LOUISVILLE, Ky. (March 14, 2016) — Happy National Napping Day!
According to the Days of the Year, Napping Day provides an opportunity to adjust after changes to daylight savings. That’s when most of us lose an hour of sleep due to ‘springing forward’.
Mid-afternoon naps are scientifically proven to be good for you, so now there’s a perfect reason to catch a snooze after lunch.
The National Sleep Foundation says naps do not necessarily make up for inadequate or poor quality nighttime sleep. But they say a short nap of 20-30 minutes can help to improve mood, alertness and performance.
Experts say there are three types of napping:
• Planned napping (also called preparatory napping) involves taking a nap before you actually get sleepy. You may use this technique when you know that you will be up later than your normal bed time or as a mechanism to ward off getting tired earlier.
• Emergency napping occurs when you are suddenly very tired and cannot continue with the activity you were originally engaged in. This type of nap can be used to combat drowsy driving or fatigue while using heavy and dangerous machinery.
• Habitual napping is practiced when a person takes a nap at the same time each day. Young children may fall asleep at about the same time each afternoon or an adult might take a short nap after lunch each day.
There are many famous people who weren’t afraid to catch a snooze in the afternoon including Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and George W. Bush.
• What are the health benefits of a power nap? by Helen Sanders, Health Awareness
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