“Let me grab a power nap,” I plead to my elder daughter. She knows that I’m exhausted after a gruelling morning and stressful afternoon, and that I will be back to my hyper, energetic self 20-odd minutes later.

The power nap is perfect for the fast-paced, frenzied age we live in as it is meant to maximise the benefits of sleep versus time. More so, it is very beneficial to people working long hours and who are expected to be focused and alert at all times of the day. People are continuously juggling domestic duties, families, children and work as well as the tedious obligations of social life.

For Deeba, a mother of three and a kindergarten teacher, the power nap re-energises and helps her rest after a long day. She is also unable to sleep properly as her toddler wakes up at odd hours of the night.

People from the Mediterranean have got it right; a siesta can relax your mind and revive you

“Six hours of sleep is the stuff dreams are made of. I have to be up at 5:30am and get my kids and myself ready for school. I return to a truckload of household chores and homework drills and before I know it, it is night time. But I can’t hit the pillow before midnight”

“I’ve become used to getting energised after a 20-minute snooze. Even a cup of tea can’t rejuvenate me and combat the weariness like a nap,” she admits wryly.

I’ve even found one colleague with his head on his table snoring away; 20 minutes later after he’s washed his face, he looks as fresh as a May flower, typing away madly at his laptop.

A power nap is not crashing on your bed and succumbing to two hours of sleep in the middle of the day. On the contrary, it is short sleep which terminates before the occurrence of deep sleep or slow-wave sleep, with the intention to rejuvenate immediately. Sleep deprivation is one of the basic reasons for experiencing fatigue.

Experts believe that short naps or power naps — also referred to as stage 2 naps — infuse us with a burst of alertness and energy boost to take on the tasks of the day. The nap should be brief so that you don’t experience the detrimental effects of sleep inertia which come with longer naps.

“I recommend a nap to my teenaged grandchildren when they are exhausted while cramming for a test,” says Arifa. “That 20-minute nap refreshes them to perform better!”

Her granddaughter says ruefully, “It works; one might feel naps are for babies and the elderly but an uninterrupted 20-minute nap after I return from college helps stave off the crankiness, improves my mood and lets me focus better so that I can concentrate on my assignments.”

Anecdotal evidence suggests that more children are no longer napping in the afternoon but research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggests that “distributed sleep is critical in early learning; when short-term memory stores are limited, memory consolidation must take place frequently”. Supporting this study is the finding that sleep-deprived children between the ages of two and three “show more anxiety, less joy and interest and a poorer understanding of how to solve problems…”

Research has showed that a nap is a better rejuvenator than even coffee or tea as caffeinated drinks may give you a high but will not enhance performance. For instance, in 2006, a study at the Sleep Medicine and Research Centre affiliated with St John’s Mercy Medical Centre and St Luke’s Hospital in suburban St Louis, Missouri found that both naps and caffeine improved alertness and performance among night shift workers.

If you think that only lazy people nap, think again. Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and George W. Bush are known to have prized the afternoon nap. That’s the reason why you might have also heard of doctors and nurses with gruelling, round-the-clock schedules, resorting to planned napping sessions during their working hours. In the West, major corporate-level companies like Google and Huffington Post have started creating special nap spaces for their employees to maximise their output.

Ideally, a power nap should be in a comfortable place with minimum noise and light. If you are disturbed during your nap it’s sure to make your head pound even more. Surely, you remember experiencing further fatigue when you’ve been wrestling to sleep and have been unable to. Just lying in bed waiting for sleep can be mentally exhausting.

A power nap is a mini respite from the challenges of the day. It helps you temporarily zone out and psychologically feel better after you’re up. Research also supports that napping is good for our heart, blood pressure, stress levels, and even weight management. Sleep experts have shared that naps help lower stress which consequently helps manage blood pressure.

Undoubtedly, there is nothing which can beat six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep at night but when that isn’t an option due to your lifestyle, the power nap can come to the rescue.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, April 24th, 2016