September 9th, 2009 → 1:11 am @ andre // No Comments
Man has, from the beginning of time, wondered why we sleep. The question seem to grow importance as our society gets busier. I often hear people who are chasing their tails say, “We should be able to work through the clock.”
Well, the latest research has found an answer to the age old question. Contrary to popular beliefs, your brain doesn’t rest at night.
In fact, brain scans showed it to be quite busy – perhaps busier than when you were awake. What is it doing? It’s consolidating what you’ve learned for the day so that it can learn new information tomorrow. Perhaps this is why some studies have shown people who get the proper amount of sleep remember more and thus learn better.
Geoff Colvin, in his book, “Talent is Overrated“, mentioned about a study that found top violinists took more afternoon naps than their less successful counterparts! NASA conducted a study on the subject found pilots who took a short 26 minutes afternoon nap performed 34% better.
As it turns out, people who take afternoon naps are not just lazy – they are simply reacting to they normal body rhythm. There are numerous rhythms in which we live in. The most popular rhythm, and perhaps the only rhythm that people know of, is called the circadian rhythm, in which we sleep at night and wake up in the morning.
Relatively new research showed that the circadian rhythm dictates that we sleep in the afternoon or suffer the consequences – split focus and decreased productivity. By measuring the body temperature of their subjects, researchers found that our body temperature tend to dip a little in the afternoon between 3pm to 5 pm – a full 12 hours since our last REM (deep) sleep. Take a look at the graph below:
If you deny yourself of sleep, you lose productivity. The same can be said about afternoon naps. If you deny yourself of afternoon naps, you’re essentially splitting your focus onto two tasks: fighting off your natural urge to sleep, and doing what you’re doing. Productivity gurus such as Eban Pagan and Tony Robbins have always advised that if you have conflicting thoughts, you’ll never be able to achieve your potential.
Now science proves right.
But remember: More doesn’t mean better. The optimum amount is about 30 minutes. More than that and you risk falling into the second cycle of sleep, which will last for a few hours. Waking up before a cycle completes results in irritability and sometimes even lowered energy.
By taking short afternoon naps, in other words, you’re improving your learning and memory capability, attention span and overall brain fitness.
P.S. Original graph can be found here: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/bjlogie/graph.htm
