If you can’t sleep well, you probably have a hard time going through your day easily. It is a well-known fact that a good night of sleep has some big impacts on many aspects of our daily life, such as our level of energy, our abilities to learn and memorize, etc.
However sometimes we just can’t sleep enough for a multitude of reasons and in that case, we must balance with another type of rest: the nap. But what are the real benefits of taking a nap from time to time or on a daily basis?
Learn all you need to know about naps and how they can help you when you can’t sleep right.
Why A Nap Can Be Beneficial When You Can’t Sleep Enough
Studies, researches, and tests all lead towards the same conclusion; a nap is beneficial for any adult regardless of how many hours he/she had slept before. In fact, taking a nap has positive effects on both the stress level and the immune system. This short moment of rest allows us to restore hormones and protein quantities inside our body to fight against stress.
If you know a bit about the circadian rhythm, the inner clock of the body, it is absolutely normal to experience a down of energy between noon and 3 pm. Taking a nap can be a good way to fight against this sleepy moment of the day. In fact, in many cultures having a small nap to rest is part of daily life and all schedules are adapted according to this very moment. If you can’t sleep well during the night, the midday nap might just be your solution to balance your system.
The Other Advantages of A Nap if You Can’t Sleep Well During the Night
There are many other positive effects of taking a nap that lasts between 10 to 30 minutes:
- An increase of cognitive capacities
- Giving more strength to the body
- Avoiding tiredness
- Increasing alertness level
- Ease memorization and concentration level
- Improve creativeness and effectiveness
Furthermore, if you take a nap on a regular basis, it is scientifically proven to help reduce up to 30% of risks related to cardiovascular diseases. If you can’t sleep enough during the night, your body can’t recuperate and give you the energy level you need to go through your day. A nap will help compensate for this lack of sleep and provide you with a good rest, even if it’s a short one.
Be Careful of the Length of Your Naps!
However, you have to be careful not to exceed a certain length when taking a nap, otherwise, it will create negative impacts. If the nap lasts more than 30 minutes, there is a risk to disturb the circadian rhythm previously mentioned, which won’t be particularly helpful if you can’t sleep at night. If you sleep too much during the day, then it’s logical that it would be more difficult to sleep at night.
A long nap can create drowsiness effects when waking up, which cancels out many benefits of napping time in the middle of the day. Long story short, always keep your naps short and you won’t impact your sleep schedule negatively, plus, you’ll get to feel refreshed!
If you can’t sleep enough during the night for whatever reasons, it is always possible to recover the lack of sleep you had by taking a short nap. It is always better to consider taking a nap as a complement to a good night of sleep rather than an easy way to recuperate some rest, but it’s still feasible.
