 You know, in most parts of the world, mapping is pretty popular. I mean, different countries have their own names for the same universal idea. The Siesta in Spain, Reposo in Italy, Uti in Iceland, and in the United States, you've most definitely heard someone excuse themselves to go take a quick power nap. Are there actually benefits to napping, or do we just use it as an excuse to take a break? Well today we're going to play one of my favorite games, Myth Busting. I found an article titled, Health Benefits of Napping on WebMD. Now let's hear what they have to say. Number one, Napping isn't for babies. Studies show that an afternoon nap is great for adults too. There's no need to feel lazy for indulging in daytime sleep. A short nap in the mid-afternoon can boost memory, improve job performance, lift your mood, make you more alert, and ease stress. Cozy up to these nap benefits. Now they're absolutely right about this, but with one important proviso. What they're saying is actually true. In study after study, the idea that a power nap, around 15 to 30 minutes, particularly in the mid-afternoon, has significant benefits that I do want to talk about. But before we talk about those benefits, what I see in my patients, and certainly myself in past years, is that so many of us unfortunately over-indulge at lunch, particularly on fast foods. In those fast foods, they're convenient, they're easy to bring with you to work, throw them in the microwave, they're easy to order from Uber, or they're probably right downstairs or around the corner from where you work. And most of these convenience foods are problems with your mitochondria. And I've written extensively about this. They actually are so easily and quickly digested into sugars and simple fats that it causes rush hour in your mitochondria. And your mitochondria, rather than boosting your energy, literally fail to produce the energy you need. And all of a sudden, following lunch, you found yourself not able to concentrate, not able to focus on your work, and literally wanting to put your head down for a few minutes to recover. If you find that pattern consistently happening, the first thing I want you to do is consider what you're actually having for lunch, and consider that that need for the afternoon power nap is actually being driven because of literally how tired and sleepy you are. And it may be a power failure of your mitochondria that's actually causing the problem. On the other hand, if we've already looked at that possibility and that is not happening with you, there are actually good recommendations. By many cultures, use a nap midday or early in the afternoon. It can actually support your memory. Studies have shown that sleep promotes an important role in storing memories. A nap can actually help you remember things you learned earlier in the day, as well as a full night's sleep. And interestingly enough, napping can actually keep you from forgetting things like motor skills, sense perception, and verbal recall too. Now you actually may be able to connect dots easier. It turns out that if you nap after learning something, you can actually store those memories easier than if you waited all day to do the same thing and go to sleep. In fact, the same thing happens at night. Many people find and studies show that if you want to learn something and have it stick, studying right before a nap or right before you go to sleep is one of the best ways to make it stick. Now it might help you climb the corporate ladder. When you do a task over and over throughout the day, most of us notice that there are performance gets worse as the day goes on. And studies show that a 15-minute power nap can actually make you more consistent and kind of reset the clock. I can tell you during my career as a surgeon that two or three times a week, we would have what's called a cardiac catheterization conference where we'd look over the angiograms and movies of people we were going to operate on and decide who needed what. And we'd all be in a dark room and it was almost always right after lunch. And lo and behold, half the people in that room would fall asleep in this nice dark room right after lunch. And we finally decided that having the conference right after lunch was one of the dumbest things any of us could think of. So we actually moved the conference early in the morning even before breakfast because a dark room and repetitive viewing of something right after lunch is one of the best sleep producing things that we ever found. Now napping can improve your mood. If you're feeling down, taking a nap can actually lift your spirits. I found as a heart surgeon, as a transplant surgeon, when we'd fly all night to harvest a heart and then bring it back and put it in a little baby, that even if I couldn't sleep on that long flight because I was so jacked up with what I was going to do, studies have shown that just lying down, just closing your eyes, not necessarily going to sleep can actually be a mood booster and can act almost as if you went to sleep. Think of it as a form of meditation. Now, need to be more alert? Don't feel bad that you need a nap. You're not alone in this. Take that nap. You're not a bad person. And when you wake up, you'll notice you've got a much more good outlook on life. Now why do some people feel terrible after a nap? Quite frankly is most of us need to get into deep sleep to actually have a benefit from a nap. Now, for some people, that happens right away. But for some people, that deep sleep can continue and the need for deep sleep is much longer. And if you're one of the ones who sets an alarm to wake up from their nap, that alarm may break your deep sleep. And the last thing your brain wants is interruption from that brain cleaning. And I think that's why a lot of people literally say, oh man, I don't want to take a nap because I just feel awful. Again, try to take a nap without setting an alarm and see if that changes things. Now the other thing is naps are actually better than caffeine. If you're feeling tired but have to work or studying to get something done, you're actually better off taking that 15 to 30 minute nap than having more coffee or more caffeine. And compared to caffeine, napping can actually produce better learning and better memory. So one other thing to consider, if you're a heavy coffee drinker, you may find that contrary to common belief, coffee will make you take a nap. And I've certainly found that effect in me. You can actually have a coffee nap by having coffee right before trying to go to sleep. It works in an amazing way. It makes incredible sense that napping can relieve stress. If you're under a lot of pressure, take a power 30 minute nap. Often that's all you need to do the trick. They're also good for your heart. It turns out that studies of adults found that people who napped for 45 to 60 minutes had lower blood pressure after going through mental stress. So a nap can actually help stress filled situations. Now the key is, like I started this podcast, you want to know why you need a nap. First of all, are you getting enough sleep at night? Does your partner tell you you're a snore? If you're snoring at night, there's very strong odds that you have sleep apnea and you need to get a sleep study. You can even get home sleep studies now and insurance covers it. Daytime sleeping is the absolute need for a nap is one of the first things I notice when I'm questioning patients about their snoring or their partners telling me they snore. Daytime sleeping is a red flag that you need to look into this further. Second, if you're eating a fast food meal at lunch and then you feel like a nap, I can tell you that there is a rush hour in your mitochondria and that's a warning sign that you need to be changing what you eat at lunch. Now if those two tests are passed, then go ahead, do yourself a favor and have a power nap and see if your performance at work and in home life doesn't improve. If you found this video helpful, I think you're going to love this one. One cup of grapes is the same amount of sugar as a Hershey's candy bar and I can tell you what I'd rather have.