SHOULD YOU NAP BEFORE WORKING OUT? SHOULD YOU NAP AFTER WORKING OUT?

Should you nap before a workout? Or should you nap after a workout? This was one of the questions asked to me by a good friend and loyal reader.

The answer is nap before a workout. End of article.

Yeah, right.

If you’ve been reading my material for any length of time, you realize that the answer is far more complex. If you’re thinking of taking a power nap before the gym, keep reading this article to see if that makes sense for you.

Original source: here.

WHAT IS A NAP?

It seems like a simple question to answer, but at what point does a nap turn into a full sleep? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a nap is a “short sleep.”

Well, that’s not very helpful, is it?

So let’s turn to the world’s foremost authority on sleeping (in fact, the man who discovered REM sleep: William Dement). According to his book, The Promise of Sleep, anything under 4 hours to be a nap. Anything over 4 hours is sleep.

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF A NAP BEFORE A WORKOUT VS. AFTER A WORKOUT?

Napping affects different people in different ways. For some people, it energizes…