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The perfect time for a snooze: When is ‘nap o’clock?’

Not everyone has time for a daily nap, but when the opportunity arises, what’s the ideal time to snooze? A new nationwide survey set out to find the answer.

Commissioned by Avocado Green Mattress, and conducted by Talker Research, the survey pinpointed the perfect “nap o’clock” is at 1:42 p.m.

“Brief naps can improve working memory resources,” said Philip Gable, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Delaware. “It can have a benefit to mood improvement.”

The survey found that the ideal nap length is 51 minutes.

However, respondents warned that if a nap extends 35 minutes beyond that, it enters a “danger zone” where the nap may do more harm than good, leaving the person sleeping feeling groggy.

If it stretches one hour and 44 minutes beyond the ideal nap length, it’s no longer considered a nap at all. In that case, it’s officially a full sleep session, according to the survey.

“A longer nap is going to put you on different sleep cycles, and it’s more likely to mess with your circadian rhythm,” Gable explained.

“I would say there’s no substitute for a good night’s sleep, so even if you plan on taking a nap, it’s still not going to benefit you as much as getting a really good night’s sleep.”

Respondents did find benefits from taking a midday snooze, with 55% saying they immediately feel a boost of productivity after waking up from a nap.

“I think one of the great things about sleep is that it helps us process things a little bit better,” Gable said. “When we’re sleep-deprived, we react a little bit more emotionally to things versus when we have all of our faculties in play.”

“When we’re well rested, we have a better ability to see the bigger picture,” he added.

The survey polled 2,000 Americans between Jan. 23-27 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

States seek to lower drug prices by targeting the companies that manage them for health plans

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As consumers worry about medication costs, states are trying to lower drug prices by reining in big companies that oversee prescription coverage for health insurers. Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations. Affordability is a key issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Legislators in at least a dozen states passed laws this year to limit compensation to the companies, set minimum payments from the companies to pharmacists and require the companies to disclose more information to their clients, states and the public. A Tennessee law will bar pharmacy benefit managers from operating retail pharmacies as of July 1, 2028, though CVS Health Corp. has filed a federal lawsuit to avoid having to close its 136 pharmacies there.
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