One month of napping can make a huge difference in your professional and personal life. When taken the right way, naps can improve memory, boost creativity, and enhance emotional control and stamina. All of these things can help you achieve more in your career and build healthy personal relationships.

After One Month

While you may want to sneak a small nap into your day, you might have a hard time getting a little shut-eye if it’s not something your body is used to doing. On your first day, you’ll probably have no trouble falling asleep at all, especially if you sleep less than eight hours a night. But once you wake up from napping, you may feel the first benefits—a clear mind and restored alertness.

Effects On The Body And Mind: After One Day

Make sure you don’t oversleep. Sleeping more than the recommended time on the first day can backfire and make you feel groggy and tired. The recommended nap duration is 20 to 30 minutes.If you sleep beyond that on your first day, you are likely to wake up to the opposite effect, which may discourage you from ever continuing to take consistent naps

Don't Oversleep

Basically, adding a nap into your daily routine will give your body a major health boost. After six months, the long-term benefits of napping kick in. O<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021200626.html?noredirect=on">ne study on Greek adults that found</a> a short nap during the day reduces the risks of dying from heart disease and regularly getting more rest may increase your sex drive. Overall, napping can help you get on a more consistent schedule, and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/consistent-routines-sleep-daily-habits_n_4532150">research finds</a> the consistency to be extremely beneficial for your sleep.

After Six Months

This period is going to be the hardest, as you will have to constantly adjust your regular schedule to fit the naps in. Your body may have a hard time getting used to this new activity, too. The good news is, once you figure out the ideal schedule to incorporate a daily 20- or 90-minute nap into your routine, you’ll begin to notice the benefits almost instantaneously.

After One Week

Taking a nap can enhance your sleep cycle, regulate your sympathetic nervous system, help you think and let go of things that are causing you stress, and be used as a circadian marker to help your body understand where you are in the 24-hour cycle. Like meditation, it can be used as a quiet time in the middle of a chaotic day.

Reducing Stress

As often as we talk about the <a href="https://www.domino.com/content/good-sleep-tips-benefits/">benefits of sleep</a>, more than a third of Americans are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0215-enough-sleep.html">not getting the proper amount of shut-eye</a>. Instead, we push aside our rest to complete more work, hang out with friends, or—let’s be real—binge another episode of Succession. But even though most of us are still yawning into our <a href="https://www.domino.com/content/caffeine-detox/">coffee cups</a>, taking a nap might be the cure to combat those midday crashes because of its health benefits.

The Premise

Taking a midday nap doesn’t mean you can sleep the day away. To reap most of the benefits, you want to be mindful of the amount of time you plan to hit the hay. Note that some <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1433851/Daytime-nap-is-as-refreshing-as-a-nights-sleep.html">studies suggest</a> allowing yourself to go through one full sleep cycle (which is about 90 minutes) to receive the most benefits. Ideally, you should avoid waking up in the deep sleep stage.

90 Minutes Of Sleep

Curious about the benefits of napping? Here's everything to know after one day to six months down the line.