On the web there are many famous afternoon naps: Tolkienafter lunch, returned home for his “Lunch and Nap“, The” short sonnellini “of Leonardo da Vinci Oi “cat-nap” Of Albert Einstein. Whether they are true stories or not, the importance of a short nap (about 10-20 minutes) has not gone unnoticed even before science validated the benefits. Rest without falling into deep sleep It gives us an immediate energy, attention and concentration ability, also preserving us from brain aging: it is a sort of break for our brain. Dissing beyond 30 minutes, however, would take us to the deep sleep phase, when longer neuronal regeneration processes are activated in our brain: waking up at this moment could make us feel confused and numb. Not to mention that sleeping a lot in the afternoon could make us more difficult to sleep at night.
Sleeping in the afternoon is really right? The benefits
The secret of nap All is in the fact that our brain, once asleep, takes some time before entering the phases of deep sleep. But in these first, fundamental minutes of falling asleep, that is, in the light sleep phase, the levels of neurotransmitters norepinephrine And serotonin they precipitate, while the neurotransmitter inhibitor par excellence takes space: the Gaba. We also warn less what surrounds us: in fact, the connectivity between the cerebral cortex and the thalamus (the control unit of sensory stimuli) is reduced and regulated in such a way as to filter external stimuli. The crucial point is precisely this sort of general “slowdown” of neural activity, as if it were a pause.
In general, the sonnellini lasting 10-20 minutes are considered the most benefits for the daytime improvement of cognitive performance, precisely because they enjoy a “neural reset”which allows you to regenerate and repair overloading neurons, applying a sort of rinoarization of the synaptic force between neurons, that is, reinforcing the ability of neurons to communicate with each other.
The result of a fast nap is therefore a beautiful sparkling brain immediately after awakening thanks to the increase in cortical excitement, and a improvement of attention, concentration, working memory And creativity which can last up to 2-3 hours! Finally, it has been found that the short regular sleepy spaces have an action of Cerebral aging protection and the chances of preserving the volume cerebral in old age.
Over 30 minutes you can enter deep sleep
The longest sonnellini, which go beyond 30 minutes, expose us to the possibility of entering the sleep in slow waves, that is, the deep sleep. During this phase, deepest processes of cleaning and repairing neural damage are activated. It is also at this stage that the passage of our memories takes place from short -term memory to the long -term one. This determines a phenomenon called “sleeping inertia”that is, a strong reduction in the ability to think and act: if we wake up during this deep sleep phase we could feel numb, confused and unable to move.
However, we could have some benefits even from longer nursing, but more likely only After 30-120 minutes from awakeningand after having fought with the intonation of the Herzia. In addition, some studies note that 1 hour or more are related to a increase of the risk of overall mortality and cardiovascular diseases, as well as having the potential of compromise the quality of night sleep.
What happens to the brain during sleep
When we close our eyes for one long sleep night, the brain activates the falling asleep process by entering the first phase of sleep, the phase non-rehem (often abbreviated in nrem). In the case of night sleep, this first phase constitutes the entrance door for a series of cycles (between 4 and 6 per night) which will follow each other during the entire duration of our sleep. Each cycle has an average duration that varies Between 90 and 110 minutes And it starts with a non-rehel phase, consisting of three sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-subsides.
During sleep nrem is witnessing a gradual slowdown of our body: At the brain level the waves αtypical of the relaxed vigil states, and the waves appear Theta, θ (at lower frequency); Subsequently they also slow down the heart and respiratory frequency, up to the deep sleep (N3), and its typical waves δ. Deep sleep, which takes a lot of space in the first cycles, almost disappears in the last few hours, while the time that the brain passes in the sleep phase increases Remwhich is also the phase in which we dream and the brain manifests an activity similar to the vigil, with a predominance of β and θ waves.
