
The NASA Studies on Napping - priyadarshy
http://priceonomics.com/the-nasa-studies-on-napping/
======
vacri
_But what data is this conclusion based on? One important study by NASA for
the most part._

This is bollocks, for the most part. There have been plenty of studies done on
naps, powernaps, short term sleeps. When I was going through uni in the 90s,
the motor vehicle registry agency in my state was doing a lot of research in
the area of powernaps. Later on I spent some time in sleep medicine myself,
and studies here and there would filter through. This is not a notion reliant
on one study with a small n.

I would have thought that a startup founder who bases his company on the
premise of napping would have read more on the topic.

~~~
pyduan
> This is bollocks, for the most part. There have been plenty of studies... my
> state was doing a lot of research... studies here and there would filter
> through... this is not reliant on a single study with a small n.

There is a missing piece of information in your comment. Does this mean the
studies you've seen were contradictory? You mention there have been a lot of
studies done about the subject but not the results. Can you elaborate on why
you reached this conclusion?

I'm genuinely curious about what makes you think so -- the research I've been
able to find all seem to corroborate the benefits of napping [1], and I've
always been under the impression power naps were effective myself.

I wrote another comment here about how a small n can still produce
surprisingly statistically significant results, but besides that it also looks
like there are many more than one study on the topic.

> I would have thought that a startup founder who bases his company on the
> premise of napping would have read more on the topic.

There is no reason to assume this article contains the entirety of the
founder's knowledge about the topic. I for one think this write-up makes a
much more compelling read than a comprehensive review of the academic
literature. Of course, none of this prevents him from selling and marketing
his product anyway...

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_nap#Benefits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_nap#Benefits)

~~~
vacri
The author is making it sound like the entire notion of the benefit of power
naps is based on a single NASA study. This is what I am railing against - it's
not one 'landmark' study which suggests the benefits of power naps.

There's also been crossover study of naps and shift workers. The world of
scientific napping is not underpinned by one NASA study, not even 'for the
most part'.

 _There is no reason to assume this article contains the entirety of the
founder 's knowledge about the topic._

Having had minor formal training and then employment in the sleep industry,
both as a medical technician and later as an equipment supplier working with
in-house clinical specialists in the field, I find it hard to fathom that
someone who had a ton of relevant knowledge would characterise the conclusion
that 'napping is good for you' as 'coming from one NASA study for the most
part'.

~~~
lobo_tuerto
But is it, or is not?

~~~
vacri
I don't understand what you're asking. Are you asking if the studies I've seen
are contradictory, like pyduan first said? I thought it was relatively clear
when I was saying that the science of napping isn't underpinned by one NASA
study that there's more support than one 'landmark' study.

------
jsaxton86
This is interesting, but I wouldn't consider it a conclusive study. According
to the original paper, the sample size is only 21 (12 napping pilots, 9 no-
rest pilots).

~~~
trentmb
Are pilots representative of the population? You could have 1000 pilots and it
still wouldn't be conclusive...

~~~
KingMob
True, but this isn't necessarily a showstopper. Unless you think pilots react
to sleep differently or are grossly more/less sleep-deprived than everyone
else, it's not _implausible_ to assume it generalizes. Every study has flaws,
but rarely are they so awful the entire result should be discarded.

------
feniv
The unit of performance in these studies is reaction time, which isn't a
useful measure in a field like programming or design.

~~~
crbnw00ts
That is incorrect. There are also metrics regarding "microevents", which are
points in time during which brainwaves momentarily exhibit the characteristics
of the first stages of sleep. This is effectively a measure of how often the
subject is starting to "nod off". The napping group showed far fewer of these
events.

------
timini
Does anyone find it surprising that the napping group had performance
improvements _BEFORE_ they took their nap?

What's going on here?

[http://s3.amazonaws.com/pix-
media/blog/539/Untitled.png](http://s3.amazonaws.com/pix-
media/blog/539/Untitled.png)

~~~
hobbes78
Maybe because they knew they were going to rest soon, they could be more prone
to be fully alert, a bit like the sprint runners do during the final lap,
because they know they'll rest soon.

------
bryanlarsen
The easy way to avoid nap grogginess is to limit then to under twenty minutes.

~~~
cclogg
How do you guys time this? Whether napping or sleeping it often takes me at
least 30 mins to even fall asleep lol (sometimes longer). I will say though
that I do get a good 9 hours sleep 95% of nights, so I haven't often felt a
need to nap.

~~~
jstalin
I was thinking the same. It takes me 30-40 minutes to fall asleep. When they
are referring to a nap in these studies, does it mean full-blown sleep?

~~~
kozlovsky
This post has a good explanation and some advises:

[http://danieltenner.com/post/32895447025/0017-how-to-nap-
htm...](http://danieltenner.com/post/32895447025/0017-how-to-nap-html)

------
semerda
Interesting article. Cheers for sharing! A brain reset (power nap) should
today be accepted / common knowledge as eating healthy food to stay healthy.

For power naps stay within your REM sleep. The duration varies from person to
person tho. You don't need any sophisticated monitoring device whatsoever.
When the down slope hits, do a Caffeine Nap - a cup of tea/coffee right before
your powernap and in 20 or so mins when the caffeine hits you will be wide
awake.

------
fegu
But what about those of us who doesn't know where we are and what year it is,
when we wake up from a nap? Does the results still hold for us? I am so
disoriented after a nap that I am borderline deranged for several minutes.

------
bane
I've found that often when I feel groggy during the day. Taking time out to do
5 to 10 minutes of deep twisting back stretches will revive me almost as well
as a power nap.

~~~
jeremywenisch
That's pretty interesting. These pilots, and I suspect most of us, spend
almost all of their working time seated in a chair. I'd be curious to see a
study of people whose jobs require a lot of physical activity, or even just
standing and walking. Would a nap be as beneficial or as necessary? (I'm
guessing yes, but that their alertness doesn't get as low to begin with.)

