Seriously, Take a Nap

Remember when everyone was super proud of you when you had a nap?

Let’s think about that.

People were happy when you slowed down. And in turn, you felt good about it.

In addition to giving your parents a break (they never told you that part), there were lots of other benefits of you being well-rested as a child.

1. YOU WERE IN A BETTER MOOD

The proper amount of sleep allows us to better regulate our responses and our reactions to events coming at us during the day. This is an important part of emotional intelligence and implementing power skills that make us better colleagues, managers, and bosses.

2. YOU WERE HEALTHIER

Sleep is imperative to proper health, and getting run down even as a child didn’t serve anyone well. Sickness costs productivity, and for parents with kids you know that when your kid gets sick, your productivity goes down significantly. Same was true for your parents. Same is true for you.

3. YOU LEARNED BETTER

Brains need sleep to consolidate memories. If you don’t give your brain a chance to do its job properly all those new neural connections, you need to hold on to new learnings will just slip away.

Turns out power naps give the exact same benefits to adults, but in our western culture, we focus on 9-5 (let’s be honest, 8-6) work ethic.

The truth is, if we need a nap, we should probably take one, just like when we were kids.

There are lots of ways that we can learn from our habits from childhood, through sleep, through creativity, through play.

What childhood habit do you wish you could start up again?

Want to learn more about how childhood habits can help your productivity?

Contact us at theresa.bailey@starfishsynergies.com