Suhas Bathini - Week 12: Why 4-Year-Old You Was Smarter Than You Are Now
Let's go back 12 years now.
You are 4, maybe 5 years old now. Life is simple. The most difficult decision of the day is choosing what crayon to color in the flower classwork assignment. And then, every afternoon, something magical happens. Somebody, maybe your parents or daycare teacher, tells you "It's nap time." Initially, you dread it, but soon enough you fall asleep drooling onto your pillow. When you wake up you feel refreshed and full of energy.
However, at some point, we decided that napping was for babies. We became older and could "push through" exhaustion. But did we? Maybe four-year-old us had it all figured out. Many adults today consume exorbitant amounts of caffeine, staring blankly at their computer screen, wishing for a quick break—wishing to lie in bed, recharge, and head back to work.
This personally has worked for me. As soon as I get home, I hop into my bed take a quick nap and recharge. Considered to be "weird" by my friends, this new routine has significantly boosted my productivity throughout the day.
Nevertheless, it's not just my own personal experiences but also scientific studies that support this idea. According to NASA, "just 26 minutes [of naps] can improve job performance by a third."
Don't feel guilty to nap here and there. Remember, NASA research suggests napping. Einstein was a napper. Da Vinci was a napper. Successful people are nappers. Napping has the power to recharge yourself, even on the most stress-inducing days.
It's not like you were really planning to be productive in your first 20 minutes back home anyway.
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| Source: Los Angeles Times |
Hi Suhas,
ReplyDeleteI was interested in your blog from your title and clicked on it to see why a 4-year old is smarter than me. I currently have a 4-year old cousin who is not the brightest person I know and was interested to see what you had to say about them. I like how you introduced your blog to us and made it very personal for us to imagine as if we were actually young kids whose worst part of the day was nap time (I do miss those days). I also like how you introduce an unexpected twist by saying that we had it all figured out to not push through exhaustion and use caffeine to artificially keep us awake. In addition, the reference to the NASA article is well placed as it serves to add credibility to your argument (ironic considering what we are currently studying in English right now) and makes the audience really think about the benefits of sleep. In fact, “nap” was said so many times that I started unintentionally yawning as I am currently writing this at 10:30 PM. The last statement is the cherry on top as I am sure EVERYONE can relate to this. When I get home, I am not productive for at least 30 minutes because I like to relax and wind down. Maybe I should take a nap.
-Krish
Hi Suhas! I really like how you opened your blog with the nostalgia that comes from reminiscing about a distant childhood–twelve years feels like eras ago! When I was younger, I used to hate nap time–I had too much energy and would almost always be pretending to sleep whenever an adult came to check in on me. I still remember how we would lay out the cots in my daycare, and how I would subsequently lie wide awake until my parents came to pick me up. Even now, while I do long for a break, when my mom tells me to take a nap for a while, I am brought back to those nap times that never amounted to anything.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I was initially confused as to why NASA, in the field of aerospace, would conduct scientific studies into the benefit of naps. However, I found your source really interesting, as I didn’t realize just how important napping can be to improving productivity–something I desperately need. I always tell myself that I should sleep for a while. Then I look at my to-do list and panic, as to my mom, napping “for a while” means an hour of sleeping, and I feel like I never have that kind of time on a school day. Learning that shorter naps are actually better has encouraged me to try again and hopefully gain more energy and acuity after a long day. Thank you for sharing–and thanks for calling me out on the fact that I’m never productive right after getting home, anyway.
Hey Suhas!
ReplyDeleteYour blog was really interesting and fun to read this week! I remember when I was in preschool, the teachers made us nap but I never really ended up napping and I just layed on the mat they gave us for like 30 minutes staring at the ceiling. The very few times I was able to nap, I was awoken by a fire alarm or someone had to pick me up right when I fell asleep. I did read articles about how napping extremely boost your productivity, but I can never get myself to sleep just for a little bit, because if I do, waking up feels very sluggish. However, this has worked for me a couple of times and I can see how it really helps. I also read somewhere that a ~1 hour nap is even better than the 26 minute nap because it allows you REM to go through a full cycle. Also, people in the military take power naps too! I think its around 10-15 minutes only though, and they did it during wars. A good trick to fall asleep easily is to raise your legs on something to a little over your head height, and you can fall asleep really quick. Just don’t raise it too high or too long or else you could get blood clots!
- Colin
Hi Suhas, I really liked your blog on naps! I enjoyed the adventure back in time to kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteI also have experienced napping in kindergarten—I remember going to an after school program every day, and they had these blue foldable beds. Each day, we would pick out our bed and nap on the floor together. I was always the one who couldn’t fall asleep.
That is most definitely not me right now—with all the stuff going on in my life, I would die for a nap anyday. Sometimes, when I am really busy one day, I sleep late that night and crash extra early the next afternoon. The second I go home, I lay on my bed and my consciousness level just slowly decreases. My alarms aren’t strong enough to combat my deep sleep. I set three alarms on my phone and on Alexa, and somehow, they just all disappear. I have no idea if I just made them stop in my sleep or what happened…
I have also seen those studies on power naps—fifteen to thirty minute naps that supposedly rejuvenate you significantly. To this day, it hasn’t worked for me. I genuinely just can’t get up after that short amount of time. An hour and a half is the minimum for me.
Last week, I asked my mom to wake me up after half an hour. She said I was begging her for twenty more minutes and was too heavy to be dragged out of bed—by the way, I don’t remember any of this. I’m literally out of options; I want to try these power naps, but I don’t see a solution for getting out of bed at the right time. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Suhas,
ReplyDeleteI thought your article about the importance of taking naps was quite interesting. To be honest, when I first read the title of your article, I thought it was more about how four-year-olds had better intuition and better language skills due to how young children can pick up languages a lot faster. However, I was given a pleasant surprise instead with your article about how taking naps can have various benefits to cognition. Similar to you, I can also relate to the need to have to take a nap right after I get home from school, as some days I really don’t sleep well and need a good recharge after I get home. I don’t usually get trouble from friends for this, but my parents sometimes don’t like it if I take naps often after school. They see it as a sign of being lazy or unproductive, and they believe I should be constantly busy after I get home. However, they have also grown to respect my need to recharge my batteries after getting home, because I truly am less productive when I have a low amount of sleep and end up spending more time studying and doing homework than I would’ve otherwise.
-Ritwik