Power naps: Do they really work?

You've just caught yourself nodding off for the third time in this meeting. Hopefully nobody else noticed, but did your boss just give you a look? A power nap after lunch may have helped, but then again, maybe not.

With all the hours of work we put in during the day and the social life we maintain outside of work, the one thing that always seems to suffer as a result is the amount of sleep we get at night. When that 'afternoon slump' hits us, and our eyelids start to droop and our head starts to lower towards our desk, it can get us into a lot of trouble. One banker who accidentally nodded off on his keyboard while transferring a sum of $84 actually ended up transferring roughly $300 million instead. Imagine explaining that one to your boss.

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Taking power naps has long been touted as the best way to handle the 'afternoon slump'. Every bit of extra sleep we can get helps, but according to sleep specialists, it's not as simple as just putting your head down and waking up whenever. Unless a power nap is timed just right, it might actually end up making you feel worse.

Assuming you have somewhere to catch a few z's without attracting attention (or an understanding boss), the first thing to consider is when to take the nap for maximum effect. Taking it in the afternoon will carry you through until the end of the day, but exactly when seems to change with the seasons — later in the summer, when the day is longer, and earlier in the winter, when the day is shorter. The second is exactly how long the nap should be.

Nap for just a few minutes and your brain won't get into that 'restorative' sleep that you need. Take an extended nap of an hour or so and you may go into a deep sleep that leaves you even worse off than before you put your head down. Naps that last somewhere around half an hour are apparently the best, but even that might depend on the person.

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The biggest problem with taking power naps isn't getting caught or napping for the wrong amount of time, though. According to what Dr. Rahul Mukherjee told The Telegraph, the cost of making up for lost sleep with power naps is that it reduces the overall amount of REM sleep that we get. That's the time when we dream, which is important in solidifying and organizing the things we've learned while we're awake. Not only that, but the napper may be setting themselves up for a sleep disorder, as they're disrupting their overall sleep schedule.

The absolute best remedy for being tired at work in the afternoon? That's pretty simple. Make sure you get at least six hours of sleep at night. Between 7.5 and 8 hours is even better.

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