Although the idea of taking a midday nap to boost your energy sounds appealing, it’s never fun waking up feeling groggy. On top of that, it’s not uncommon to wake up from a nap and need an extended period of time to get back into the rhythm of the day. This has led to many specialists proposing various ideas related to the length and timing of naps. However, neuroscientist and host of the Huberman Lab podcast, Andrew Huberman, has consistently thrown his support behind a unique alternative to naps.
Huberman has been a long-time supporter of a process called non-sleep deep rest (NSDR), a practice in which you’re in a deep state of relaxation without actually falling asleep. The well-respected scientist believes so strongly in NSDR that he’s now offering a full guide to it, completely free on his website.
What is Non-Sleep Deep Rest?
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Along with a full, detailed guide of benefits, tips and the science behind non-sleep deep rest, Huberman’s website links off to YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify, where he walks users through 10, 20 and 30-minute NSDR protocols.
According to Huberman’s website, the unique technique uses your body to help relax your mind.
“These relaxation techniques use the body to affect the mind: rather than trying to think your way into feeling relaxed, you lean into a state of physical relaxation that your nervous system then matches. Whereas we often think of being awake or being asleep as a binary, research has shown it is more accurate to consider it a spectrum, with NSDR landing somewhere in the middle,” Huberman explains.
The practice is done while typically listening to guided audio for breathing and in a comfortable position, such as lying down. Ultimately, the goal of NSDR is to remain in what Huberman highlights as the “liminal state” between wake and sleeping.
Andrew Huberman Highlights Key Benefits of Non-Sleep Deep Rest
There are several noteworthy positives that come from NSDR, but two areas it helps are likely pivotal for many people who enjoy taking naps—providing an energy boost and improving focus.
“NSDR is a great tool for those who can’t nap without feeling groggy or grumpy or find that it disrupts their sleep at night. An NSDR session replenishes dopamine levels and decreases cortisol, which supports the optimal mental state of alert yet calm,” Huberman writes in the guide.
He goes on to explain that while NSDR doesn’t directly impact the pathways responsible for focus, the practice itself makes it easier to get into a focused mental state afterward.
Here are a few of the key positive benefits of NSDR that Huberman explains:
- Helps to recover from sleep deprivation.
- Aids in falling asleep, and/or falling back asleep at night.
- Provides a midday energy boost and impact on focus
- Reduces stress and anxiety
- Accelerates learning and memory
The guide on Huberman’s website is extremely thorough and answers several commonly asked questions. It’s a unique approach that surely takes some practice to perfect, but Huberman’s newly released guide should help make the process easier from start to finish.
Related: Andrew Huberman Reveals 1 Trick to Quickly Relieve Stress—and It’s Used by Dogs
