Take a nap! 5 secrets about naps thatll make you happier and smarter

Take a nap 5 secrets about naps thatll make you happier and smarterTake a nap 5 secrets about naps thatll make you happier and smarterFor many of us, more hours of shut-eye at night just doesnt seem to be in the cards.Is there anything we can do? Yes. Naps. Wonderful, glorious naps.Theyre elend a full-on substitute for lack of sleep but they can do much more than you think and in less time than youd guess.Without them, youre going to be a mess. Heres why.Wanna Be Dumb And Ugly?Lack of sleep notlage only makes you ugly and sick, it also makes you dumb missing shut-eyemakes6th graders as smart as4th graders.And if thats not enough, lack of sleep contributes to an early death.ViaNight SchoolStarting in the mid-1980s, researchers from University College London spent twenty years examining the relationship between sleep patterns and life expectancy in more than 10,000 British civil servants. The results, published in 2007, revealed that participants who obtained two hours less sleep a nig ht than they required nearly doubled their risk of death.Maybe you think youdont need all that much sleep. Youre wrong.Less than 3% of people are actually 100% on less than 8 hours a night. But you feel fine, you say?Thats the fascinating thing about chronic sleep debt. Research shows you dont notice it- even as you keep messing things up.In her TED talk, Sara Mednick, author of Take a Nap Change Your Life,gives the rundown.Now heres the part youve probably never heardEight hours might not even be enough. Give people 10 hours and they perform even better.ViaPower SleepTimothy Roehrs and Thomas Roth at the Sleep Disorders Research Center of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, have demonstrated that alertness significantly increases when eight-hour sleepers who claim to be well rested get an additional two hours of sleep. Energy, vigilance, and the ability to effectively process information are all enhanced, as are critical thinking skills and creativity.I know what youre th inking 10 hours a night? I dont have time for that. I barely have time to read this post.Is there a compromise?Naps.Can closing your eyes for a few minutes really make that much of a difference?Keep reading.NASA Says You Should Sleep On The JobResearch shows naps increase performance. NASA found pilots who take a 25 minute nap are 35% more alert and twice as focused.ViaNight SchoolResearch by NASA revealed that pilots who take a twenty-five-minute nap in the cockpit hopefully with a co-pilot taking over the controls are subsequently 35 per cent more alert, and twice as focused, than their non-napping colleagues.Little siestashelped peopleacross a whole host of measures. Improved reaction time, fewer errorsNASA found that naps made you smarter - even in the absence of a good nights sleep.Via Dreamland Adventures in the Strange Science of SleepIf you cant get in a full nights sleep, you can still improve the ability of your brain to synthesize new information by taking a nap. In a study funded by NASA, David Dinges, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and a team of researchers found that letting astronauts sleep for as little as fifteen minutes markedly improved their cognitive performance, even when the nap didnt lead to an increase in alertness or the ability to pay more attention to a boring task.Study after study has shown naps boost learning.Via The Little Book of Talent 52 Tips for Improving Your SkillsResearchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that napping for ninety minutes improved memory scores by 10 percent, while skipping a nap made them decline by 10 percent.And naps make you happier.Studiesshow we can process negative thoughts quite well when were exhausted - just not thehappyones.ViaNurtureShockNegative stimuli get processed by the amygdala positive or neutral memories get processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala.The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to r ecall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine.Whats not to love? I know. Youre busy. Youll just have another cup of coffee. Sorry, research shows naps beat caffeine.(To learn what astronauts can teach you about getting better sleep, click here.)So how do you napthe right way?How do you get the results you want with minimal effort? Heres what science says.The Perfect Nap For YouWhatever your limitations and desires, theres a nap for you. Looking at research from Richard Wiseman and the WSJ, heres a breakdown.Which one describes what you need?1) I Just Need To Be mora Alert And FocusedTake a 10-20 minute nap. Youll get a boost inalertness and focus for 2 hours or more, pay off a little sleep debt and even reduce blood pressure.2) Brain No Working. Need SmartzConsider a 60 minute nap. Youll get all the benefits of the 10-20 minute napwhilealsoimproving memory and learning.But be warned 60 minute naps cause grogginess.3) I Want It All, BabyTake a 