Power nap - WikiHQ

thumb|A woman having a nap in a [[napping pod, in the café Nappuccino in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)]]

A power nap or cat nap is a short sleep that terminates before deep sleep (slow-wave sleep; SWS). A power nap is intended to quickly revitalize the sleeper.

A power nap combined with consuming caffeine is called a stimulant nap, coffee nap, caffeine nap, or nappuccino.

The 20-minute nap increases alertness and motor skills. Power naps are effective even when schedules allow a full night's sleep.

Research

Potential benefits

Power naps intend to restore alertness, performance, and learning ability. A nap may also reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep or reverse the damage of sleep deprivation. A University of Düsseldorf study found superior memory recall once a person had reached 6 minutes of sleep, suggesting that the onset of sleep may initiate active memory processes of consolidation which—once triggered—remains effective even if sleep is terminated.

A Flinders University study of individuals restricted to only five hours of sleep per night found a 10-minute nap was overall the most recuperative nap duration of various nap lengths they examined (lengths of 0 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min, and 30 minutes): the 5-minute nap produced few benefits in comparison with the no-nap control; the 10-minute nap produced immediate improvements in all outcome measures (including sleep onset latency, subjective sleepiness, fatigue, vigor, and cognitive performance), with some of these benefits maintained for as long as 155 minutes; the 20-minute nap was associated with improvements emerging 35 minutes after napping and lasting up to 125 minutes after napping; and the 30-minute nap produced a period of impaired alertness and performance immediately after napping, indicative of sleep inertia, followed by improvements lasting up to 155 minutes after the nap.

The NASA Ames Fatigue Countermeasures Group studied the effects of sleep loss and jet lag, and conducts training to counter these effects. A major fatigue countermeasures recommendation consists of a 40-minute nap ("NASA nap") which empirically showed to improve flight crew performance and alertness with a 22% statistical risk of entering SWS.

For several years, scientists have been investigating the benefits of napping, both the power nap and much longer sleep durations as long as 1–2 hours. Performance across a wide range of cognitive processes has been tested. In that NASA study, volunteers spent several days living on one of 18 different sleep schedules, all in a laboratory setting. To measure the effectiveness of the naps, tests probing memory, alertness, response time, and other cognitive skills were used.

Power Napping Enablers and sleep timers allow properly timed power napping.

One study showed that a midday snooze reverses information overload. Reporting in Nature Neuroscience, Sara Mednick, PhD, Stickgold and colleagues also demonstrated that "burnout" irritation, frustration and poorer performance on a mental task can set in as a day of training wears on. This study also proved that, in some cases, napping could even boost performance to an individual's top levels. The NIMH team wrote: "The bottom line is: we should stop feeling guilty about taking that 'power nap' at work."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied the effects of socioeconomic status on short sleep durations. In this 2007-2008 CDCP study, 4,850 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) produced self-reported sleep durations. It was suggested through this study that individuals with minority status and a lower ranking in socioeconomic position are more inclined to have shorter self-reported sleep durations.

Potential risks and detriments

Longer and more frequent daytime naps appeared to be associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's dementia in a study that tracked 1401 older people over 14 years. Links have also been proposed between these types of naps and cardiovascular disease, though the evidence is largely inconclusive. A series of studies by the medical journal Sleep demonstrated that people who nap for an hour or more a day had 1.82 times the rate of cardiovascular disease than people who didn't nap.

<span class="anchor" id="Coffee nap"></span> Stimulant nap

thumb|left|upright|A coffee nap is drinking a cup of coffee before a short 15-minute nap.

A stimulant nap is a brief period of sleep of around 15 minutes, preceded by consuming a caffeinated drink or another stimulant.

It may combat daytime drowsiness more effectively than napping or drinking coffee alone. One account suggested that it was like a "double shot of energy" from the stimulating boost from caffeine plus better alertness from napping.]]

Some companies have nap rooms to allow employees to take power naps. This may be in a form of a nap room with a recliner, or chairs specially designed for power napping installed in a designated area. Companies with nap rooms say that employees are happier and become more productive at work.

Similar nap rooms and stations also exist in higher education institutions. Many colleges and universities provide napping furnitures such as cots and beanbags in libraries for students to take naps after long periods of study. At least one university has a nap room set up in a gym. Some medical schools also set up nap rooms at teaching hospitals. The nap rooms may include sleeping pods or cots, white noise machines, and antimicrobial pillows.

In Barcelona, there is a café called Nappuccino that implements custom-built napping pods inside the café.

A more portable aid is a nap timer app. Apps have various features including aided sounds, nap history and pattern tracking and daily reminders that make it easier to take naps.

== See also ==<!--

References

External links

"How to Nap"—Boston Globe article on power naps
University of Miami: "Sleep, Napping and the Brain -The Power of Napping", YouTube

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