Name: Napping Is Awesome... but Is It for Everyone?
Uploaded: 2020-03-30T03:26:12.000Z
Duration: 4 min 9 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Study after study has shown that napping is awesome

On average, people feel better after catching

a few Zs, and their brains work better too.

The answer is more complicated than you might think.

In the US, for example, about half of adults

And there's been a ton of research on napping

which suggests the benefits are impressive.

Post-nap, people do better on tests that measure

math skills, logic, reaction time, memory,

because a lot of this work has been done in people

who are either sleep deprived or habitual nappers.

the nappers' benefits can skew the results

Now, it makes sense that researchers have

It's not exactly easy to fall asleep in the middle of the day

But, it also means we're only now starting

to figure out who benefits from napping and why.

When researchers have taken pains to look

been able to tease out some differences between

people who nap regularly and those who don't.

Non-nappers typically don't get a cognitive boost

And it may be because there are differences

Non-nappers spend more time in deeper sleep,

which could make it harder for them to wake up.

They also have fewer brain-wave signatures

of memory consolidation—when new information

which could explain why they don't perform better

on a training regimen to try to build their napping skills.

Basically, participants took a 20-minute nap,

And, after 4 weeks... it made zero difference.

They still had the same patterns of brainwaves

That could be because nap aversion is hard-wired.

There's some evidence that it may come down

to the gene variations that you're born with

Non-nappers could just be people who have

learned through experience that napping doesn't

Or, it could be that the participants simply didn't train long or hard enough.

there are a few other caveats to consider

For shift workers and people with sleep disorders

or atypical sleep schedules, things get even

are more likely to take naps than younger folks,

napping in seniors is associated with higher rates

There's no direct evidence that napping is causing these problems.

But we need more information about this connection

Still, if you are a younger, healthy adult who enjoys a good siesta,

you'll probably get a lot out of napping regularly.

Research says the sweet spot for nap length

Much longer than that, and you'll wake up groggy.

And the best time of day to nap seems to be

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Napping Is Awesome... but Is It for Everyone?

cognitive

nasty

evidence

boost