90 minute nap. This allo ws your brain to experience a completesleep cycle.Youll get the full whack increasedalertness, memory, learning, creativity and performance - with no post-nap grogginess.4) I Dont Know What I Want But Youve Scared Me Into Napping And I Dont Have Much TimeGo with 10 minutes. It beat5, 20 or 30 minute naps in a comparative research study.5) I dont have enough time to tell you how little time I haveNo nap is too short A 2008 study showed that even a nap of a few minutes provided benefits. Justanticipatinga nap lowers blood pressure.Got more questions? I have answersWhen is the best time to nap? Salk Institute researcher Sara Mednick generally recommends you nap approximately6-7hrs after waking.Trouble falling asleep?Write down any worriesand think positive (but not exciting) thoughts. Trying too hard to sleep is counterproductive.Worried you wont wake up in time? Richard Wiseman recommends a cup of coffee immediately before napping. The caffeine will kick in 25 minutes after you lay d own.(For more on how to get better sleep, click here.)Okay, lets round this up so we can put it to use.Sum UpWed all be better off with 10 hours of sleep a night - but thats notgoing to happen for fruchtwein of us.Naps can boost performance and help make up for some of the problems sleep deprivationcan cause.Learn the sleep secrets of astronauts here and a neuroscientists recommendations for the best way to use caffeine here.In the meantime, see if you can sneak a nap this afternoon.As Groucho Marx once saidAnything that cant be done in bed isnt worth doing at all.Join over 285,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsHow To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done 5 Expert TipsHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulTake a nap 5 secrets about naps thatll make you happier and smarterFor many of us, more hours of shut-eye at night just doesnt seem to be in the cards.Is there anything we can do? Yes. Naps. Wonderful, glorious naps.Theyre not a full-on substitute for lack of sleep but they can do much more than you think and in less time than youd guess.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWithout them, youre going to be a mess. Heres why.Wanna Be Dumb And Ugly?Lack of sleep not only makes you ugly and sick, it also makes you dumb missing shut-eyemakes6th graders as smart as4th graders.And if thats not enough, lack of sleep contributes to an early death.ViaNight SchoolStarting in the mid-1980s, researchers from University College London spent twenty years examining the relationship between sleep patterns and life expectancy in more than 10,000 British civil servants. The results, published in 2007, revealed that participants who obtained two hours less sleep a night than they required nearly doubled their risk of death.Maybe you think youdont need all that much s leep. Youre wrong.Less than 3% of people are actually 100% on less than 8 hours a night. But you feel fine, you say?Thats the fascinating thing about chronic sleep debt. Research shows you dont notice it- even as you keep messing things up.In her TED talk, Sara Mednick, author of Take a Nap Change Your Life,gives the rundown.Now heres the part youve probably never heardEight hours might not even be enough. Give people 10 hours and they perform even better.ViaPower SleepTimothy Roehrs and Thomas Roth at the Sleep Disorders Research Center of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, have demonstrated that alertness significantly increases when eight-hour sleepers who claim to be well rested get an additional two hours of sleep. Energy, vigilance, and the ability to effectively process information are all enhanced, as are critical thinking skills and creativity.I know what youre thinking 10 hours a night? I dont have time for that. I barely have time to read this post.Is there a c ompromise?Naps.Can closing your eyes for a few minutes really make that much of a difference?Keep reading.NASA Says You Should Sleep On The JobResearch shows naps increase performance. NASA found pilots who take a 25 minute nap are 35% more alert and twice as focused.ViaNight SchoolResearch by NASA revealed that pilots who take a twenty-five-minute nap in the cockpit hopefully with a co-pilot taking over the controls are subsequently 35 per cent more alert, and twice as focused, than their non-napping colleagues.Little siestashelped peopleacross a whole host of measures. Improved reaction time, fewer errorsNASA found that naps made you smarter - even in the absence of a good nights sleep.Via Dreamland Adventures in the Strange Science of SleepIf you cant get in a full nights sleep, you can still improve the ability of your brain to synthesize new information by taking a nap. In a study funded by NASA, David Dinges, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and a team of rese archers found that letting astronauts sleep for as little as fifteen minutes markedly improved their cognitive performance, even when the nap