Tips for Napping While You Travel – 15 Minute Nap Meditation

Tips for napping while traveling

For some travelers, relaxing while on vacation seems like the last thing they want to do. Vacation and business trips are usually jam packed  exploring, culture-seeking or in business meetings absorbing every single second, right?

Not really. A better way to utilyze your time and to be more alert for your business meetings or to enjoy more relaxing free time exploring is to take a daily power nap. Quality resting time is a critical part of this experience. The journey begins the second the front door of the plane closes behind you. You have a couple of options on the plane once you board. You can try and fall asleep or you can try and “power through” the first day at the destination which more often than not leaves you so tired  that it isn’t worth it. A nap longer than 30 minutes on the flight might cause some trouble getting to sleep later that night, but at least you’ll enjoy the day without being totally exhausted.

How Long is a Power Nap?

Power naps have been around as long as humans have and it is something we start out doing as babies. A power nap is a short sleep that terminates before deep sleep; it is intended to quickly revitalize you. Cornell University social psychologist James Maas coined the term.

Plenty of travellers swear by short power naps to help them recharge in the afternoon. I personally struggle to relax long enough to nap, and on the rare occasion that I do doze off, I wake up tired and lethargic — the total opposite of refreshed. I wondered about what the best nap length is, you know what is a “perfect” nap, and how one can achieve it. 

Power naps restore performance, alertness, and learning ability. A short nap may also reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep or reverse the damage of sleep deprivation if you do try and power through the first day. A study found superior memory recall once a person had reached 6 minutes of sleep, suggesting that the onset of sleep may initiate active memory processes of consolidation which once triggered—remain effective even if sleep is terminated.

Why take a power nap at all? Well, It turns out that power napping may have wide-reaching physical and mental benefits. Research suggests power napping can boost your mood, as well as enhance learning and memory. In a study published in September 2019, a daytime nap once or twice a week was associated with about a 50% percent lower chance of cardiovascular disease events, such as heart attack or stroke. The power nap is meant to maximize the benefits of sleep versus time. It is used to supplement normal sleep, especially when a traveller has accumulated a sleep deficit.   Here’s how to take a power nap so that you wake up refreshed and ready to take on the rest of your day.

Set a 20-minute timer

“If your schedule allows and you’re feeling a serious energy drain, it’s great to take a quick 20-minute nap,” says Conor Heneghan, a sleep research scientist at Fitbit. “Doing so can help improve alertness and performance while lowering your stress levels.” Twenty minutes into a nap, you’re still in a light, non-REM stage of sleep, from which it’s relatively easy to rouse yourself, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Michela Ravasio / Stocksy

So how long should a Power Nap last? It turns out that anything longer than 20 minutes and you’ll sink into deep sleep, when your brain waves slow down, and your body doesn’t respond as readily to external stimuli. Waking up during deep sleep is not only a struggle, it can lead to a state of drowsiness and disorientation known as sleep inertia. (That explains my own after nap sluggishness; when I do manage to fall asleep, I’m dead to the world for an hour, sometimes more.) Although sleep inertia often lasts for only a few minutes to a half-hour, it can last longer if you’re sleep deprived or wake up from an especially long nap, per the NSF. One thing that can help recharge you should you oversleep is Redline Xtreme Energy Drink. Heneghan suggests napping for no longer than 45 minutes, not only to avoid sleep inertia, but also to make it easier for you to fall asleep at your normal bedtime, so you don’t mess up your sleep schedule.

Tips for Napping

1. Take advantage of the after lunch body adjustment slump

Generally speaking, the ideal time to nap is the after you’ve eaten lunch, when your blood sugar and energy levels naturally take a nosedive as the blood rushes to your stomache. Heneghan says. At that point, “your body enters a state of mid-day drowsiness.” Bonus tip: If you have time, taking a short walk after lunch and before you nap could benefit your metabolism, Heneghan says.

