Is napping good for you? If you do it the right way, researcher says

For a typical American toddler, naps are a much-despised part of the prescribed daily routine. As we age, though, naps become rarer—yet more desirable—with each new stage of life. "Napping is practiced differently in different cultures all around the world," according to Virginia Commonwealth University professor Natalie Dautovich.

"In North America, napping may be less commonly practiced by adults, [but] napping is a common and valued practice in many other areas of the world." So are naps actually good for you—and if so, can you get too much of a good thing? Dautovich, Ph.D.

, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology in VCU's College of Humanities and Sciences and the environmental fellow at the National Sleep Foundation. In her Chronopsychology: Daily Life Research Lab, she examines daily processes, including sleep, that anchor well-being across adulthood. She spoke with VCU News about napping the right way.

Napping can have benefits for energy, cognitive functioning and creativity in the short term. Furthermore, napping can be a short-term solution to help improve alertness when individuals are not getting sufficient sleep at night. But the downside to napping is that it can interfere with sleep at night, and you may feel groggier upon awakening.

Napping can be a learned behavior. If you do it consistently, your body can anticipate the nap and learn to fall asleep quickly. A trial-and-error approach can help many individuals determine whether napping.