Conscious Sleep: The Art of Precision Napping

SleepFITness in action: – Geoff Weigand Sleep Giant creator taking a mid-river “precision nap” on a perfect reclining boulder – Uinta Mountains, Utah.

What
Taking a nap (short sleep) is our natural, and fundamental way of regenerating mind and body during our “waking hours”.

Precision Napping
“The art of napping” is being able to take a nap when you really need it, such that you are able to continue your day afterward with the benefits of boosted mental and physical energy, no matter the time, where you are, or the time of day… – “precision napping”.

Why

Universal Life Performance Tool  
Having a precision napping capability in your “living toolkit” is invaluable, as taking a nap is the most fundamental, universal, life performance and health optimizing action we can take.

Being able to “nap with precision” means you can nap strategically, giving you the ability to plan how to maintain your optimal physical energy and mental acuity throughout the entire day.

Sleep is the way our body restores/maintains it’s biological rhythm as well as mental and physical energy. If we are short on, or have a “bad night’s” sleep, we feel it until the next time we sleep, either until the next night, or if we take a nap during the day.

For some, whether it’s a personal belief or an aspect of the highly scheduled, overstimulated culture we are a part of, taking a nap (or even the need for sleep in general) is seen as a “sign of weakness”. This is an unfortunate or even misguided thought process, as thinking this way robs you of the most essential and effective mind/body recovery and performance integration activity available to us.

Of course there are many ways we can override the signals our body sends us (i.e. that we’re in “sleep debt”) – the most common being “food-based” stimulants like coffee, energy drinks etc., which activates our adrenal response, which does “boost” energy and mental sharpness for a short period, which is useful, (but unsustainable)!

But the fact remains, that without being “sufficiently slept”, there is no truly healthy way to maintain your full (integrated) life energy, metal performance, immunity and overall well-being!

The true power as it relates to sleep, is in understanding how to strategically use it for the benefit of your whole life experience, as being well slept organically improves:

• immunity and overall health
• cognitive performance and creativity
• physical performance
• mood
• outlook on life
• overall well-being

Important note: No matter what “level” of performance/experience you can achieve on short sleep – all other things being equal – the capacity to reach your ultimate integrated capability in any aspect of life will (only) be accessible when you are also truly well-slept.

Who

Shift Workers/Travelers/Athletes/New Parents 
If you work in a high performance field, lead a busy life, “have things to do” – i.e. you are new parents, business founder, traveler, health care worker, first responder, elite/pro athlete or other performance-based career – having the capacity (and confidence) to manage/boost your energy in an organic (healthy) way with sleep, is essential in being able to sustain your optimal “life performance”.

Some of us can take a nap whenever we need or like, “no big deal”! While for many, or even most of us, who might love and need the benefit of a nap, we often don’t feel we have the time and/or have a (real) concern about being able to fully wake-up afterward, leaving us unable to take advantage of the benefits that napping provides in the first place.

Most of us experience a brief “low period” after lunch in mid-afternoon, which is an organic aspect of the energy modulation of our circadian rhythm and the perfect and natural time to take a nap (if your schedule allows). This practice of taking a mid-afternoon sleep – siesta – is fully integrated into the way of life and business day in some cultures, showing there is more than one way to live with and take advantage of your body’s natural rhythm.

How
The “art” of napping
Taking a nap during the normal course of a (busy) day can be “tricky”… Napping requires us to navigate the “path to sleep” and back again, while in the middle of our waking activities, in essence changing our brain state from faster brain waves (awake), to slower brain waves (sleep), and back up again in a short period of time.

If you are short on sleep – getting to sleep (no matter the time of day) is relatively easy, so it’s the “coming back” to wakefulness aspect that is the difficulty.

Conversely if you’re stressed, anxious, wired on nervous energy – getting to sleep can be a real problem, if not impossible, any time of the day (or night).

Even if you are well slept but want to take advantage of the real performance boost of a nap, you’re are still required to interact/manage your “neuro-arousal” state in order to fall asleep.

The “art” in napping lies in being able to consciously regulate your “arousal state” (neurophysiological energy state) when you need to – which during the day isn’t assisted by the nightly release of hormones (such as melatonin) helping sleep to come easily.

This key to napping (and falling asleep in general), is being able to progressively relax your physical body and brain (letting go of that which is occupying your mind) which organically allows your mind and body to come together (in the same time and place) creating the conditions for sleep to naturally occur.

When

Syncing with your natural energy rhythm
Unless you are so sleep deprived, such that you fall asleep the moment you stop moving, timing a nap to work with the natural rhythm (ebb and flow) of your energy during the day, makes the whole process of falling asleep quickly and waking again considerably easier.

If…, you have the flexibility to take a nap when it works best for you, (when you have both the time and, you feel your energy/attention are naturally waning) you will have the most seamless napping experience.

If you don’t have the flexibility in your day to nap when you it suits you best, your ability to manage your state, to make sleep possible is the crux to effective napping.

Note: Sleep Giant’s zero-G Precision Nap programs are specifically designed to assist your in making these transitions as seamlessly as possible

By taking a nap at this moment of your day, you take advantage of being in synchronization/harmony with your body’s natural rhythm, making your nap effective and the rest of your day more energetic.

Where

Anywhere anytime…
Where you take a nap and how you manage the combination of location and environment can make a substantial difference in the effectiveness of your nap. If you are a less proficient napper, the more important it is to create the optimal conditions to support your nap process.

Things to keep in mind for creating the optimal conditions for napping:

Strategic Scheduling –

• With careful planning, you can take advantage of both your life and physiological        schedules, giving you the best chance of gaining all the benefit of a “successful” nap.
• Planning your nap also prepares you for mentally “taking a momentary break” from your daytime responsibilities, essential for falling asleep quickly.

Physical Conditions –

• Physical space – secluded if possible
• Sleeping surface – that your body can fully relax on. This can be any surface, but if this is not your normal sleeping surface this is essential to get right or it will be impossible to fall asleep quickly if at all.
• Let anyone, that may look for you, know that you are taking a nap and when you expect to be back again.

Ambient conditions –

• Light – for best conditions during daytime use an eye pillow or mask or a room as close to dark as night.
• Sound – for best conditions use over-the-ear headphones, in a quiet space (Note: zero-G Acoustics Programs are most effective with direct ear sound with stereo headsets).
• *Important – don’t forget to put the device you are using in airplane/silent mode so you are not disturbed

Napping, and more specifically “napping with precision” (for busy people) is perhaps our most powerful health and energy management tool, and one of the fundamental aspects of being “sleep fit” giving you access to the miraculous effects of sleep while in the middle of your day.

With some practice and attention anyone can develop the ability to nap with precision anytime, anywhere.

Sleep Giant – Sleep Performance System:
Sleep Giant, the ultimate precision napping and sleep performance system designed to boost  overall sleep efficiency and napping effectiveness and…

A secret “performance tool” of world class athletes and performers, originally developed to assist elite athletes in reaching their peak performance while managing the physiological and psychological stresses of constant competition, training, travel and jet lag – now available to everyone in convenient app form.

Sleep Giant’s zero-G Precision Naps “library” offers a comprehensive series of “full-cycle” (awake>asleep>awake) nap programs (ranging from 15-90 minutes) built with zero-G Acoustics integrative audio, which crucially assist you in bringing mind and body together, so that getting to sleep and coming back to wakefulness again, in the time you have available, is seamlessly integrated into your day.