The 15-Minutes of Shutdown Can Reset Your Day

You’re not lazy, if you want to take a midday nap.

Just swill it, if you have a Coffee or Energy drink in your hand because you won’t be needing it anytime soon.

Never thought a simple shutdown routine learned from an old computer could be so impact-full. Have you ever noticed how an overheated CPU gets cooled down after few minutes of a shutdown that eventually boost up its speed? It works faster and better.

Just implementing this simple thing in daily routine can make you feel refreshed, more productive, and fill you up with more power to complete those soul-sucking tasks. Not to forget, it set up the positive momentum for the rest of your day.

But how does it unlock this powerhouse of energy?

It sounds more like a revive option in a video game. Right?

Isn’t that sound funny how applying this simple thing in your daily life can be so useful? Taking a walk, journaling, exercising daily, and 15 minutes of total shutdown (nap) been there for ages to help us.

We tend to overlook the obvious thing because it seems weird, and start to search for complex solutions to a simple problem.

We ignore the most straight-forward ways and seek high-tech solutions like in Star Wars, made in laboratories; because what costs more, feels more better.

Napping may be as good as drugs to make you feel relax and reduce your tiredness.

As the person in the bar, never regret having a shot of toquilla, the same way you will never regret this midday power shutdown.

So why am I writing about this mysterious shutdown at all?

Today, I woke up with the thought of writing but soon end up with my blank stare at the white screen cursor, I am sure that must have happened to you as well. I wasn’t feeling at all, even after having a coffee, so I put my computer into sleep mode, and a few minutes after my lunch, I took a 15 minutes nap.

Shortly, after I woke up refreshed and ready to work again. This is the habit I have been experimenting with since my college days.

What if the key to unlocking the powerhouse of energy, is just to take a nap in the middle of the day? Before you judge me, remember this:

You’re not lazy, bored, or unmotivated individual for needing a nap, you’re just another human being.

It turns out I am not that smart; a day nap have also been prescribed in ancient Indian Ayurveda. Probably I was the last one to figure that out.

Taking a nap can restore all the healthy tissues, energy, and our body gains strength.

I don’t take a nap every day, though. Whenever I feel exhausted or not feeling up to the mark. Whether I am at the office or at home, if it’s hampering my productivity, I prefer taking a quick power nap.

Otherwise, I will burnout by 6 pm. Napping had always helped me produce a higher quality of work than days when I don’t take a nap.

I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything till noon. That’s when it’s time for my nap. ~Bob Hope.

Here are some tips to consider when taking a midday power nap:

Set a timer on your phone

Set up a timer on your phone for 15 minutes. When time is up, gently sit up and walk out of the room.

Go to a dark room

The best place is to nap is your bedroom, shutting the door with lights off and curtains down. The darkness helps you rest and quickly make your body calm.

Office naps

With experience, I can tell the urge to fall asleep at your desk is at the highest around 3 pm. If you think you’re not so brave and don’t like taking pictures from your colleagues and calling you lazy, you can find some quiet place to take a nap.

Unlike me, who has never been ashamed of taking a midday nap at my desk, let your HR know that this will increase your productivity. At the end of the day, it’s the result of what matters.

Close your eyes even if you won’t sleep

Sometimes during a nap, you won’t sleep at all. Then you might end up judging yourself and calling the nap a failure — a bit like we do when we try to exercise for a week and judge the results next week.

The main motive of a nap is to relax your mind, not to sleep.

If you rested for 15 minutes and still your mind is filling ups with endless thoughts, It’s completely okay. Just live in the moment and breath deeply.

Do whatever you can do to relax. Try not to think about what’s gonna happens after the nap, and rest will be better. Otherwise, you will end up spending time planning the next thing you have to do after waking up. Be present and breathe deeply.

Try not to oversleep

In my initial days of the experiment, I end up, overslept during a few naps. My mind used the excuse, “You’re tired, sleep a little longer.”

The time when I have gone over 15 minutes, napping has led me to feel more tired than before the nap. Everything I have planned goes sideways. Well, it’s my personal experience, you can try one your own and optimize accordingly.

Utilise that refreshed feeling with a pro tip

Once you have finished your nap, gently sit up and take a little walk, have around 400–500 ml of water to give a quick kickstart to your metabolism, and come back refreshed.

And use that extra energy for something productive.

Notice how fresh you are feeling and spare that extra energy to those tasks that you enjoy the most that gonna give you much better results.

It’s hard to inspire someone if you are dead tired, and 15-minutes power shutdown can make a huge difference in your energy levels.