didnt lead to an increase in alertness or the ability to pay more attention to a boring task.Study after study has shown naps boost learning.Via The Little Book of Talent 52 Tips for Improving Your SkillsResearchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that napping for ninety minutes improved memory scores by 10 percent, while skipping a nap made them decline by 10 percent.And naps make you happier.Studiesshow we can process negative thoughts quite well when were exhausted - just not thehappyones.ViaNurtureShockNegative stimuli get processed by the amygdala positive or neutral memories get processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala.The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine.Whats not to love? I know. Youre busy. Youll just have another cup of coffee. Sorry, research shows naps beat caffeine.(To learn what astronauts can teach you about getting better sleep, click here.)So how do you napthe right way?How do you get the results you want with minimal effort? Heres what science says.The Perfect Nap For YouWhatever your limitations and desires, theres a nap for you. Looking at research from Richard Wiseman and the WSJ, heres a breakdown.Which one describes what you need?1) I Just Need To Be More Alert And FocusedTake a 10-20 minute nap. Youll get a boost inalertness and focus for 2 hours or more, pay off a little sleep debt and even reduce blood pressure.2) Brain No Working. Need SmartzConsider a 60 minute nap. Youll get all the benefits of the 10-20 minute napwhilealsoimproving memory and learning.But be warned 60 minute naps cause grogginess.3) I Want It All, BabyTake a 90 minute nap. This allows your brain to experience a completesleep cycle.Youll get the full whack increasedalertness, memory , learning, creativity and performance - with no post-nap grogginess.4) I Dont Know What I Want But Youve Scared Me Into Napping And I Dont Have Much TimeGo with 10 minutes. It beat5, 20 or 30 minute naps in a comparative research study.5) I dont have enough time to tell you how little time I haveNo nap is too short A 2008 study showed that even a nap of a few minutes provided benefits. Justanticipatinga nap lowers blood pressure.Got more questions? I have answersWhen is the best time to nap? Salk Institute researcher Sara Mednick generally recommends you nap approximately6-7hrs after waking.Trouble falling asleep?Write down any worriesand think positive (but not exciting) thoughts. Trying too hard to sleep is counterproductive.Worried you wont wake up in time? Richard Wiseman recommends a cup of coffee immediately before napping. The caffeine will kick in 25 minutes after you lay down.(For more on how to get better sleep, click here.)Okay, lets round this up so we can put it to us e.Sum UpWed all be better off with 10 hours of sleep a night - but thats notgoing to happen for most of us.Naps can boost performance and help make up for some of the problems sleep deprivationcan cause.Learn the sleep secrets of astronauts here and a neuroscientists recommendations for the best way to use caffeine here.In the meantime, see if you can sneak a nap this afternoon.As Groucho Marx once saidAnything that cant be done in bed isnt worth doing at all.Join over 285,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong peopleTake a nap 5 secrets about naps thatll make you happier and smarterFor many of us, more hours of shut-eye at night just do esnt seem to be in the cards.Is there anything we can do? Yes. Naps. Wonderful, glorious naps.Theyre not a full-on substitute for lack of sleep but they can do much more than you think and in less time than youd guess.FollowLadders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard coveringHappiness,Productivity,Job Satisfaction,Neuroscience, andmoreWithout them, youre going to be a mess. Heres why.Wanna Be Dumb And Ugly?Lack of sleep not only makes you ugly and sick, it also makes you dumb missing shut-eyemakes6th graders as smart as4th graders.And if thats not enough, lack of sleep contributes to an early death.ViaNight SchoolStarting in the mid-1980s, researchers from University College London spent twenty years examining the relationship between sleep patterns and life expectancy in more than 10,000 British civil servants. The results, published in 2007, revealed that participants who obtained two hours less sleep a night than they required nearly doubled their risk of death.Mayb e you think youdont need all that much sleep. Youre wrong.Less than 3% of people are actually 100% on less than 8 hours a night. But you feel fine, you say?Thats the fascinating thing about chronic sleep debt. Research shows you dont notice it- even as you keep messing things up.In her TED talk, Sara Mednick, author of Take a Nap Change Your Life,gives the rundown.Now heres the part youve probably never heardEight hours might not even be enough. Give people 10 hours and they perform even better.ViaPower SleepTimothy Roehrs and Thomas Roth at the Sleep Disorders Research Center