This One Secret To Winston Churchill's Success Will Change Your Life, If Not Put You To Sleep

"Nature had not intended mankind to work from 8 in the morning until midnight without the refreshment of blessed oblivion, which, even if it only lasts 20 minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces."

--Winston Churchill

There is a growing interest in napping: its benefits, optimal method, and timing. There is an emerging body of research that shows that napping can boost your mental and emotional responses to everyday stimuli, while lowering your risk of heart disease--not to mention that sleep deprivation and fatigue is one of the more significant causes of vehicle collision.

Famous Nappers

• Thomas Edison
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Albert Einstein
• Winston Churchill
• Napoleon Bonaparte

In spite of these, and other high-achieving nappers, there remains a stigma that napping is for lazy people and slackers. Just try laying down in your office or cubicle--if you can fit--drift off to sleep and see what your manager does. But would you call into question any of these men's achievements? Indeed, napping remains counter-intuitive to our false beliefs about productivity.

Why Napping Will Make You Feel Awesome

• Increased alertness: A NASA study found that a 40-minute nap increases alertness by 100%. The insight is that if you break up your day with a nap, you will be as alert and energetic for the second part of your day as you were for the first.

• Improved learning and working memory: Your working memory is that used when engaging in complex tasks in which you are focused on one thing while holding other things in your memory. Napping improves your memory retention.

• Heightened senses and creativity: According to nap scientist (yes, there is such a thing), Sara C. Mednik, napping can greatly enhance your sensory perception as effectively as a night of sleep. As well, it enhances your creativity by setting you back from your task, and allowing thoughts to congeal and make necessary connections vital to peak productivity.

Brilliant Tips For Napping

Whether you're planning to nap in your office or at home, here are some tips that can help you nap brilliantly:

1. Nap after lunch: This is the best time, for there's a natural dip in stamina that takes place as the body is digesting.

2. Find a good place to nap: About 30% of employers allow employees to nap at work. If you're one of the lucky ones, and there's a napping place at work, use it. If you have a private office, that's a no-brainer. If you have none of these, you can always power nap in your car. Put your phone on 'do not disturb', set the timer for 20 minutes, and enjoy.

3. Select the kind of nap you need: Different amounts of time yield different results: A 10-20 minute power nap is ideal for a boost in alertness and energy. 60-minutes is best for improvement in remembering facts, faces, and names. 90-minutes involves a full cycle of sleep, which aids in creativity and emotional and procedural memory, such as riding a bike. This length of sleep time will minimize sleep inertia, which means that you won't experience as much grogginess as you would if you slept for a shorter or longer time.

4. Caffeine?: Some maintain that you should limit your caffeine to the morning to maximize your nap, while others claim that the perfect time for a power nap is right after you've had your coffee in that the caffeine will have a chance to fully kick in while you're sleeping increasing alertness upon awakening.

5. Make sure you still get a good night's sleep: While naps can restore focus and concentration during a work day, you still need a full night's sleep to stay healthy and functional during the day.

Go on...give napping a try

If you are already a napper, then more power to you. If you are an employer, consider integrating this option into your work-day for those who would want to take advantage of it, noting to your employees the benefits for productivity and overall health--you will reap the rewards. If you are not a napper, but are now convinced that you should become one (maybe the Churchill image sold you before you even read through this), then give it a try today.