Are Naps Beneficial?

Oftentimes you will hear a person or a group of people say, that they need a trip or that they just need to relax. Well, my response to them is, when's the last time that you've had a nap during the day? I find it to be interesting that if you take a look at nature, many species of animals take naps and several of them during the day. If you can remember, as a child, you took naps and time was carved out during the day specifically, so naps could be taken. Yet, somewhere after kindergarten, it completely stopped. According to experts, by age four, most children no longer require naps. By age six, less than 30% of children are still taking them. Get this, nearly all children stop taking naps altogether by the age of seven, experts said.

`Life continues, and through our K-12 educational journey, we do so without naps. Then one day, graduation from high school happens and we begin at the college/university level. It's at this point and time that naps return to the educational experience.

So, what exactly are the benefits and why do college students take naps?

It's simple, contrary to popular belief that college students take naps because the are lazy, is a misnomer. Naps are quite the opposite, they can improve concentration, they help with information retention and help by boosting the immune system are just to name a few! Nonetheless, there are dos and don'ts for any situation.

Research shows that napping isn't for everybody. Some individuals have a hard time sleeping, let alone sleeping in a place other than their own home. While others experience sleep inertia. Now, if napping does come easy for you, you can experience relaxation, improved alertness, reduced fatigue, increased alertness and an improvement in performance, including better memory and a quicker reaction time.

You may ask yourself, "Are there best practices when it comes to napping or are there better ways to take a nap?". The answer is yes, keep them short, on average about 10-20 minutes. Take them in the early afternoon, this allows for a lesser chance of interference of the nap disrupting you nightly sleep. Lastly, it' all about environment, is the location that you are considering peaceful, inviting, has a limited number of distractions, room temp setting is just right and/or the lightening in the room is to your preferred liking. All of these items are on the checklist to help sort out what's best for you before you drift off into a nap.

By all means, I would suggest that you set an alarm so that you don't over sleep. When setting an alarm, allow yourself some time to get reacclimated to your surrounding and environment. That way, you are setting yourself up for success and not failure by becoming the afternoon/evening grouch.

You can do it, start adding naps back to your daily routine and you'll be glad that you made the change and added napping back into your adult schedule.