Nap Maxxing - Grasping the key to effective midday naps
Have you ever woken up from a midday nap feeling more tired than you were before you fell asleep? Or are you always rushing to finish lunch to squeeze in as long of a nap as possible? Let me introduce you to the concept of power naps. Understanding the concept of power naps will allow you to thoroughly enjoy your lunch and nap to wake up feeling rejuvenated and ready for the afternoon. I will even share another science-backed tip that can give you a double boost of energy from your nap.
Understanding the basics of a sleep cycle
Before I introduce you to what power naps are, we first need to understand the basics of our sleep cycle. Humans follow a 90-minute sleep cycle which consists of four stages. N1 light sleep, N2 light sleep, N3 deep sleep, and REM sleep (when you usually have your dreams). Our sleep cycle usually repeats 4-6 times throughout the night when we sleep. Although the distribution of each stage varies between the recurring cycles throughout the night, we usually experience around 15-25 minutes of light sleep in the first sleep cycle before we enter deep sleep.
The key to an effective power nap
In a power nap, it is important that we wake up during the light sleep stage of our sleep cycle. This is because if we wake up while the brain is in deep sleep, we often experience what is called “sleep inertia”, the tendency to want to continue sleeping after wakefulness. Because the brain signals extremely slow brainwaves during deep sleep, also known as Delta waves, it takes a longer time for the brain to recover to the usual higher frequency waves that you experience during the day. Therefore, it is most effective to keep your power naps under 15-25 minutes. By waking up during light sleep, our brain requires less time to recover while still allowing us to reap the benefits of a nap. We can wake up feeling increased alertness, memory efficiency, and energy.
A better version of power naps – "Coffee Naps"
The concept is simple. Just drink a cup of beverage containing caffeine, coffee, matcha, tea, etc., immediately before your power nap. Caffeine will take effect around the same time you wake up from your nap. The effects of both a nap and caffeine will give you a double boost of energy.
Get to know yourself
It is important to note that every one of us has unique systems and will thus have varying sleep cycle spreads and durations. By tracking your sleep data with the Acer FreeSense Ring, you will be able to better understand the distribution of your sleep stages. Now that you understand the concept of sleep cycles and power naps, you will be able to determine the best lengths for your naps, or even your nighttime sleep, based on the data from your ring. Getting to know our health through tangible real-time data is an easy and effective way to inform our educated decisions to increase our quality of life.
