Naps Are Wonderful, Especially If You Can Lie Down

I have always been intrigued by research on sleep, sleep deprivation, and naps.  In brief, a pretty big body of research shows that sleep deprivation, make people unhappy, nasty to others, and undermines their creativity and performance.  And a related body of research suggests that even a short nap can help combat the damage caused by sleep deprivation.

Along these lines,  a new study of naps summarized at BPS compared the performance of students (measured by their ability to identify out-of-pitch tones) who had no nap after lunch, who had a 20 minute nap leaning forward and resting their head on a desk, or had a 20 minute nap lying down.  The researchers found that people who had either kind of nap performed better then those who did not nap, but those who napped lying down had the best performance of all.

Napping is dangerous in some situations -- as Homer demonstrates above. But there are lots of jobs where sleeping in the job is simply viewed as evidence of laziness or lack of motivation.  This new  research suggests that we might change the norms in some workplaces -- a nap room sounds kind of nice, doesn't it?

P.S. The citation is Zhao, D., Zhang, Q., Fu, M., Tang, Y., & Zhao, Y. (2010). Effects of physical positions on sleep architectures and post-nap functions among habitual nappers. Biological Psychology, 83 (3), 207-213

Comments

[Josh]

I frequently employed the use of short 10-20min naps in my car throughout college, undergrad and grad. Studying, working, grading, researching, interning, etc practically forced me to make use of naps due to significantly decreased R&R on nights and weekends. Moving into the workforce was a rough wake-up call (sry, good pun) where all the sudden I had to fire on all cylinders for at least 8 straight hours.

[Randy Bosch]

"...the performance of students (measured by their ability to identify out-of-pitch tones..."

No information in the summary to identify if the subjects were pre-tested for tone-deafness or tonal awareness!

Clearly not an exhaustive and definitive study, but some practical advise about napping that has absolutely nothing to do with the method of cognition utilized in the study!

[TheLeaderLab]

Best. Study. Ever.

[Chris]

My wife has developed (perfected?) the 20 minute power nap that serves her well. She is completely rejuvenated after her short nap and can continue her busy day on through the evening and night (productively, I might add.)

I, on the other hand, have not been so blessed. I have tried for years to develop this "skill", with no luck. In fact, napping seems to have the opposite effect on me and complelety saps my desire to plod ahead. Must be why they make vanilla and chocolate.

[Dan Markovitz]

Years ago I worked in the municipal board of education in a small town in Japan. My office was in city hall, and it actually had a nap room. Best of all, there was no stigma attached to using it.

[David]

I wonder how napping compares to other activities one might engage in at lunch, such as exercise or meditation?

[Bob Sutton]

John,

Thanks, I appreciate the correction.

[John]

lying down, not laying