Encouraging Habits We Want to Indulge Anyway: The Afternoon Nap

My Grandma calls her afternoon nap “resting her eyes,” but the benefits extend beyond the visual hiatus.

Relish the benefits of a sharper mind, improved accuracy and perception, quicker motor skills, keener coordination, and enhanced mood and memory. Getting even the briefest nap is better than nothing.

This from a lavishly designed Boston Globe graphic detailing the the benefits, optimal times, and anthropological evidence in support of the afternoon siesta.

Why afternoon though? This part of the larger graphic details the two “chronotypes” – lark (morning bird) or owl (night owl) – and their respective, naturally occurring afternoon sleep windows.

Grandma’s in good company too. Famous nappers include:

• John F. Kennedy
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Jim Lehrer
• Ronald Reagan
• Albert Einstein
• John D. Rockefeller
• Eleanor Roosevelt

Famous napper Winston Churchill advised:

You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner, and no halfway measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That’s what I always do. Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imaginations. [emphasis added] You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one — well, at least one and a half. (source)

…and…

Nature had not intended mankind to work from 8 in the morning until midnight without the refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts 20 minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces. (source)

Expert advice I can support.

Bonus: The very Tufte-esque graphics produced by The Boston Globe.

(via 43 Folders)

Tagged as: anthropology, life, naps