Can Napping Improve Your Health? Ask a PT

In last week's blog post, we took a look at warm-ups and whether they were under or overrated. In this week's post, I will be answering a question that I get asked all the time, can napping improve your health?

Can Napping Improve Your Health?

Question: My sleep is very light and fragmented, do you think power naps are necessary during the day? Answer: While I am not a sleep expert, I'd estimate that 80% of the questions I get asked each week are about sleep quality or napping. It's clearly a concern for many of my readers. From reading the literature, it appears that napping is not helpful for people who are already struggling with their sleep. This is because it can disrupt your regular sleep patterns, particularly if you nap in the afternoon or evening. It would be more beneficial to look at ways to improve your sleep quality at night (setting a bedtime, avoiding electronic devices before bed, avoiding caffeine after 3 pm, meditation before bed, temperature regulation etc). However, power naps (short 10-30 minute sleep periods) can have many advantages to people whose sleeping schedule is in good health.

• They can increase energy levels
• Boost growth hormone and testosterone levels upon waking
• Improve mood and cognition
• Help to boost recovery from exercise

Many professional athletes have power naps on training days and as a recovery tool. Studies have shown that prolonged sleep can improve athletic performance, reaction time, and cognition <1>. Allowing them to play better. If you are planning on using power naps, make sure to have them in the morning or early afternoon. Be strict with your timekeeping, and properly analyse whether they suit your lifestyle or not. If you normally sleep well, but had a bad night, then a power nap may be beneficial. But if you have problems with your sleep, then you would be better off trying to improve your sleeping habits for the night. Did you know that ashwagandha can help to improve your sleep quality by lowering cortisol and stress?

Check out our article on the five surprising benefits of ashwagandha here.

References

<1> https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3119836/