We've always known that sleep's a good thing and now we know some of the reasons that's so. We used to think that sleep was a passive process that left us rested enough to learn while we were awake. We now know that every stage of sleep plays a vital role in the process of learning. In the lighter stages of sleep, the brain takes new information that was placed in temporary storage, shifts provide some of the same benefits. As a sleep doctor, I'm a great fan of napping as long as it doesn't affect your ability to fall asleep at night. For most people, there's a natural biologic dip in alertness between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. It's not just your imagination and it's not simply because you had a high-carb lunch. If you can find the time, I would recommend a 20- to 40-minute nap. Try not to let it go longer than that because you'll probably wake up feeling groggy and overtired.
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