March 9th is National Nap Day

Here are some strategies to celebrate it:

Recover from daylight savings

I’m not a fan of daylight savings time. I mean – it steals an hour of my sleep! And it makes me slow and grumpy for days afterwards.

Even though I’m made of wood, I need my sleep. So what’s a spokespuppet to do when sleep deprived? Nap, of course. And luckily – to celebrate and counteract the change in time, National Nap Day falls on the Monday after the time change. That’s one holiday I want to celebrate!

Benefits of naps

I’m told that grabbing some zzz’s can give you a boost in productivity and awareness. Also – napping apparently can help lower blood pressure and improve heart health. I know that after I grab a nap, I have a better mood, more energy, less stress, and more focused creativity.

The 20 minute power nap

Studies show that an afternoon nap of about 20 minutes can be incredibly beneficial. Be sure to find somewhere dark, cool, and quiet. Grab a pillow and a blanket, set an alarm or timer for 20 minutes, and put your head down.

The one hour restorative nap

You might want to crawl into bed for this one. If there’s too much light, consider wearing an eye mask. If it’s too noisy, try a white noise machine. And you might want to take off extra layers of clothes that will keep you too warm. Once again – an alarm or timer isn’t a bad idea. The trick here is to wake before you go into REM sleep so that you wake up refreshed and not at all groggy. Believe it or not,a nap of 40-60 minutes will likely leave you feeling more refreshed than a 90 minute snooze.

The coffee nap

The trick here is to drink an espresso or some coffee immediately before a brief 15-20 minute nap. Since caffeine takes about 15-20 minutes to kick in and give you its boost of alertness, drinking it right before a brief nap means that its beneficial effects should amp you up around the same time that you’re ready to wake up.

More tips for better naps

• Try to nap between 1-3pm so your nap won’t keep you up all night long (unless you’re a night owl – then you could nap a bit later – what we used to call a disco nap).
• Set an alarm so that you don’t need to worry about sleeping too long or missing an important appointment.
• When you wake up, do something to give you a boost of energy. Splash some water on your face. Grab a brief walk. Do some jumping jacks. Anything to tell your body it’s time to get back at it.

Have a happy #NationalNapDay!