Intro to Napping: Part 3

Happy Monday! Did you nap over the weekend? I did not, although I wouldn't have minded a shorty. My Saturdays are going to be pretty annoying the next 14 weeks, because of BIO 103 from 9am to 3pm. Nap time will be around 4pm, so please, no calls.

So I was thinking... How exactly does a person put this knowledge of napping science to good use? There seems to be a gap between the science and the practice, and I'd like to fill it in.

Seeing that the target audience of Healthy Wealthy & Wise is probably in school or working or both(!), I wanted to share a napping case study that Dr. Mednick included in Tap a Nap! This concretely illustrates how a person can incorporate napping into a busy schedule.

A Profile in Napping: The Law Student

Situation: Rasheed is a 22 year-old law school student who works two nights and one weekend day at a ladies' shoe stores in a busy mall. He wakes up at 6:45 a.m. and gets five to six hours of sleep on most nights. "I have to keep my eyes on my goals, but this regimen is exhausting. I need every free minute that I'm not in class or at work to study. But lately I don't have the energy and concentration to study as hard as I used to."

Target Areas: Rasheed needs slow-wave sleep to help clear his mind of useless information and make room for memory consolidation. He also needs Stage 2 to help him with customers at night with his usual energetic and chipper manner.

Nap Rx: One 20-minute "transition" nap after school, before going to his job at the mall; on weekends, a one-hour restoration nap after his shift, before he cracks open his books.

Benefits: Rasheed's weekday Stage 2 naps will help him stay alert and full of friendly good service. His longer weekend nap is for the law student who needs to clear his mind and help him memorize massive amounts of new information daily.

Making it Happen: Rasheed now takes his weekday naps (along with other students) in the library at school. He gets to take his weekend nap in the comfort of his own bed. "I know I won't be able to keep up this pace forever, but napping has been helping me get through these intense years, staying focused and motivated."

Yay Rasheed! I thought this was a great example of how napping can be incorporated into life on a weekly basis and be extremely beneficial. Even though he was only getting 5-6 hours of sleep a night, the recommendation was not for Rasheed to nap for 3 hours every day. Instead, he took a 20 minute nap twice a week and an hour long nap on Saturdays. That's only 100 minutes of napping a week!

By strategically scheduling "power naps" for important transitions, Rasheed was able to get a little pick-me-up before heading to his (crap) job at the ladies shoe store, which by the sounds of it was probably an excruciating retail position. But hey, we gotta do what we gotta do.

I think this sounds manageable. Would any law students like to put in their 2 cents?