Not sure where to start?
Try the Personal Concerns Inventory (PCI) to clarify what to focus on, or start with Relaxation Therapy for guided meditation.
Take A Power Nap!
Power Nap Benefits For Recovery, Focus, And Performance
A power nap can do more than reduce tiredness. A brief period of daytime sleep may improve alertness, memory, energy, mood, and mental performance while giving the body and nervous system an opportunity to recover.
The idea fits naturally with the Mulry Method approach to performance. Being Relaxed, Balanced, Flexible, and Focused does not mean constantly pushing yourself. Sometimes the most effective action is giving your mind and body enough recovery to perform well again.
Research and educational material from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have highlighted several potential benefits of daytime naps, including greater alertness and improved mental functioning.
How A Nap Can Improve Learning And Performance
Sleep plays an important role in learning and memory.
In one study, volunteers learned a computer task and then either took an afternoon nap or remained awake. When researchers tested them later, the people who had napped showed substantially greater improvement in the task.
This illustrates an important point: recovery is part of performance.
Practice gives the brain information to work with, but rest can help the brain organize and retain what you have learned. That principle applies to physical skills, mental skills, problem solving, and many of the abilities developed through In The Zone Skills Training.
Power Nap Benefits By Nap Duration
Different nap lengths may produce different effects.
10–20 Minutes
A short power nap can help you feel refreshed without allowing you to enter the deeper stages of sleep that often produce grogginess.
Potential benefits include:
- Greater alertness
- Increased energy
- Improved attention
- Better mental clarity
For many people, this is the most practical nap length during the day.
30–60 Minutes
A longer nap allows the brain to move further into the sleep cycle.
This may support memory consolidation, the process through which newly learned information becomes more stable and accessible.
You may feel somewhat groggy immediately after waking, but the cognitive benefits can last longer than those of a very short nap.
About 90 Minutes
A 90-minute nap may allow you to move through a more complete sleep cycle, including lighter sleep, deeper slow-wave sleep, and rapid-eye-movement sleep.
This longer period of rest may support:
- Procedural memory
- Emotional memory
- Creativity
- Learning
- Mental recovery
Because a nap this long can affect nighttime sleep for some people, timing becomes increasingly important.
When Should You Take A Power Nap?
Early to mid-afternoon is often the easiest time to nap because alertness naturally tends to decrease during this part of the day.
For many people, a nap sometime between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. works well.
Napping too close to bedtime or sleeping too long during the day may make it more difficult to fall asleep at night. Your own sleep patterns, schedule, and response to naps should guide what works best for you.
A Power Nap Is A Form Of Purposeful Recovery
Rest does not have to mean inactivity or lost productivity.
When fatigue reduces concentration, coordination, patience, or judgment, continuing to push may actually decrease performance. A short period of recovery can help restore the physical and mental conditions necessary for effective action.
This is closely related to the idea of being In The Zone, where effective performance depends on maintaining the right balance of relaxation, attention, energy, and purposeful action.
What Does It Mean To Be In The Zone? explores this relationship between preparation, awareness, and performance in greater depth.
Combine A Power Nap With Relaxation Therapy
Sometimes you have enough time to rest but have difficulty becoming relaxed enough to sleep.
Relaxation Therapy can help prepare the mind and body for rest through breathing, muscle relaxation, and meditative techniques.
You do not necessarily have to fall asleep to benefit from a period of deliberate relaxation. Learning how to reduce unnecessary tension can help you become more Relaxed, Balanced, Flexible, and Focused, whether you are preparing for a nap, recovering from stress, or getting ready for your next activity.
A power nap and Relaxation Therapy serve a similar purpose: recover when recovery is needed so you can return to purposeful action with greater energy and focus.