People who nap at work have bigger brains, are more productive: research

Be careful sleeping on the job — you might get promoted.

A slew of recent studies have found that taking a siesta has real benefits for work productivity, creativity and memory.

In fact, some employers are now installing nap pods, sleep rooms and other spaces dedicated to power naps.

But the stigma against people who sleep during the day remains stubborn, despite the evidence showing measurable benefits to napping.

For example, a recent study finds a link between people who take regular afternoon naps and larger brain volumes.

That’s right: People who regularly nap have bigger brains.

The researchers, writing in the journal Sleep Health, looked at data from over 35,000 participants in the British Biobank survey.

Our brains tend to shrink as we age, but the brains of habitual nappers were large enough to offset up to 6.5 years of aging.

That news would come as no surprise to power nappers like British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who reportedly took cat naps in the back of her limousine.

Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Stephen King, Mark Cuban and presidents John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush all flourished after a quick snooze.

Even military tough guys like General Douglas MacArthur, Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte and Supreme Allied Commander (and president) Dwight D. Eisenhower insisted on getting some afternoon shuteye.

“Given the latest science on the effectiveness of napping and the clear link between employees feeling well rested and their productivity, it’s long past time that businesses embrace short naps at work,” said Arianna Huffington, as quoted in the Guardian.

Huffington, the co-founder of HuffPost and chief executive of Thrive Global, is one of many employers who accommodate naps at work.

Ben and Jerry’s, Nike and Google also let employees take a daytime snooze. The British National Health Service (NHS) in 2018 started installing sleep pods for weary hospital staff facing long shifts.

“We are a sleep-deprived people, which makes us more prone to accidents at work, lower levels of creativity and concentration, and higher levels of irritability,” Sara Mednick, Ph.D., of the department of cognitive sciences at the University of California, Irvine, told the Guardian.

The evidence for naps goes back many years: A meta-analysis of 54 research reports from 2002 to 2020 found that “[a]fternoon naps have a small to medium benefit over multiple cognitive tests.”

Those cognitive tests included memory, attention span, problem-solving, planning, self-awareness and emotional regulation (the ability to not scream insults at your coworkers — always a good skill to master).

And if your office is a ball field, the benefits of a quick snooze are even more significant, according to researchers from Spain, where the siesta was invented.

Among athletes, a daytime nap between 30 and 60 minutes “has a moderate-to-high effect on the improvement of cognitive performance and physical performance,” the study authors wrote in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

But like many endeavors, there’s a right way and a wrong way to nap, experts report: A too-long nap often leaves people groggy.

NASA, in a much-reported study, found that pilots who slept for 26 minutes showed alertness improvements of up to 54% and job improvements by 34% compared to pilots who didn’t nap.

To ensure you don’t over-nap, take a tip from famous napper (and scientist) Albert Einstein, who slept in a chair holding a spoon.

After drifting off to sleep, his body would relax to the point where he would drop the spoon onto the floor. The clattering spoon would wake Einstein up, allowing his refreshed mind to solve complex theoretical physics problems.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go … zzzzzzzz.