Napping is good for you: Lucky I’m not one to resist a rest, says Wyn Drabble

Wyn Drabble says that according to his research, taking naps is good for you.

I enjoy an afternoon nap.

I find it so easy that I can do it with my eyes shut.

I know others see naps as a waste of life but I’ve always enjoyed them as little luxuries, and the feeling as I drift off and drift back again inhabits some sort of almost druggy no-man’s land which I find pleasing. Mine are never more than 15-20 minutes’ long so it’s not too great a dent in the bigger picture, I feel.

After writing “druggy no-man’s land” I wasn’t happy with it as I felt it did not truly capture how pleasing it is. Only one thing for it, I thought. I did what any intrepid journalist would do; I went and had a nice lie-down.

The experience I am trying to describe is nothing like the operating table where I will try to count to 10 after the needle and never make it to three. But there is no enjoyable interim stage to this; it’s just consciousness to out cold in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately I was concentrating so hard on finding just the right words to describe the dozing-off stage that, for once, I couldn’t actually doze off. The only word I could really add to my original description was “floating” so I’m afraid I’ll just have to make do with that.

Wyn Drabble. Photo / Warren Buckland

Anyway, back to the nap-knockers. Now, a new study has come to my rescue.

I will have to enjoy the findings quickly because experience has taught me that every study in my favour (chocolate, beer and wine are good for you in moderation) is invariably countered a few months later by one claiming that consumption of any of the aforementioned will cause lumbago, skin irritation, impaired vision and a strange new fondness for ornaments and china cabinets.

Researchers at University College London and the University of the Republic in Uruguay concluded from their data that “there’s an association between genetic predisposition to habitual daytime napping and larger brain volume equivalent to 2.6 to 6.5 fewer years of ageing”.

I don’t know that you can just take up napping in the hope that it will provide a path to the fountain of youth; it’s got to be more of a predisposition. You see, if I put my head back when I’m sitting, I’ll pretty soon nod off. If I lie down on a horizontal surface, I’m a goner inside a minute (I’m not one to resist a rest). That’s predisposition.

I know of a former colleague who could nod off while sitting up in a meeting. That’s serious predisposition.

Simon Smith, University of Queensland Professor of Sleep and Health (a real position), responded with advice on the length of naps. Keeping them shorter will help you feel more refreshed, he said.

Apparently there has been a lot of research on “nap duration” and 15-20 minutes appears to be the recommended time. (Clearly, I’m doing very well here.)

One study shows that 20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon provides more rest than 20 minutes of extra sleep in the morning though it does add that the last two hours of morning sleep have special benefits of their own. Unfortunately the account I read did not reveal what those special benefits are.

If your dog is within earshot, you cannot ever announce your intention to nap and then take the dog for a walk. The dog only hears the second bit and will tail-wag and lick you to bits so that napping is out of the question anyway.

The upshot of all this is that I intend to enjoy napping until the opposing study findings are released. Then I will weigh up the pros and cons.

Possibly.

Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, a writer, musician and public speaker.