If you’re used to napping, don’t change a thing! Indeed, according to a recent study conducted by the National University of Singapore, a nap, even a short one, might boost memory, mood, but also alertness. And this for at least 4 hours.
Just 10 minutes of nap can have beneficial effects
To reach these conclusions, the scientists studied the mood and memory of 32 young adults, divided into 4 groups, following having performed their usual night’s sleep.
- The first group is stayed awake All day long,
- The second did a 10 minute nap,
- The third made a 30 minute nap,
- The fourth took a nap, longer, 60 minutes.
Then, mood, sleepiness and cognitive performance were measured, at several intervals, following the candidates woke up. The goal is to compare the duration of these benefits following a more or less long nap. Result : naps of 10 to 60 minutes have more benefits.
“The length of these naps has obvious advantages”reveals Dr. Ruth Leong of the National University of Singapore, author of the study. “Mood, sleepiness and memory improved significantly, and this up to 4 hours following the nap. This suggests that just a 10-minute nap might have positive health effects.”
The importance of the nap during the day
“The quality of sleep concerns everyone”indicate doctors Jérôme Lefrançois and Véronique Deschamps in their book Mistakes that keep you up at night, published by Alpen editions. And for good reason, sleep allows you to initiate a global recovery of the body, physically, psychologically, and even intellectually.
But if the primordial usefulness of sleep on a daily basis is no longer to be proven, what is it really regarding the nap? Is it necessary, but above all, is it really effective? The authors of the book are clear: “During the day, there is a preponderant door to sleep: that of nap time, around 1-2 p.m. […], it is an important physiological need, and too often poorly considered in France.”
However, many prejudices surround the nap, and have always done so. Not always considered at its fair value, the siesta is debated. In their work, doctors Lefrançois and Deschamps wanted to deconstruct certain received ideas.
Siesta: 5 prejudices surrounding it
- Among the most well-known misconceptions, we often hear that taking a nap during the day might prevent you from sleeping at night. Nevertheless, a nap should ideally last between 15 and 20 minutes, there is no question of nibbling sleep time during the night. So no, the “real” nap does not prevent you from sleeping when it’s time to do so, because if it lasts more than 20 minutes, it is no longer a nap. It is in this case that the sleep cycle might actually be disrupted.
- “It’s easier to fall asleep at night when you struggle during the day to resist the ‘bars'”: the answer of the specialists is… no. “Struggling activates the body, and stimulates the nervous system, which is stressful, and makes it difficult to fall asleep at night”they say in their book.
- “The nap is not recommended, in case of insomnia”: this prejudice is false according to the authors of the book Mistakes that keep you up at night. The moment of nap goes, on the contrary, precisely, “give the opportunity to respect our biorhythms and rebalance mental recovery”.
- “The siesta can cause drowsiness during the followingnoon”: do not worry, this received idea is false. If you’re sleepy following a nap, it’s been way too long., or that your sleep debt persists and takes over. According to experts in the field,if the nap is short, waking up will be easy, and then vigilance will be better”.
- “When it is too long, the nap can be a source of insomnia”: yes, a nap of more than 20 minutes can impact your sleep. A nap that lasts is a cycle of deep sleep that begins and “it’s like a deposit of sleep to be deducted from the following night”. As a reminder, a nap should ideally not exceed 15 or 20 minutes.
In other words, for your nap to be effective and to have beneficial effects, it should not last more than 20 minutesit’s necessary take regular naps and especially listen to your body to recognize the signals and thus take a nap at the most favorable time possible.