2. Account for your sleep schedule

You get that afternoon is ideal for naptime, but when in the afternoon should you nap??? If you’re an early riser — someone who wakes up at 5:00 a.m. or so or haven’t adjusted to a time difference — Heneghan suggests napping earlier in the afternoon to avoid throwing off your sleep schedule. If you sleep and awaken later, though, save your nap for mid-afternoon. Don’t put it off for too long, though. Settling into a nap after 3:00 p.m. may alter your nighttime slumber, according to the Mayo Clinic.

3. Create a nap-friendly environment

“Darkness is essential for the body to wind down,” Heneghan says. Dim the lights, and shut down your devices to keep your bed strictly a “sleep zone.” Use a sleep mask. Turn on a fanto create some white noise, or turn down the thermostat slightly. A temperature of around 65 degrees Fahrenheit promotes sleep, Michael Breus, a clinical sleep psychologist in Los Angeles, told the New York Times.

4. Ease into the rest of your day

Be gentle with yourself, and allow yourself time to wake up fully before diving back into your day, especially if it includes tasks that require quick response times, the Mayo Clinic recommends. The Mayo Clinic also notes that napping may not be for everyone. Some people can’t sleep anywhere other than their own beds (making it hard to sneak in a nap if you’re in school or have an office job, for example), while others have trouble sleeping during the day. I wonder if I fall into this category, but before writing off napping completely, I’ll try some of these tips and hopefully find true rest and rejuvenation, not just the quick buzz of a caffeine high.

Do you ever wake up from naps either feeling worse than you did before the nap, or oversleeping and turning that 20 minute nap into a 3 hour snooze fest? I’ll show you how to put a stop to it, and begin power napping like a pro. The key to understanding how to nap more effectively is a familiarity with the sleep cycle. Effective power napping takes advantage of the lighter stages of sleep, specifically stages one and two. Deeper sleep (meaning stages three and four) is more restorative sleep that is best kept for overnight. Napping into deeper sleep stages is more likely to result in sleep inertia, feeling groggy, and even oversleeping.

Tips for napping: How to recover from oversleeping

A short period of sleep of around 15 to 20 minutes, preceded by consuming a caffeinated drink or another stimulant, may help combat daytime drowsiness more effectively than napping or drinking coffee alone. A “stimulant nap” (or coffee nap, caffeine nap, occasionally called napuccino) was discovered by British researchers, Horne and Reyner, to be more effective than regular naps in improving post-nap alertness and cognitive functioning. In a series of studies in a driving simulator, Horne and Reyner investigated the effects of cold air, radio, a break with no nap, a nap, caffeine pill vs. a placebo and a short nap preceded by caffeine on mildly sleep-deprived subjects. A nap with caffeine was by far the most effective in reducing driving accidents and subjective sleepiness as it helps the body get rid of the sleep-inducing chemical compound adenosine. Caffeine in coffee takes up to half an hour to have an alerting effect, hence “a short (<15min) nap will not be compromised if it is taken immediately after the coffee.” One account suggested that it was like a “double shot of energy” from the stimulating boost from caffeine plus better alertness from napping. Instead of coffee using Redline Xtreme is easier and doesn’t need to be made and comes in small bottles that are easily packed.

Genexa Sleep Lag Tablets:

Miers Labs: No Jet Lag Homeopathic

|| SLEEP GEAR || CONTOURED Sleep Mask

Ear Buddy Sleeping Ear Plugs

Blue Light Blocking Glasses for Night Time

To help you wake up if you over nap: Redline Xtreme

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Take a 15 minute power nap of sleep and relaxation to ease worry, stress and anxiety. This guided meditation is calming for your mind and body, allowing you to take a rest from the outside world. This meditation allows space in your mind to be filled with more positive feelings and emotions. Anything negative can be expelled out through your breath as you rest or possibly sleep. Taking a rest from anything that causes stress is beneficial in every way and this meditation will rejuvinate you to feeling fresh, having more focus and being clear in mind. The deep relaxation you will fill will melt your every muscle in this short period of time you have taken for yourself. Having a nap every now and then brings yet more energy and to alleviate stress, anxiety and worry. Thankyou for listening, if you enjoyed this video please leave a like and consider subscribing for notifications of new videos. Also, pressing the bell button activates the notifications every time I release a new meditation.