Can't do without a nap?
Sleep researcher reveals how long a power nap should not exceed
Created: 01/25/2022, 14:36
By: Juliane Gutmann
Retirement, studies and home office make it possible: the daily nap.
Even in the office, people do power napping.
But there is a rule of thumb.
Is your afternoon nap sacred to you?
You are not alone with this attitude.
Many swear by the rest period after lunch.
Regenerate briefly and then tackle the next task with full energy: That is the goal of many afternoon naps
.
But that doesn't always work out. Sometimes you wake up feeling exhausted and would like to stay in bed for hours.
Sleep researcher Albrecht Vorster explained the reason for this in an interview with Südwestrundfunk (SWR).
The multiple Science Slam winner and book author is a biologist and researched, among other things, at the University Hospital in Bern on the subject of sleep improvement*.
According to Vorster, the secret to a good nap is timing
.
If you sleep too long, you risk lasting fatigue – all afternoon long.
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A nap during the day is good – if it doesn't last too long.
© William Perugini/dpa
The perfect nap: "If we sleep longer than 20 minutes, then we fall into a deep sleep"
"If we only sleep 15 minutes in the middle of the day, then we only fall into light sleep," says sleep expert Albrecht Vorster.
According to the biologist, this leads to us recovering and being better concentrated and more efficient in the next three hours after the afternoon nap.
"
But if we sleep for more than 20 minutes, then we actually fall into deep sleep.
It's actually more relaxing, but at the same time our circulation, our pulse, our breathing all go down," says Vorster.
The problem with the deep sleep phase during the day: It takes much longer to get going again.
It can take up to three hours before you feel fit again, explains Vorster in the SWR interview.
A nap should not only have a “refreshing” effect.
The risk of cardiovascular disease is also said to decrease if you lie on your ear after eating.
The medical journal quotes from a meta-analysis that says the nap has a heart-protective effect*.
But only the afternoon nap, which lasts no longer than an hour, would have a heart-protecting effect, the medical journal informs
.
Longer periods of sleep during the day would tend to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure and heart attacks.
(jg) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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