Sleep Health
Published February 18, 2022
5 minHistory says Power Naps Can Make You a Powerful Leader
While young children often nap in the afternoon, adult naps are less common. Nonetheless, many grown-ups feel a natural rise in tiredness by the afternoon, that too after 8 hours of waking up.

Table of contents
How Many Hours Does the President Sleep in the Afternoon?DreamCloud Recommends You Some Go-to NapsAdvantages of a Power Nap Depend on the Size of Your NapFrequently Asked Questions
While young children often nap in the afternoon, adult naps are less common. Nonetheless, many grown-ups feel a natural rise in tiredness by the afternoon, that too after 8 hours of waking up.It isn't a made-up fallacy. It's a fact!According to the National Library of Medicine , a nap can increase alertness, reduce stress, and boost an individual's cognitive performance. A midday nap, sometimes known as a 'power nap,' results in more patience, less stress, faster response time, enhanced learning, more efficiency, and better health.This President's Day , we bring you some proven and known wonders of sleep and how napping amid work can turn you into a great and successful leader.
How Many Hours Does the President Sleep in the Afternoon?
How the former leaders of the US and UK napped their way to power!
Many successful people relied on power naps to get through the day. Former President Bill Clinton set out 3.00 pm to 4.00 pm every day for napping and instructed his staff not to schedule calls, meetings, or appointments.Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, did the same at 2.30 pm every day. Whereas early Brit leaders like Winston Churchill even had a bed at the Houses of Parliament for when he wanted to nap.No doubt! Convenience and Duty Calls ran hand-in-hand for them!When Jackie Kennedy advised a nap to the next President
When Lyndon Johnson took over the presidency after John F. Kennedy's death, Jackie Kennedy pushed Johnson to do the same, quoting, "It transformed Jack's whole life."Salvador Dali and Power Nap Went A Long Way
Salvador Dali relied on his naps to aid his creativity and art. His midday nap was only supposed to last 1 second. That puts the micro in micro-sleep! Dali dubbed his technique "slumber with a key."He would sit in a chair, his thumb and forefinger pushed against a thick metal key. A plate would be put upside down on the floor beneath his hand. The key would slip from Dali's finger right into the container as soon as he fell asleep; the loud clunk noise would wake him up. Dali says this process "revivified" an artist's entire "physical and physiological existence." This particular skill was taught to Capuchin monks, and surprisingly, Alfred Einstein was another practitioner of this famous napping technique.Leonardo Da Vinci and the Art of Constant Napping
Vinci took power naps to new heights. He slept for 15 minutes every 4 hours, totaling 1.5 hours of distributed naps every day. Now known as "sleep of brilliance," refers to this uncommon sleeping habit.DreamCloud Recommends You Some Go-to Naps
- Appetitive sleep: These naps boost our cognitive performance, response speeds, short-term memory, and even our happiness.
- Recovery Nap: Sleep poverty can make one feel weary and irritable all day. If you are among those who often pull an all-nighter for apparent reasons, you may take a recovery nap a day after to compensate for sleep loss.