According to some neurologists, human beings are genetically programmed to want to sleep around 2 or 3 pm, which is the time when your attention wanes, or you feel like "snoozing", or you are neither attentive nor efficient. Moreover, digestion and heat tend to aggravate these symptoms.
Fighting drowsiness by drinking a lot of coffee is a mistake, it’s even against nature. And putting off the time to fall asleep is not a good idea either, because falling asleep in the late afternoon can be detrimental to falling asleep in the evening.
A short nap allows you to recharge your batteries at midday, but be careful: a nap that is too long can put you in a state of collapse. To ensure that this post-prandial rest is 100% beneficial, here are some tips:
The ideal duration for the nap is 20 minutes, set your alarm clock for 25 minutes to benefit from 5 minutes of sleep and 20 minutes of sleep. At the end of the nap you will wake up not groggy because your brain has not entered the deep sleep phase.
A 20-minute nap increases intellectual alertness, accelerates memory, releases creativity and improves physical reactivity.
Beyond 20, you enter a deep sleep and risk being "out of phase" when you wake up, especially if you wake up before the end of the cycle!
For professional nappers, it is possible to take micro-naps of between 2 and 5 minutes. To succeed you must train regularly and follow these tips:
- Make sure you are not disturbed and adopt a comfortable position (rather sitting to wake up more easily) that allows you to relax the back, neck and limbs.
- Close your eyes and breathe gently. Visualize all the parts of your body, then closed eyelids make circles with your eyes, to let them go upwards until you fall asleep
- When you wake up (natural or soft ringing of the phone) get back in touch with reality by gently moving your limbs, stretch and open your eyes.
If you can’t fall asleep for 5 minutes, there are other methods, test them to find the one that suits you.
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