I’ve been gifted with a great memory that goes back to my early childhood. I’ve often amazed family by not only describing events that took place when I was only 2 or 3, but I described locations in detail. Of my many early memories were the daily naps. Every afternoon, after lunch, I had to lay down and take nap.

When I went to kindergarten in 1955, all of us kids had a small rug we brought from home and every afternoon, after lunch we had to lay down and take nap. If you were caught taking or doing anything other than napping, we were punished.

Once I got to 1st grade in 1956, naps were suddenly a thing of the past. It made all 1st graders feel like we were really growing up. Naps were only needed when we were sick and then all I was ever allowed to do was stay in bed all day.

Throughout the rest of school, if you were caught napping, you were in trouble. In the workforce, napping often gets you fired.

Younger folks have longed made fun of older folks for taking afternoon naps, just like pre-school toddlers do, but with age comes wisdom and we older folks have learned the benefits of napping.

Did you know that a short nap taken in the middle of the afternoon has a number of benefits?

• Memory – the brain needs sleep to sort out memories, store the important ones and discard the unimportant ones. Think about it – have you been so tired that it was hard to think or recall anything? That’s your brain telling you it needs time to process and rest just as much as your body does. Napping helps with recall, motor skills, sense perception and verbal recall as well.
• Connecting the dots – no, not a bunch of dots on a piece of paper, but the different things you learned earlier in the day. Napping helps your brain sort through them and make necessary connections that help you when you are awake.
• Job performance – don’t get caught napping on the job, unless you work for one of those companies who have learned the importance of short power naps and make provisions for it. A short nap has been found to help with your job performance and therefore increases your chances of climbing the ladder of success.
• Mood – need help brightening your mood or outlook on life? Take a short nap or just rest without sleeping for an hour and it many instances, it will improve your mood and make you feel happier or more content.
• Drowsies – it’s a normal biological function that humans feel drowsy after eating, especially after lunch and dinner as they tend to be larger meals. A 20-minute nap can help recover from the drowsies.
• Better than caffeine – a short 10-20-minute nap is better at keeping you awake and alert without the caffeine jitters. Don’t forget that naps help with memory, motor skills, learning, studying and communication, things caffeine often hinder.
• Jet lag – whether flying or just pulling some late nights with work, driving, family or whatever, a nap before hand can help you get though the lack of sleep or change in time zones.
• Stress – feeling uptight and stressed out? Experts recommend a 30-minute nap. It helps relieve stress which in turn helps boost your immune system.
• Heart – suffer from high blood pressure and feel stressed? Would you believe that a 45-60-minute nap not only helps to relieve the stress, but it lowers the blood pressure which is good for your heart.
• Creativity – need to be creative for the job or whatever your doing? A longer nap of 75-90-minutes can help. It takes that long for most people to enter REM sleep and REM sleep has been found to help with creativity and ideas.
• Sleeping at night – I know some people who avoid taking an afternoon nap because they say they won’t sleep at night. Studies show that 30-minute nap, taken between 1pm and 3pm, combined with moderate exercise (walking or stretching) helps to improve nighttime sleeping.
• Habit – some evidence indicates that making a habit of napping in the afternoon helps with the ability to differentiate between things that are similar but different.

Yes, older folks who take naps aren’t just being lazy or tired, but they know that it helps them both mentally and physically. Napping isn’t just for toddlers. In fact, experts recommend that everyone should be in the habit of taking an afternoon nap, providing your job allows it.