of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, have demonstrated that alertness significantly increases when eight-hour sleepers who claim to be well rested get an additional two hours of sleep. Energy, vigilance, and the ability to effectively process information are all enhanced, as are critical thinking skills and creativity.I know what youre thinking 10 hours a night? I dont have time for that. I barely have time to read this post.Is there a compromise?Naps.Can closing your eyes for a few minutes really make that much of a difference?Keep reading.NASA Says You Should Sleep On The JobResearch shows naps increase performance. NASA found pilots who take a 25 minute nap are 35% more alert and twice as focused.ViaNight SchoolResearch by NASA revealed that pilots who take a twenty-five-minute nap in the cockpit hopefully with a co-pilot taking over the controls are subsequently 35 per cent more alert, and twice as focused, than their non-napping colleagues.Little siestashelped peopleacross a whole host of measures. Improved reaction time, fewer errorsNASA found that naps made you smarter - even in the absence of a good nights sleep.Via Dreamland Adventures in the Strange Science of SleepIf you cant get in a full nights sleep, you can still improve the ability of your brain to synthesize new information by taking a nap. In a study funded by NASA, David Dinges, a professor at the Univer sity of Pennsylvania, and a team of researchers found that letting astronauts sleep for as little as fifteen minutes markedly improved their cognitive performance, even when the nap didnt lead to an increase in alertness or the ability to pay more attention to a boring task.Study after study has shown naps boost learning.Via The Little Book of Talent 52 Tips for Improving Your SkillsResearchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that napping for ninety minutes improved memory scores by 10 percent, while skipping a nap made them decline by 10 percent.And naps make you happier.Studiesshow we can process negative thoughts quite well when were exhausted - just not thehappyones.ViaNurtureShockNegative stimuli get processed by the amygdala positive or neutral memories get processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala.The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine .Whats not to love? I know. Youre busy. Youll just have another cup of coffee. Sorry, research shows naps beat caffeine.(To learn what astronauts can teach you about getting better sleep, click here.)So how do you napthe right way?How do you get the results you want with minimal effort? Heres what science says.The Perfect Nap For YouWhatever your limitations and desires, theres a nap for you. Looking at research from Richard Wiseman and the WSJ, heres a breakdown.Which one describes what you need?1) I Just Need To Be More Alert And FocusedTake a 10-20 minute nap. Youll get a boost inalertness and focus for 2 hours or more, pay off a little sleep debt and even reduce blood pressure.2) Brain No Working. Need SmartzConsider a 60 minute nap. Youll get all the benefits of the 10-20 minute napwhilealsoimproving memory and learning.But be warned 60 minute naps cause grogginess.3) I Want It All, BabyTake a 90 minute nap. This allows your brain to experience a completesleep cycle.Youll get t he full whack increasedalertness, memory, learning, creativity and performance - with no post-nap grogginess.4) I Dont Know What I Want But Youve Scared Me Into Napping And I Dont Have Much TimeGo with 10 minutes. It beat5, 20 or 30 minute naps in a comparative research study.5) I dont have enough time to tell you how little time I haveNo nap is too short A 2008 study showed that even a nap of a few minutes provided benefits. Justanticipatinga nap lowers blood pressure.Got more questions? I have answersWhen is the best time to nap? Salk Institute researcher Sara Mednick generally recommends you nap approximately6-7hrs after waking.Trouble falling asleep?Write down any worriesand think positive (but not exciting) thoughts. Trying too hard to sleep is counterproductive.Worried you wont wake up in time? Richard Wiseman recommends a cup of coffee immediately before napping. The caffeine will kick in 25 minutes after you lay down.(For more on how to get better sleep, click here.)Okay, l ets round this up so we can put it to use.Sum UpWed all be better off with 10 hours of sleep a night - but thats notgoing to happen for most of us.Naps can boost performance and help make up for some of the problems sleep deprivationcan cause.Learn the sleep secrets of astronauts here and a neuroscientists recommendations for the best way to use caffeine here.In the meantime, see if you can sneak a nap this afternoon.As Groucho Marx once saidAnything that cant be done in bed isnt worth doing at all.Join over 285,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsHow To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done 5 Expert TipsHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful