What is the best way to be productive?
This is a question to which there are many answers; for instance, you might make a planner, hone your time management skills or down a cup of coffee.
However, what if I told you one of the best ways to increase productivity is to take a nap?
It could be more accurate than you would initially believe. As anyone who knows me would concede, I am a strong proponent of naps.
The benefits are mostly clear. Naps reduce fatigue, increase alertness and improve a person’s mood.
In fact, 85 percent of mammals are polyphasic sleepers, meaning they sleep for small periods during the daytime, not just the night. Humans are part of the 15 percent that do not follow this pattern.
I believe in naps. I believe in them not necessarily because it is good to just crawl back into bed and be lazy but also because naps can be a critical tool for one’s studies.
A NASA study on military pilots concluded that pilots who napped for 40 minutes showed up to 34 percent better performance on flight-related tasks, and their alertness increased by 54 percent.
This knowledge can also be applied to studying as well.
Napping is not only good for improving alertness. Sleep is where short-term memories are converted to long-term memories. So, say you take a nap after you study for a little while. Those concepts that you just studied are going to be reinforced by that nap and remembered better.
A Harvard study shows that people who nap have a 40 percent increase in memory recollection compared to those who did not nap.
By this point, you could be thinking, “But how will I study for long periods of time if I take a nap?” The answer is that you probably should not study for too long in the first place.
Psychologists have studied a phenomenon called the serial position effect. It essentially states that we best remember material we study at the beginning and end of a session.
Usually, the first hour of a study session is going to have a good retention rate, and the same is true for the last hour. However, the material in between those two hours is really going to suffer, and it will only get worse the longer the study session is.
So go take that nap. Kick back and relax for a minute. The positive effects of a 40-minute or longer nap are endless. You will wake up refreshed, more alert and with a better retention of prior studies. Next week, instead of obsessing about the presidential campaign, someone should launch a crusade for more naps.
James Halbrook is a sophomore chemical engineering major from Brandon.
