sleeping

research has shown a full night's sleep

is good for your memory mood and immune

system just to name a few benefits but

what about taking a nap during the day

is it helpful or harmful how does the

length of the nap impact you and is

there an optimal time to grab a quick

snooze

thankfully researchers have looked into

that too and much like an unconscious

body on a couch in the late afternoon

sun the results need to be laid out

depending on a person's age napping is

downright necessary generally speaking

the younger a person is the more sleep

their developing brains and bodies need

so experts recommend that newborns get

14 to 17 hours of sleep while

preschoolers should get 10 to 13 hours

of shut eye every day

that's

a long time to spend unconscious that's

like cat levels of napping so it's not

going to happen all in a row the kiddos

need to take naps no matter how much

they kick and scream when they hear that

it's nap time guidelines also say that

kids age 6 to 13 should get anywhere

from 9 to 11 or even 12 hours of sleep

daily so if you're in junior high and

you keep nodding off in class just let

the teacher know that a science youtube

video said that it's healthy

i mean it won't get you out of trouble

but your instructors can have a good

laugh about it later in the teacher's

lounge once people are adults though do

they really need to sneak in a siesta

strictly speaking it doesn't seem like

something we as a species need to do our

modern way of life with our 9 to 5 jobs

and our fancy electric light bulbs might

have altered how we sleep compared to

our ancient ancestors so to see if that

was the case researchers studied 94

individuals from current day

hunter-gatherer groups in tanzania

namibia and bolivia who live more like

humans did 10 000 years ago

while almost all of them would take a

break in the middle of the day when the

sun was beating down none of them would

take that time to catch some z's so it

doesn't look like napping is something

humans would do intrinsically if it

weren't for the demands of modern life

napping isn't necessary for adults but

it still could have potential upsides

because our brains go through different

stages during sleep the benefits of a

nap are correlated with its length if

you find yourself slowing down in the

middle of the day after lunch a quick 20

minute power nap could be all you need

to wake up feeling refreshed and alert a

short nap could also help your memory in

some ways but longer naps could have

bigger benefits to learning and recall

conking out for 60 minutes could help

you remember vocabulary or directions

staying asleep for an hour to an hour

and a half will allow your brain to

enter rem sleep and some research has

found that the benefits for learning are

on par with getting a full night's rest

the perfect nap length will vary from

person to person the 20 minute power nap

isn't a hard and fast rule you may get

the same benefits from as little as 10

minutes of sleep or as much as 45

minutes be warned though allowing your

brain to go into the deep sleep stage

could lead to what's called sleep

inertia where you wake up feeling groggy

and paradoxically more tired taking a

nap at the wrong time of day can also

make it difficult to fall asleep later

that night so if you're on that nine to

five grind try to avoid napping after 4

pm

which i guess would mean you'd have to

take a nap at work again do not try to

pin this on me if your boss doesn't

approve

regular nappers appear to get more out

of it than those who don't doze off

daily they might feel sharper and in

better spirits compared to their

counterparts who feel sluggish after

waking now i wish i could say this was a

case where they had honed their napping

abilities by being really dedicated to

their craft because that would mean i

finally have a chance to be truly great

at something but it's possible that

people who nap regularly choose to do so

because they get benefits from it in

other words they're a self-selecting

bunch and people who find themselves

feeling icky after a nap likely won't do

it as often if you fall into that second

category of people then maybe naps just

aren't for you but hey at least there's

always coffee if you have trouble

getting to sleep.