Have you often been told not to nap during the day? Do you know napping during the day actually benefits your body a lot more than what you think? Napping not only makes you feel less tired but it has several other benefits that will promote your overall wellness and let me introduce you to them.
What Are The Benefits Of Napping During The Day?
The first and foremost benefit of napping is that it reduces your sleep deprivation. If you are someone who is not satisfied with the amount of sleep you get during the night and often feel irritated, napping is for you as it helps you sleep adequately and eradicates irritation and mental cloudiness. Your body is designed to feel tired during mid-afternoon and napping helps you get aligned with your body’s natural rhythm and this in turn makes you more productive.
Napping during the day is the best way to boost your mood. When you nap, your neurotransmitter serotonin, also known as the happy hormone, will be secreted and this helps in boosting your mood to a greater extent. Napping stirs up your cognitive abilities and makes you more alert to your surroundings. Even a 15-20 minute nap can boost your alertness and motor skills.
For instance, the ‘NASA nap’ which requires napping for 26 minutes has shown proven results of enhanced alertness by almost 54%. In addition to being alert napping also boosts your energy levels significantly and gives you mental clarity.
Napping blocks the chemicals produced due to stress and lowers your risk of getting heart disease by reducing your tension levels. While you nap, the secretion of your norepinephrine, which is a stress hormone is significantly reduced and this in turn lowers your blood pressure, blood sugar and maintains your heart rate level. By reducing your blood pressure napping improves the health of your heart massively.
Your quality of work is enhanced greatly if you are a napper. Even companies like Google have ‘nap pods’ where employees are allowed to take a nap in between and this has not only boosted employee morale but also has a greater impact on their productivity. Every one of us deals with one or another stressful activity on a daily basis and when you nap your day-to-day stress levels get mitigated and you will feel less anxious. Napping creates a distance between you and your problems and gives you the mental courage and stability to face your problems.
Your brain needs adequate sleep to reinvigorate your neural circuits, and these circuits determine your ability to concentrate. Napping helps your brain to focus and multitask and eliminates all the distractions that detriment your focus. When you nap your ability to retain your memory gets enhanced by 10% and you will be able to retain information for a prolonged duration.
Napping has a positive impact on migraines and by reducing your tension levels, napping causes your headaches. If you are someone who suffers from migraines or frequent headaches, napping can be a coping mechanism as it will give you relief within a couple of minutes.
Napping strengthens your immune system by enhancing the production of interleukin-6, an immune-regulating module. By boosting your immunity, napping makes you less prone to infections and diseases. In addition to this, napping also enhances the quality of your skin. When you nap, your body will regenerate your skin cells and this helps in getting brighter, healthier, and younger-looking skin. Napping gives your skin the glow it missed before and this also helps in reducing your dark circles and eye bags.
Napping also helps you lose weight. Your cravings are high during the afternoon and when you take a nap during this time, your body’s need to munch junk foods will vanish and this in turn will help you lose weight. Napping enhances your digestion process and your body’s ability to digest sugar and carbs is high when you nap.
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A short afternoon nap is also better than an espresso as caffeine consumption will decrease the functioning of your brain. Next time you feel the urge to drink a cup of coffee, take a nap instead and you will wake up even more refreshed with your memory at its best stage.
