If you need proof that human beings are not a serious species, all you need to do is consider our attitude towards napping. If you're older than five, napping has a bad rap, and there’s a certain level of shame associated with people who get “caught napping.” Napping always seems to be associated with weakness—apparently you’re supposed to be able to handle sleep deprivation like a boss.
But naps are generally very natural and very good for you. Naps improve cognitive performance, boost your mood, and make you healthier in general. If you find it easy to take a short nap, you probably should, but like everything else in life you need to customize the experience to your own body rhythms and lifestyle. There’s no precise “best” way to nap—but there are some basic strategies you should consider for best napping results.
Four napping strategies to consider
Once you have a good spot to nap in and a good idea of how much time you want or need to nap (see below), you can try different napping strategies to see which one benefits you most:
The classic "power nap." For most people, a “power nap” of approximately 10-20 minutes in the early afternoon will help them shake off that post-lunch malaise and feel energized for the rest of the day. If you just feel kind of logy and sleepy for a few hours every afternoon, this is probably the best approach.
A quick coffee nap. If a short nap isn’t helping as much as you’d like, you can mix in the occasional “Coffee Nap.” Drink a cup of coffee quickly, then lie down for 20-30 minutes. It takes caffeine about 10 minutes to start affecting you, and about 45 minutes to reach peak concentration in your blood. That means you can get a power nap in, then wake up just as the caffeine is hitting, giving you an amplified sense of sharpness and clarity.
The convenient nap. Scheduling a nap at the precise moment when it will benefit you without interrupting your sleep is all well and good, but what if your schedule is insane? Maybe you have a baby who is 100% dictating the sleep schedule in your home, or a job that doesn’t allow much flexibility. In that case, don’t be too rigid—an imperfect nap is probably better than no nap at all. Nap when that baby is sleeping, in that short window when the house is quiet, or during your lunch hour.
The performance nap. If regular napping doesn’t work for you, don’t write naps off entirely. If you have a stressful or physically demanding task ahead of you—a presentation, a marathon—a short nap a few hours before can really give you a performance boost.
Four tips for better naps
Before you start thinking about your “napping style,” there are a few fundamentals that you should consider:
Choose the right length. The dividing line between “taking a nap” and “going to sleep” can be blurry, because we all sleep differently. But in general, you don’t want your nap to be too long; Naps as short as 10 minutes can still boost you, longer naps of 20-45 minutes can avoid “sleep inertia” (that groggy feeling you get because you drag yourself awake just as you enter the deepest sleep cycle), and a 90-minute nap will usually wake you up just as you’re exiting that deep sleep. Longer than that and you risk messing up your natural sleep cycle in the evening.
Don't screw up your schedule. In general, early afternoon is the best time to nap in order to avoid disrupting your sleep cycle. This isn’t a hard rule, though; you have to adjust the schedule depending on your specific internal clock. If you’re a night owl, you can push it later in the afternoon. If you’re the sort to wake up before sunrise, an earlier nap might work better.
Choose the right space. There’s something wonderful about just leaning back and closing your eyes, but if you want your naps to be as effective as possible, you should curate a good sleep environment: Dark, quiet, and peaceful. Napping in an uncomfortable chair or too-hard surface can also negatively impact your experience. Try to find a space you can easily make into a comfortable, stress-free spot.
Include buffers. Naps don’t always happen instantaneously, and even if you keep them short you can experience that aforementioned “sleep inertia,” a groggy, slow feeling. Even if you plan a relatively short nap, build in 5-10 minutes before and after so you have time to relax and fall asleep and time to wake up and re-focus.
Whatever your preference, internal clock, or physical needs, there’s no arguing that everyone can benefit from a nap at least sometimes in their life. Figuring out the strategy that works for you can give you all the benefits with none of the downsides.