Lots of famous and powerful people over the years have used a power nap to boost their energy levels.
Often as an immovable object in their day to day routine.
Winston Churchill believed that a large part of his success during World War II was due to his insistance on having a power nap in the late afternoon for anything up to 2 hours.
Which sounds a long time to nap during what is seen as part of the normal working day. But he reckoned that this routine allowed him to get twice as much work done as he would have without it.
Napoleon was generally acknowledged to be a bundle of energy but, like Churchill, took time out to have a power nap “on demand” – he was famously able to fall asleep whenever and wherever he wanted.
Some of Einstein’s most famous revelations were as a result of his day dreaming, including riding along on a beam of light.
But power naps aren’t restricted to the power mad or the famous.
Us mere mortals can – and probably should – use them as well.
As ever, it’s a routine that helps.
You’ll need to decide on somewhere that you can nap without well meaning folks waking you up. That could be as simple as retreating to your (parked!) car. Or it may be a specially designated room at work if your employer is sufficiently enlightened. Or a room at home if you can’t power nap at work or if you work from home.
If you’re a coffee drinker, it’s worth having a “fix” of coffee before you start your power nap. The caffeine won’t kick in immediately but instead will help to bring you out of napping in case you over-stay your nap time.
As well as the caffeine, set a timer to bring you out of your slumber. Allow yourself 15 minutes power napping (that seems to be a duration that works well for most people) plus however many minutes it takes you to reach your napping state. So maybe 20 minutes until you work out a better figure.
Then let yourself relax and fall into a sleep.
Your first few power naps will likely be more cat-napping than a deep sleep. That’s fine. You’ll get better as you do more of them!
When your alarm goes off, shake off your sleep and get back in your normal routine.
It really is that simple!
If you’d like help with your power nap routine, check out this download.
Which sounds a long time to nap during what is seen as part of the normal working day. But he reckoned that this routine allowed him to get twice as much work done as he would have without it.
