Overview
It’s natural to experience a sleepy dip in the afternoon, but not everyone would benefit from a nap. If you are considering that afternoon siesta, make sure it doesn’t interfere with your nighttime sleep. If you’re napping to catch up on sleep, keep in mind that it may be help, but a nap is not a substitute for a good night of sleep.
Keep in mind that dozing off in the evening as you watch TV could disrupt your sleep just as much as an actual nap. The real difficulty with dozing off is that it’s often difficult to determine exactly how much sleep you really got. It could be that you dozed off for 15 minutes while watching TV but think that you only slipped in and out of sleep for a total of a couple of minutes. Those 15 minutes could be enough to make falling or staying asleep that night difficult.
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Tips for napping |
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Timing is everything. If you nap too late in the day, you may not be able to fall asleep at your regular bedtime. The ideal naptime for many people falls between 2 and 4 p.m. Experiment to find yours. |
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Keep it short. You may have to rely on an alarm clock to make sure you wake up after 10-20 minutes of sleep (or 20-30 minutes in bed, if it takes you about 10 minutes to fall asleep). |
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Keep it long. You may have to rely on an alarm clock to make sure you wake up after about 90 minutes of sleep. Remember that a longer nap could make it more difficult to fall or stay asleep at night, but something slightly shorter could leave you waking up out of Deep sleep, and suffering from sleep inertia. |
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Get comfortable. When you take a nap, remove your shoes and recline on a couch, chair or bed. Turn off or dim the lights, or use an eye mask to block light. Then, cover up with a blanket to stay warm. |
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Make it a habit. The experts advise that napping should follow a regular schedule just like nighttime sleep. If you plan to nap, take it at the same time each day. Otherwise you can throw off your internal clock (circadian rhythm). | |
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Timing
If naps are something for you, consider that timing plays an important part of a good nap. There are two key parts to timing your nap. First, finding the right time of day for your nap can help you get the best benefits. Second, finding the right length of nap can help avoid the negative effects of a phenomenon called sleep inertia.
The best time of day to take a nap is in the middle of the afternoon. This is when the body is usually the most tired (except at bedtime, of course). A nap at this time also has the advantage of producing a minimum effect on the body’s natural clock (the circadian rhythm), so that it’s less likely to disrupt your night’s sleep.
Length
How long should your nap be? There are two varieties of recommended naps: short and long. A short nap of 10-20 minutes (the power nap) can help improve mood, alertness and performance. A NASA study of military pilots and astronauts found that napping improved performance by 34% and alertness by 100%. A long nap of about 90 minutes can have many of the same benefits, and can really help you catch up on sleep if you need to. It’s the nap that falls between short and long that should be avoided. That’s because a nap of 25-85 minutes increases the chances of waking up out of Deep sleep. Waking up out of Deep sleep produces a phenomenon called sleep inertia, or sleep drunkenness, when you are slow to respond and feel very groggy. The effects of sleep inertia can take hours to wear off after waking up out of Deep sleep. No matter which length of nap you choose, remember to set your alarm to take into account some time to fall asleep plus either 15 or 90 minutes of sleep.
Interesting fact about the timing of naps:
A nap in the afternoon or evening (recommended or not) will consist mostly of Light and Deep sleep. A nap in the morning (before or around 11 a.m., for someone who gets up at or before 7 a.m.) will consist mostly of Light and REM sleep.