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Seriously!
We “power” everything else…power walk or power up.
But have you ever just “powered down”?
If you know me even a little, you know that I highly recommend napping.
But, not just falling asleep in place or snuggling up with a good book
and the zzzzzzzzz monster coming along.
I mean building the healthy habit of Power Napping.
How to Power Nap – wikiHow wikiHow article about How to Power Nap. … Scientists have been studying the power nap–when to take it, how to take it, what to take before you take it, …
Sleep Your Way to 100 With Power Naps on Yahoo! HealthNov 9, 2007 … Sleeping your way to 100 means power naps. Power naps: 10, 20
Seems I’m not the only one who swears by them. Now you can check out the articles above (I haven’t), or you can just follow my tips, but soon you’ll be on your way to feeling restored, focused, and livin’ la vida siesta. Something like that….
Recognize that this will only work as a habit. It takes 28-30 days to find a place in your routine, but the goal is to identify when you can “REGULARLY” take 20-40 minutes out of most days. This does not come naturally.
I started napping about 4-5 years ago. It started out that I couldn’t help it. I was home alone for a deployment or two and taking care of children during the day and studying for school at night. During deployments I “sleep” at night only from midnight to 5AM or so, 2AM to 6AM if I stayed up to chat to overseas.
I needed a nap, so why fight it.
My two best times were and mostly still are: 30 minutes before I expect the bus back with the kids and somewhere in the hour after they go to bed.
So my sleep pattern looks like: 12-5AM, nap at 2:30, nap at 9 or 9:30pm.
Knowing the benefits of napping and accepting it as routine, helps circumvent those thoughts that you are lazy or irresponsible. (Now if you’re rolling from one side of the bed to the other “to take a nap”, then we’ve got a problem. But, if you’ve been up and active/productive, then allow yourself this break.)
Determine your allotted time and stick to it. 20-40 minutes is ideal. Set an alarm. This puts something else in charge of getting you up. You can give up being in charge, which helps you relax a little bit. What I mean is, if you trust your “nap” button on your alarm clock, then you’ll not sit and check your watch the whole 20 minutes. Building trust with your alarm clock takes the 28-30 days mentioned above. Most alarm clock radios have a nap button.
Get in your comfortable spot. Lie horizontally, so if nothing else you give your feet and rear a mid-day break, redistributing the blood and such. Take your shoes off. I put sleep socks on. I also turn on the fan and cover my eyes. The darker the better; it signals the brain that it may be nighttime. Lastly, I attempt some deep, cleansing breaths. I avoid caffeine after lunch and I DON’T play music I could sing along to.
I’ve done this enough now where I’ve learned how productive I am afterwards. I meet the bus refreshed, or I can focus on late night couple time without that sleep deprivation headache or sheer exhaustion. I think about that and all the good work I can do when I get up and that rests my soul, which in turn rests my body. It’s a powerful thing.
Oh how I wish I could nap. I would love this! It takes me so long to power down and then sleep. When I wake up I’m not refreshed – I’m groggy and still tired. I envy you.
I was in the middle of reading this when I realized I needed to take a nap, myself. Up too early this morning!I love naps.
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