This is What Happens to Your Brain When You Nap

FEB 20 • HEALTH, SLEEP • 5666 VIEWS • COMMENTS OFF

by MICHELLE TOOLE

The stigma against napping is finally starting to wane — and for good reason. Taking a timeout to sleep during the day does much more than just give us a quick energy boost. It also confers some serious cognitive and health advantages as well. Here's what the latest science tells us.

Unlike 85% of all mammalian species, humans sleep just once a day. Scientists aren't sure if we're naturally monophasic (as opposed to polyphasic) or if it's modern society that has made us so. Regardless, it's clear that we're not getting enough sleep. Nearly a third of us say we're simply not getting enough of it.
Power naps can alleviate our so-called sleep deficits, but they can also boost our brains, including improvements to creative problem solving, verbal memory, perceptual learning, object learning, and statistical learning. They help us with math, logical reasoning, our reaction times, and symbol recognition. Naps improve our mood and feelings of sleepiness and fatigue. Not only that, napping is good for our heart, blood pressure, stress levels, and surprisingly, even weight management.



You might be surprised to find out the benefits of napping and it doesn't take much. Yes, you read that right. Isn't that great news, that from this day forth you can justify your actions whenever you want to take a short nap? We always get told that we need to go on diet, or we're told to exercise more, but it's not often that someone tells you to take a nap more often. Well, I have a great idea: Once you've finished reading this article, go take a nice nap. Trust me, once you've read about some of the benefits of napping, you'll never feel guilty about going for a nap ever again.