by Muffy Mendoza
Tags: black women napping
moms and naps
moms need sleep
moms taking naps
naps and health
sleep and moms
taking a nap with your baby
women and naps
So Sunday was just a bad day for me. Every time my kids or husband said something to me I snapped. Every time a negative thought crept into my head, I got on edge and frazzled. There weren’t enough sugary beverages or snacks in the house to fill the sugary void that filled my stomach. Finally, it dawned on me: maybe you really need to take a nap. After about 5 hours of stalling, I finally laid down in my bed and within 5 minutes began the sweet slumber of a 4 hour nap. When I woke up, I felt better. I helped my husband fold the laundry and gave all three of my boys hugs and kisses. As mamas, sometimes we have to realize that we are exhausted and our minds would have a sunnier outlook on life if we just took a nap. And it turns out, women who don’t take naps are far worse off than women who don’t. With that said, here are 3 reason us mamas need to try and sneak in a daily nap.
1. Powerful women take power naps.
According to New York Magazine, Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, takes naps regularly and recently even took one right before a Vogue interview causing quite the media uproar. But, studies have show Mayer may be on the right track. Taking even mini-naps (10-20 minutes) improves cognitive function (i.e. you problem solve and make connections more easily), and is proven to be more effective than caffeine, according to the Journal for Sleep Research. The journal also says that even 6-minute naps can improve your long-term memory.
2. Napping gives you a longer shelf life.
Taking power naps increases your alertness later in the day. Rather than working on half a tank around 5 pm, taking a power nap during your lunch break can give mamas that last minute perkiness to make it through dinner and getting the kids to bed.
3. Consistent, good naps can get rid of mommy-brain
According to the author of the book Take a Nap! Change Your Life during a 90-minute nap:
During non-rapid eye wave movement sleep (i.e. 9o minutes or more) we enter into slow-wave sleep, which is the deepest kind. Slow-wave sleep helps us remember facts, places, and faces….
After having a baby, or multiple babies, one of the biggest complaints we all have as moms is that we can’t remember anything. (Mommy brain) Well it might be because you are missing opportunities for a daily nap. Our dreams help us flesh things out, and make sense of life in our subconscious. By fitting in a daily nap, our brain gets the opportunity to remember the facts, places, faces and things that make our lives relevant. That can lead to a greater understanding of the relationships and energies that propel your life forward.
Well, it’s getting late and I’m due for a nap. How about you mamas, are you dodging naps or indulging in them?