Short 'Power Naps' Found Best Performance Booster

[Gauracandra 1]

Short 'Power Naps' Found Best Performance Booster<BR> <BR>July 8 <BR>By Nic Rowan<P>ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters Health) - A 10-minute nap is better than a half-hour snooze at improving work performance, according to new Australian sleep research.<P>Associate Professor Leon Lack and postgraduate student Amber Tietzel studied the effect of varying nap lengths in the School of Psychology Sleep Laboratory at Flinders University in Adelaide. They conclude that 10 minutes is the most effective nap length for improving performance for up to 3 hours afterward.<P>"We were testing the notion of whether power naps, as they're known in the United States, are really as effective as they are claimed to be," Lack told Reuters Health. He explained that participants in the study underwent a series of performance tests and were allowed to sleep for precisely 10 or 30 minutes. Their performance level was then retested over the next hour.<P>"Immediately after the 10-minute nap participants showed increased alertness, both subjectively and in the performance measures, but not with the 30-minute nap," Lack said. He noted that after a 30-minute nap, participants were actually groggy for up to half an hour as a result of "sleep inertia," which occurs after longer sleeping periods.<P>"That surprised us a little bit," said the doctor. He explained that the team then conducted a second study, this time of performance at 3 hours after a 5-, 10-, 20- and 30-minute nap. Again, the 10-minute nap proved most successful, with the 20- and 30-minute naps producing grogginess that resulted in suppression of performance for up to half an hour after the nap.<P>"They are not doing any better in the first half hour than if they had no nap at all," Lack noted. "After 2 to 3 hours, the 10-minute nap is still doing better than the longer naps." The 5-minute nap resulted in some improvement in the first hour, but that dropped back to no improvement at the 2- and 3-hour mark.<P>"We have a chronic sleep debt, which to some extent can be repaid by a very brief nap," Lack pointed out. "For people who are in a sedentary job and trying to fight off sleepiness, it really would be smart for the employer to allow them to have a 10-minute sleep and take away those cobwebs, increase their alertness and productivity, and decrease the chances of mistakes or accidents. From a cost-benefit analysis perspective that 10-minute investment in sleep would really pay off."<P>Lack emphasized, however, that "the ideal solution.

[theist 1]

That twilight state between wakefullness and sleep, the hynogogic state, is also supposed to be one of great potential inspiration.The trick seems to be to try and become as lucid as possible while in that state.By that I mean allow just enough of the conscious mind to stay awake to bridge the gap between it and the subconscious so the insights gained can be brought back when you're done with nap time.

 

 

[Tarun 6]

I like to nap before HarinAm. Feel much more energy during HarinAm.

Napping can often render more energy than eating.

[Tarun 6]

Something like the refresh icon click.

Everything old is new again.

[Gauracandra 1]

I have heard this was one of John F. Kennedy's secrets. He would take a mid-day afternoon nap and be re-energized. I've tried it before at work, and it does seem to work.

[Tarun 6]

Indians, Italians, Mexicans... r proud of the fact they've been able to maintain their daily afternoon scheduled siestas despite Demoniac Global Corporate Pressure.

[theist 1]

Originally posted by Gauracandra:

I have heard this was one of John F. Kennedy's secrets. He would take a mid-day afternoon nap and be re-energized. I've tried it before at work, and it does seem to work.

I heard the same thing about Winston Churchil.Makes me wonder what the sleep habits of other prominent people may have been.

 

 

[Shashi 0]

Originally posted by theist:

I heard the same thing about Winston Churchil.Makes me wonder what the sleep habits of other prominent people may have been.

 

 

Regarding your wondering about this, why not "sleep on it"?

 

 

[theist 1]

Originally posted by Shashi:

Regarding your wondering about this, why not "sleep on it"?

 

I'm not the lucid dreamer type.The most extraordinary thing that happens to me during sleep is when I wake myself up from my own snoring."Snort...Huh?What was that"?

 

 

[Tarun 6]

About 2 weeks ago I only had 5 minutes to rest before HarinAm. At first I thought: "Insufficient, wha's the use?"

Then I recalled: "Something is better than nothing." Bye Golly it worked. It was worth it.

Granted 10-15-20min would've yielded even more energy, no doubt.

Seeing those Pennsylvania miners stuck underground for so long. ugra-karma. They should demand siesta breaks too.