Midday dozing is not a sign of laziness any more. If someone catches you napping, say with no doubt: “The nap will improve my mood, productivity, creativity and alertness at the rest of the day.”

It’s true – a 60-minutes nap boosts alertness for up to 10 hours. Another research on “NASA” pilots claims that if you sleep 26 minutes on board (meanwhile, you would have left the copilot to operate, of course), your performance will be 34% improved with 54% more alertness. Another experiment showed evidence that a nap for 45 minutes would be able to enhance memory and learning.

Don’t forget about the personal advantages! A nap reduces your stress. As a consequence, it lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke, diabetes, even of excessive weight gain.

Now you have learnt why you should take a nap. It makes you healthier, smarter and safer. But to get the most of it, you should know more about napping.

A lark or an owl?
Let’s check out which “chronotype” are you, so that you may know when is your best napping time.
If you go to sleep around 9-10 p.m. and wake up roughly at 6 a.m., then you are a lark. Being a lark, your best time for a nap is at approximately 1-1:30 p.m.
On the other hand, if you are an owl, you wouldn’t go to bed earlier than midnight or 1 a.m., and wake up around 8-9 a.m. or later. Your nap need will then be at 2:30-3 p.m.