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Naps aren't just for toddlers.
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Turns out, even adults can benefit from some daytime downtime.
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A power nap can improve performance in reaction time, logical reasoning, symbol recognition, and, of course, one's mood.
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In addition, the length of a nap offers different benefits.
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When you're asleep, parts of your brain that are inactive during waking hours begin to fire up.
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These regions pull information and events from your day and process them.
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The trick is keeping your naps brief enough, or long enough, so that you don't wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle and feel groggy or fatigued.
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Great nap.
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It really was.
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A University of Michigan study had one group of participants take a 60-minute snooze, while a comparison group watched a nature documentary.
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The midday nappers were better able to deal with frustration and were less impulsive than those who watched the documentary.
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But most of us can't check out for 60 minutes in the middle of the day.
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Enter the power nap, a quick snooze that lasts between 10 to 30 minutes.
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Research has shown that even a 6-minute nap can improve long-term memory.
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But, remember, napping only works during the right window; don't catch your Z's after 3 p.m., or you could disrupt your regular nighttime sleep cycle.