Safety Quiz: Napping, A to Z

Lose weight! Feel better! Be more alert! In fewer than 30 minutes per day, you — yes, you! — can make a colossal change to your health. But wait; there’s more! Did we mention it’s free, nontoxic and has no dangerous side effects?

Obnoxious infomercial approach aside, there truly is something you can do for your health that fits each of those promises: Take a nap.

While napping can’t take the place of getting enough regular sleep, studies have shown it can boost your immune system, improve your memory and help you feel more alert. And Scout leaders know some quick shuteye can help you get through a week at Scout camp without feeling like a zombie by the end.

But not all naps are created equally. If you nap too late or for too long, it could backfire. Using the latest research and extensive testing, we put together this quiz about smarter napping. Take it now … or sleep on it and try your luck later.

Anyone who takes this quiz below will be entered to win a $100 scoutshop.org gift card. (Contest ended February 28, 2019, but you can still take the quiz). Best used with the most updated version of your web browser.  

Find answers to other frequently asked health and safety questions at go.scoutingmagazine.org/safetyfaq


5 Comments

  1. I have 2 comments I wanted to share in an attempt to expand the bell curve.

    First, about napping and waking up. There are a lot of us who have learned from experiences to go from sleeping to wakefulness with virtually no transition time – and by that I mean no functional transition time. This may not be a good thing in a comfortable environment, but sometimes ones safety requires this ability to wake up from deep sleep instantly or near instantly. So for those of us with this as a part of life, this transition phase does not exist. Once this is learned, it often persists for many years and becomes a part of our character. Further, this is also often accompanied by either the ability to cat nap anywhere regardless of the activity level around us, or the inability to cat nap unless we are in a still environment. PS: We also tend to be light sleepers and fully wake before we move any part of our bodies while sleeping. Just thought that you should know as there seem to be more and more of us like this these days.

    Next: About caffeine, not all of us process chemicals the same way. Many of us do not tolerate caffeine well for example. And some of us also process it faster or slower than the rate suggested here. This means that if I for example drink or eat anything with a caffeine level above a dark chocolate bar, I will have a headache in 20 min that will last between 24 and 48 hours after thereby destroying any napping I may consider doing for that day as well as the next couple of days. There are many of us like this and it is one of the reason why decaf products have become popular.

    I do realize that the questions were general and aimed at the average human, but I also wanted to account for those many of us who do not fit that part of the bell curve for various reasons.

    Cheers

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