someone say “just sleep on it” when you’ve been faced with a challenging situation. This is because much of our problem solving occurs whilst we’re asleep. A quick nap can help reveal the answer to a work conundrum.

3) DECISION MAKING

Lastly, it makes us better decision makers. Although we like to think of ourselves as purely rational when it comes to making choices, the truth is we are emotionally led. When we’re tired, we are more likely to make impulsive decisions and less likely to think through the potential outcomes. In life and work, making better decisions leads to better outcomes.