Parent to Parent: Benefits of a 26-Minute Power Nap
Last Sunday, I found myself knocked out on the couch at a friend’s house shortly before noon. It was a nice two-hour nap after a late night of backyard camping with friends and family coupled with an early 6:30 a.m. wake-up call.
When I woke from my nap, I didn’t feel as refreshed as I thought I would. In fact, I still felt pretty tired and sluggish, so I continued to lie on the couch. Thankfully, Kelly let me relax a bit more before having me jump into action and pack.
One of our friends commented, “You’re still tired, because you slept too long. You should have taken a 26-minute nap and you might have felt more rejuvenated.”
It was certainly an interesting suggestion, but one I quickly dismissed. She explained that she read a story where experts researched and proved 26 minutes was the optimal nap time. Still a bit skeptical, I thanked her and told her I would try it next time. Afterwards, I found myself doing more research on the topic.
Sure enough, she was right!
It was the good people at NASA who figured out this magic number. I found a story in The Guardian, which offered an experts guide to napping. Scientific reasoning explains the truth behind this information. I was surprise to read “Research on pilots shows that a 26-minute ‘NASA’ nap inflight enhanced performance by 34 percent and overall alertness by 54 percent.” Now that’s impressive!
The story went on to say that varying amounts of rest have different benefits, but perhaps most importantly napping reduces stress and lowers the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and excessive weight gain. Something many of us worry about, especially as we grow older.
After learning all of this, I decided that it was in my best interest to change my lifestyle and build in more daily naps. After all, these are legitimate health and performance reasons.
I could go on, but it appears it’s time for me to take a nap. See you again refreshed and rejuvenated in 26 minutes.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Nathan Kam is a Honolulu public relations executive, husband and a proud daddy of two incredible kids, Ensen (6) and Avery (3). He enjoys cooking, gardening, traveling, blogging and golfing. You can reach him via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or via his personal Kam Family Blog.
