History says Power Naps Can Make You a Powerful Leader
Written by Mehran Uzair
Last Updated on Jul 12, 2022
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.
But one mustn't make a habit out of such practices as this may lead to lifetime ailments, disturbed sleep cycles, and permanent health issues.
Science suggests that 20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon delivers greater rest than 20 minutes of extra sleep in the morning (though the last two hours of morning sleep have particular advantages of their own). Most people's bodies naturally get wearier in the afternoon, roughly 8 hours after waking up, suggesting that the body now needs rest.
Advantages of a Power Nap Depend on the Size of Your Nap
The power nap length is crucial to its success. If you sleep for too long and slip into a deep slumber for an hour or more, you may wake up exhausted and sluggish. And, if you take a nap that is too brief, you will not get the advantages you long for.
So, what is Goldilocks' ideal length of nap time?
Some experts believe that one can acquire the best nap results by transitioning from stage 1 to stage 2 sleep (slowdown of brain activity). It may take some 15 to 20 minutes for the majority of the people. And, if you wait any longer, the advantages may get lost.
Many people's energy levels begin to wane soon after lunch. One must take the power rest at the right time. A full stomach makes you sleepy because our bodies produce more serotonin after eating. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that aids in mood and sleep cycle regulation.
The Spanish sleep after lunch, so that is the ideal spot! NCBI says that a brief, early-to-mid-afternoon sleep gives the most rejuvenation compared to naps taken at any other time of day.
While sleeping is an activity that we all love doing. Naps are certainly the show stoppers of our day-to-day productivity that holds the power of growth! At Dream Cloud Sleep, we aim at helping you with all of this and much more. Our annual President's Day Sale is now live. With bargains, offers, and discounts so irresistible that there'd be no such thing as enough for the sleepyhead in you. Give yourself the rest you deserve, and just like these world leaders, Power Nap your way to Success, Strength, and Wisdom!
