Are you aware of the many benefits of napping? Did you know that you could potentially be a better performer in the workplace if you took a daily nap? Every afternoon, many company owners see their employees hunched over in front of their computer screens, exhausted and fiercely chugging coffee to get a much-needed energy boost, or just to make it through the day.
Does this sound like you? Perhaps you had trouble sleeping the night before, or you simply always feel tired after eating lunch. Maybe you can barely keep your eyes open when the afternoon slump hits, and instead of working hard, you feel like you’re hardly working.
It’s even possible that you’re genetically inclined to be a night owl, not an early bird. It’s in your DNA to have a late chronotype, and you, therefore, struggle with your early work schedule.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a way to be productive all through your workday, thrive at work and feel lively, without taking multiple trips to fill your coffee mug? This is especially important if your body is sensitive to caffeine.
A daily power nap might be the perfect solution for you, and this trend is catching on. Modern-day tech companies such as Google have nap pods in the workplace for their employees.
Allowing employees to nap at work might seem like every company owner’s worst nightmare. However, I personally have seen the benefits of allowing our staff at Manta Sleep to nap during each workday. There are many reasons why all business owners and employees should join the Pro-Nap Movement. Sometimes, you have to reject the outdated, counterproductive, nap-shaming, corporate BS and reclaim what should have always been yours in the first place: your vitality. Below is an explanation of why a nap each day can boost success, productivity and mental focus:
1. Naps Provide the Productivity Boost You Need
Research studies show that 20-minute power naps can make you more productive at work. This is one of the main benefits of napping. As far as productivity hacks go, naps beat coffee hands down, because our bodies are wired to nap. In this study, subjects took periodic tests during a workday. Without a nap, their test performances went down as the day went on. But, when the test subjects took short naps, the results got better. Napping helped improve alertness, workplace productivity, and the ability to process information.
Why do naps boost productivity? Naps help provide the energy, focus, strength and clarity that you don’t get when you grind through the afternoon exhausted. Rather than having to trek to the coffee pot multiple times per day (and possibly risk not being able to sleep at night because of an excess of caffeine intake), you can get a jolt in productivity from a simple power nap. Simply find a comfortable nap location, put on a sleep mask to block out the light, set an alarm, and drift off.
In terms of productivity at work, one of the benefits of napping is that it’s like having a second morning in the afternoon, a fresh start and a clear head. Thus, all business leaders should allow their team to take daily naps, as it will help them maximize their potential. Several of the world’s top tech companies are already allowing naps to happen at work.
2. Pre-Brainstorming Session: Napping First Can Help Solve Issues
Think about the last time you were totally exhausted halfway through your workday. Wasn’t it challenging to think of answers to questions, let alone put two sentences together? When you and your team members are sleep deprived, it can negatively impact your collective problem-solving skills and hinder your creativity. This can be detrimental if your team is trying to brainstorm a solution for a client’s issue, for example, or if you’re all struggling to come up with the perfect marketing strategy for a new launch.
If the team takes a quick 20 or 30-minute nap prior to a brainstorming session, it can give them the creativity boost and jolt in alertness they need. This is when it’s likely everyone will be better at problem-solving and think of the best solutions.
3. Naps Can Help Keep Sickness at Bay
Another one of the benefits of napping is the health benefit of preventing the onset of illness. If you or your team members are out sick, it can really hurt the company in terms of meeting project deadlines and optimizing overall work output. That said, a daily nap can be key for improving your immune system. If an employee doesn’t get enough sleep, they will have an overactive sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the fight-or-flight state). This triggers an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, which puts strain on the body. This in turn causes all types of health issues (imagine an overworked car engine).
Immune systems need sleep to fight off diseases and ward off infections. With more sleep, you may notice that you don’t get sick as often as you do when you’re not getting enough sleep. Daily naps can help achieve this strong immune system.
4. Daily Naps Can Amplify Your Overall Success
If you’re exhausted all day at work, you won’t be able to reach your full potential or give it your best. If you aren’t maximizing work output, that means you aren’t bringing you or your company to the level of success it could potentially be at. For example, imagine you have a base salary, but you also get a commission for sales. If you’re super tired while doing sales outreach emails or sales calls, you might not be able to close as many sales as you otherwise could. You might not have as much success as you would if you were energized from a quick power nap. This is why it’s especially important for a sales team to get in the habit of taking naps.
Perhaps you’re a naturally gifted salesperson, but it’s not in your DNA to be a morning person. In this case, as a natural night owl, you’ll struggle to fall asleep at a reasonable hour at night. You’ll therefore really struggle to wake up for work in the morning, and without a power nap partway through the day, your sales skills will start to deplete as the day goes on. The same goes for any employee in the corporate world where productivity (not just sales) is a key factor in work performance.
In Conclusion
Now that you’re aware of the many health and productivity benefits of napping, you might be wondering about the logistics. How exactly can you nap at work? You just have to get creative. There are many ways to do this. For starters, you could suggest that your employer invests in nap pods. They’re the wave of the future. Or, you could bring an inflatable camping mattress and pillow with you to work. To nap at work, you’ll also need a high-quality sleep mask that 100% blocks out the light. Darkness is key to fall asleep and actually nap.
You’ll soon find out that napping was the performance-boosting and health-boosting secret you needed all along.
