Mic.com: Could An Afternoon Nap Really Be Better Than Sleeping More at Night?

 


Could an afternoon nap really be better than sleeping more at night?

Daily naps are a non-negotiable part of my life. If I don’t nap by three in the afternoon, I basically can’t function and no amount of coffee can carry me. I have too much to do to live with brain fog, and napping makes me more productive. It turns out that my kindergarten-inspired habit might actually be an evidence-based strategy, though, because research has suggested that for some, implementing a nap during the day could be even more beneficial than increasing the hours you sleep at night.

A small but revealing study that dropped this past spring in the Quarterly Journal of Economics investigated the sleep habits of 452 individuals in Chennai, India who were having problems sleeping. According to the study, the participants woke up on average 31 times each night, and despite the fact that they stayed in bed for eight hours, they only averaged only five-and-a-half hours of sleep. So even though they went to bed with the intention of sleeping the whole night, they couldn’t.

Researchers call this kind of broken up sleep, “sleep fragmentation,” and the result of it is called “sleep inefficiency.” And yea, it’s not great: Chronic sleep inefficiency can lead to a host of health problems, but what the researchers were interested in was the participants' productivity. What they found was that when individuals took a short afternoon nap, their productivity went up, but when they slept a little extra at night — about 30 minutes extra, to be exact — their productivity went down.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Super Age: Microplastics—tiny plastic particles between 1 nanometer (nm) and 5 millimeters (mm) in size—have infiltrated our environment, including the food we consume daily.

Image
Microplastics—tiny plastic particles between 1 nanometer (nm) and 5 millimeters (mm) in size—have infiltrated our environment, including the food we consume daily. While research into their long-term health effects is ongoing, and there are no targets for “safe” amounts of microplastics in our bodies, a 2024 study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) linked the presence of microplastics in arterial plaque to a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular events. Researchers have also connected micro- and nanoplastic exposure to inflammation , immune dysregulation , and metabolic disruptions . Still, we’re early in understanding what these exposures mean for human health. There are no established safety thresholds for microplastics in the body. But the absence of a limit doesn’t mean the absence of risk. To help readers understand where exposure might be coming from, we’ve ranked common foods and beverages from the lowest to highest measured microplastic load per serving. But p...
Read more

Very Well Mind: Can Natural Antidepressants Help With Depression?

Image
Can Natural Antidepressants Help With Depression? When used in conjunction with medication, these can make a difference If you’re feeling seriously depressed, you’re not alone. The Anxiety & Depression Association of America states that major depressive disorder (MDD) affects more than 16.1 million American adults and is more prevalent in women than in men. 1 Given traditional antidepressants sometimes have unwanted side effects, people are seeking natural forms of antidepressants to help them cope with depression. Supplements, natural remedies, and lifestyle changes can improve your depressive symptoms to an extent. But first, ask a medical professional to assess your depression. Only they can determine what route is best for you. You can then work together to combat your particular level of depression using the various tools available. For an approach that doesn’t rely on pharmaceuticals or psychotherapies, you might consider these options. Note:  The above comes directl...
Read more

Very Well Mind: What Does a Messy Room Say About Your Personality?

Image
  What Does a Messy Room Say About Your Personality? Is your mental health or personality the reason for the mess? Organization is big business these days. From books to seminars to organizational systems, everyone seems to want to find some way to perfectly arrange every aspect of their lives. Have you ever walked into a messy house (or contemplated your cluttered abode) and thought, "Why?" There are many reasons a person might not clean their house, including mental health, personality, and stress. Do you ever dream of living in the perfectly clean and organized rooms of a home décor catalog? Or would you rather spend your time in a home cluttered with objects, souvenirs, books, art, and items that make up your daily life? Both of these questions are another way to ask: what causes someone to not clean their house? For some people, a tidy home can be soothing, an orderly retreat in an often disorderly world. For others, such environments can be sterile, bland, and uninspiri...
Read more