THE CHARCOAL EXPRESS

If you see me in my workstation sitting steadfastly with my head laid back on my chair both eyes closed breathing gently and unconsciously unaware of what’s happening around, you will probably think I’m sleeping. My office mates who catch me in my unobvious sleeping position conceive that I’m the kind of employee who passes up my job for a 20-minute sleep during working hours. No, I’m not sleeping. I’m only taking a power nap. There is a big difference between a power nap and a deep sleep.

POWER NAP DEFINED

A power nap, as defined by Wikipedia, is a short sleep which terminates before the occurrence of deep sleep. The short duration of a power-nap is designed to prevent nappers from sleeping so long that they enter a normal sleep cycle without being able to complete it. Entering a normal sleep cycle but failing to complete it can result in a phenomenon known as sleep inertia, where one feels groggy, disorientated, and even sleepier than before beginning the nap. In order to attain maximum post-nap performance, it is critical that a power nap be limited to the beginning of a sleep cycle.

POWER NAP TYPES

• THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds. Sleep studies haven’t yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone’s shoulder on the train.
• THE MICRO-NAP: 2 to 5 minutes. Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness.
• THE MINI-NAP: 5 to 20 minutes. Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance
• THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes. Includes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
• THE LAZY MAN’S NAP: 50 to 90 minutes. Includes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles.

POWER NAP BENEFITS

• Less Stress
• Increased alertness and productivity
• Improved memory and learning
• Good for the heart
• Increased cognitive functioning
• Get motivated to exercise
• Boost your creativity
• Make up for midnight tossing and turning
• Protect yourself from sleepiness
• Better health

 Source:  ririanproject.com

Well, what can I say? I’m really a fan of power nap and it really works for me. It gets me going all day even if I have not gotten 6 or 7 hours of sleep. It’s my energizer and my natural medicine. Should I say it’s my hobby too? I hope this clears things out. And for the record, I love my job.

So you think I’m sleeping?