Dalliance with your afternoon siesta or power nap is
packed with health benefits and experts suggest that a half-hour snooze can
actually boost your performance at work by reducing stress and recharging the
energy levels.
Sleep specialist Dr. Deelip Chaterjee said that a half an
hour siesta in the daytime helps in reducing stress by relaxing the body, but
sleeping more than half and hour messes up with the night’s rest and so is not
recommended.
“Snoozing for more than half an hour could interfere with
your night’s rest and so is not recommended,” Dr. Chaterjee who practices in
the US, but has opened a centre in Guwahati for people having sleeping
disorders, said here.
A midday rest or siesta is common in most countries with
hot climate. The Spanish word siesta derives from the Latin word Sexta
Hora meaning sixth hour. Spaniards are strict adherents of siesta so are
several communities around the world, including many in India.
Several great leaders could not do without their
power nap. In fact, Winston Churchill coined the word power nap as he believed
that having his forty winks in the afternoon helped him to think better!
Napoleon, Leonardo Da Vinci, John F Kennedy, Einstein, Thomas Edison amongst
others, celebrated siesta almost every day in their lives.
“Edison had an interesting way for his siesta. He used to
sit in a couch in the afternoon holding a spoon in his hand and placing a plate
at his foot. He used to sleep that way until the spoon dropped from his hand onto the plate and wake him up in about half an hour,” Dr. Chaterjee said.
The physician suggested that an alarm should be set for
half an hour’s rest if anyone wants to start this age-old practice to rejuvenate
the body and mind. It is unlikely though that by practicing siesta there are
greater chances of epiphany and inventing something path-breaking as a light
bulb, but just to join the club of daydreamers, give it a shot!
