Need a nap? Get rocking

When it comes to a getting a good nap, adults have more in common with babies than we think. Babies like to be cradled and rocked to sleep, and according to new research, so do we. There's a strong link between rocking and the quality of our sleep, suggests a small study published Monday in the journal Current Biology.

Swiss researchers asked twelve healthy adults to take two 45-minute naps on a hammock-type bed that either remained stationary or rocked gently. All described themselves as good sleepers who didn't typically nap, with no excessive daytime sleepiness and little anxiety. Researchers assessed sleep quality and quantity using questionnaires and brain wave recordings monitored by an electroencephalogram (EEG).

The participants all fell asleep faster when they rocked, and eight rated the swinging condition as "more pleasant" than the stationary condition. The rockers also experienced a deeper sleep. More specifically, rocking increased the duration of N2 sleep, a non-rapid eye movement sleep stage that normally occupies about half of a good night's sleep. The rocking bed also had a lasting effect on brain activity, increasing slow oscillations and bursts of activity known as sleep spindles. Sleep spindles are often associated with tranquil sleep in noisy environments and may be a sign that the brain is trying to calm sleepers stuck in them.

Bottom line: Further study is needed to determine whether this form of rocking sleep would be helpful to people who have insomnia. If you have trouble getting to sleep and staying there, like many Americans do, a hammock might not be an ideal fit for your bedroom. But if you need a good nap and can fit a hammock in your backyard, why not?

If you need more zzz's than a hammock can provide, see our advice on how to get a good night's sleep and take a look at the techniques that worked best for survey respondents.

Source
Rocking synchronizes brain waves during a short nap [Current Biology]

—Ginger Skinner