We all get that feeling that we’re living 36 hours in 24 as summer winds down and we prep for cozy-season. But how can you maximize your rest during a busy schedule?
NAPPING
In the fight against lethargy and exhaustion, a solid power nap can be your secret weapon.
Business never sleeps, and with many people doing work all over the globe, sometimes it’s not always possible to get a full night’s sleep when you need it. So how can you keep your energy levels high when you can’t sleep for a full eight hours? It’s simple: the power nap.
The power nap can save your day in a number of ways – naps are proven to:
Increase energy and alertness,
Improve retention, and
Lengthen attention spans.
That means that your conscious hours will be of more value to you than if you chose not to nap at all. So what is a power nap and how can you implement it into your life? Grab a cozy blanket, set a quick timer, and get ready for the mini-sleep of your life!
STRETCH THE BENEFITS OF YOUR POWER NAP
While most naps during the day should last between 20 and 30 minutes, you can actually sleep longer in the evenings. A 90-minute power nap can give you a significant recharge. That’s the amount of time it takes for your body to go through a full REM sleep cycle. At its deepest state, the REM cycle gets you the most restful sleep, so timing your nap to just over an hour can give you a significant boost — more than your average power nap.
“The average person’s sleep cycle is about 90 minutes, so you either want to take a 25-30 minute nap, or you want to take a 90-minute nap, depending upon how much time you have and how you want to feel when you wake up,” says Dr. Michael Breus, a sleep scientist.
NAPS ARE FOR GENIUSES
There’s also a famous sleep technique called the polyphasic sleep technique which was supposedly used by Tesla, Davinci, and other famous thinkers. Polyphasic sleep basically means breaking up sleep from a solid eight hours into a bunch of mini power naps. Polyphasic sleepers take a power nap for thirty minutes every six hours or so, which leaves the practitioner only sleeping about two hours during a full 24 hour period. Sounds wild!
This technique is totally based around planning out your day so that those power naps can fall exactly every six hours. If not, the whole system falls apart. While this might seem a little intense for the average power napper, it could be a way to get the most out of your day for a short amount of time if you need peak efficiency.
NAPS ON A DLX
No matter how much you sleep, it’s important to make sure that it’s on a great mattress. DLX Mattresses are the best you’ll find. It’s time to start making the most out of your all-American mattress time!
