While going to sleep on a Saturday afternoon seems simple enough, the length of the nap dictates your level of alertness, memory, and even emotional state. Thirty-four percent of adults take naps on a typical day. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. are the common hours for napping while naps occurring later can interfere with falling asleep at night. The urge to nap is higher in teenagers through young adults. Aging has a tendency for us to be satisfied with shorter naps. (For me, Sunday afternoon golf is a sleeping pill.)Â
Sleep is in stages which the brain cycles through roughly every 90 to 120 minutes. These stages are broadly categorized as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreaming is usually associated with REM sleep.Â
(Did You Know? I did sleep research in college. Some of the work was on narcolepsy or a spontaneous falling asleep. There was a pony that had narcolepsy and would fall down asleep. There are videos of narcoleptic dogs on YouTube.)Â
A power nap of 10 to 20 minutes is ideal for a boost in alertness and energy, experts say. This limits you to lighter, NREM sleep. Thirty minutes may leave a groggy feeling. Sixty minutes includes some of the deeper sleep which is best for remembering facts. There may be some grogginess too. Ninety minutes is a full sleep cycle including REM. It not only is easier to wake up but leads to improved emotional and procedural memory and creativity.Â
From WSJ
