Download PDF - UCR Magazine - University of California, Riverside

14 | UCR Spring 2013
7 Sleep More
What can help you look
younger, lose weight, reduce stress,
enhance your sex life, and — best of
all — is free? Napping.
According to research performed
by Sara C. Mednick, author
of “Take a Nap! Change Your
Life” and assistant professor of
psychology at
UCR, naps can
improve your
everyday life. They
help you think
better and more
clearly, and have
no side effects.
“The research
that we’ve been
doing has been
looking at memory
consolidation
and creativity,”
Mednick says. “We know that
sleep is important for memory
consolidation and has other
cognitive benefits. The
question is whether a short
60- to 90-minute nap has
all the same ingredients as
a full night of sleep. ...
“A short 60- to
90-minute nap
has all the
same
ingredients as
a full night of
sleep.”
What we’ve been showing is that, in
fact, it can.”
Mednick’s research has found
that naps improve cognitive
performance even better than
caffeine, so next time you’re in need
of a boost, don’t reach for that
second mug of bad coffee – take a
little snooze.
After all, Mednick
points out, there are
many advantages
to taking a breather
once in a while.
The culture in the
American workplace
is to persevere and
work on, she says, but
that doesn’t improve
productivity.
“You do better after
working for an amount
of time and then taking a
break – even if it’s just taking
a walk or switching tasks.”
Taking breaks, Mednick says,
is “incredibly restorative
and allows you to come up
with new ideas.”