If you’re like the majority of the population, you’ve grown accustomed to keeping up with our fast-paced society by using your calendar as your guide — with activities scheduled from the moment you wake, till you finally retire to bed at night.
You wake up at 6:30 a.m., hit the gym at 7:00 a.m., shower and get ready for work at the gym by around 8:15 a.m, grab coffee around 8:30 a.m., begin the commute to work arriving around 9:15 a.m., get settled at your desk just in time for your first meeting at 9:30 a.m., and — the day has just begun.
Your day is made up of long meetings and a half-hour lunch break. By the time you get home, all you want to do is shower and go to bed because you know you have to do it all again tomorrow.
After a few days, this schedule will catch up to you, resulting in a weakened attention span at work because you can only think of all the sleep you’re not getting. And, this is without factoring external variables such as a partner, children, and social activities.
Complaining about being sleepy during the day isn’t just group chat text convo, though — it’s a real thing, and it turns out women require more sleep than men do.
If you’re internally screaming, “I KNEW IT!”, then here’s some evidence to support your napping needs.
A recent piece by the New York Times talked about the benefits of catching some much-needed shut-eye during your tedious work day.
Research has confirmed that employees and companies alike can benefit from a 20-minute nap during work — with employees waking up more alert and ready to tackle any tasks they have to accomplish in the afternoon hours.
The trick is not to surpass 20-minutes because any more than that can result in sleep inertia — a period of grogginess you may experience after a prolonged nap.
Director of the UCLA Center for Sleep Research, Jerome Siegel, tells the New York Times that it’s also important to steer clear of caffeine during the hours after lunch and to make a habit of waking up at the same time every day.
This way, no matter if you get five or eight hours of sleep, you’ll always wake up at the same time.
So how do carry out scheduling this nap during the day? Check out some suggestions below:
- Head over to your car or an unoccupied room in your office.
- Set your alarm for 20-minutes.
- Get yourself relaxed by blocking out light, listening to an audiobook, or blocking out all noise using earplugs.
After this invigorating nap, you’ll find that you’re more readily capable of tackling the challenges that come your way with far more proficiency and ease.
So, ladies, get your nap on!
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Don Patrick is an amateur writer and sports enthusiast. He loves reading books, listening to the Huberman Lab Podcast, and spending time with his family and friends. Don is also a personal trainer and youth hockey coach.
