Posted Feb 2012
The usual sleeping pattern for many people is the mono phase sleeping pattern. This pattern considers taking a daily dose of sleep in one piece, usually during the night, while the rest of the day is used for different activities at work at home or leisure.
The pure mono phase sleeping is leaving the wide window of 16 or ore hours for daily activities. This is good from perspective of total hours, but is not that good from qualitative perspective. Being active for a whole day, without a break, is very demanding and energy draining.
This can cause exhaustion in the middle of a day or in afternoon hours. This lack of energy can cause very unproductive second half of a day. Usually we are very tired after work anyway. If we continue with activities, without any rest we are entering the low energy phase of a day, where nothing is easy, things are done mechanically, and we are in bad mood and can’t wait to go for bed.
This scenario is very typical for many people and is not good for the quality of life, since whole week can go like this. Having a tired and unproductive week can have negative emotional and psychic logic impact to the individual.
The afternoon nap is the one of solutions for breaking the day in two pieces and energizing the body and mind. The nap is usually taken in the afternoon, but not necessary.
Basically, the nap is the short period of having a rest, where we are laying and resting for a period of say 30 minutes, with very short and shallow sleeping cycle.
Actually, this is not the full sleeping cycle, since the sleep cycle would take longer than 30 minutes. Taking a nap is basically taking a initial phase of sleeping, where brain wave are slowing down below alpha level, but still without going into deep delta brain wave area.
The effect of the nap is physical and mental refresher, energy boosting and preparation for effective second half of a day. The benefits of nap are evident, since individual that practice the nap is having better mood and energy level for activities during afternoon and evening.
The habit of nap is matter of individual approach. Different cultures are accepting the nap in a different way. In some cultures it is very accepted to take a daily nap, while some other is considering napping as a sign of laziness.
No matter what is the reaction of your surrounding to the nap, your habit of taking a nap will bring you benefits of refresher, energizer and support for productive day.