Birds do it, bees do it (we think), even educated monkeys do it. So let’s do it, people. Let’s fall asleep. (The musical portion of this blog is over; thanks for indulging.) But seriously: we’ve talked about the whys of taking naps on the blog before — they improve mood, creativity, memory function, heart health, and so much else — but never, to my knowledge, have we discussed how to take a nap. In fact, whenever we write about naps, we always get a few comments from people claiming they’re unable to nap during the day; they just can’t fall asleep, or when they do nap they wake up groggy and unable to work. In that case, read on, my sleepy friends.
1.
The first thing you should know is, feeling sleepy in the afternoon is normal. It doesn’t mean you had a big lunch, or that you’re depressed, or you’re not getting enough exercise. That’s just how animals’ cycles work — every 24 hours, we have two periods of intense sleepiness. One is typically in the wee hours of the night, from about 2am to 4am, and the other is around 10 hours later, between 1pm and 3pm. If you’re a night owl and wake up later in the morning, that afternoon sleepiness may come later; if you’re an early bird, it may come earlier. But it happens to everyone; we’re physiologically hardwired to nap.
2.
Naps provide different benefits depending on how long they are. A short nap of even 20 minutes will enhance alertness and concentration, mood and coordination. A nap of 90 minutes will get you into slow wave and REM sleep, which enhances creativity. If you sleep deeply and uninterruptedly the whole time, you’ll go through a full 90-minute sleep cycle, and recoup sleep you might not have gotten the night before (we’ve all heard it a million times, but most of us don’t get enough sleep at night).
3.
Try not to sleep longer than 45 minutes but less than 90 minutes; then you’ll wake up in the middle of a slow-wave cycle, and be groggy. I used to hate taking naps during the day for just this reason — I would always wake up in a fog. My problem was I hadn’t yet perfected the art of the 20-minute catnap.
4.
Find a nice dark place where you can lie down. It takes about 50% longer to fall asleep sitting up (this is why red eye flights usually live up to their name), and be armed with a blanket; you don’t want to be chilly. You also don’t want to be too warm, which can lead to oversleeping. (There was a kind of urban legend circulating when I was a kid: don’t fall asleep in the sun, or you’ll never wake up. Not true — but you might wake up three hours later with a ripe sunburn.)
5.
White noise can help you fall asleep, especially during the day when construction crews, garbage trucks, barking dogs and other noisy awake-world things can conspire to destroy your nap. Keep a fan on, or turn on a nearby faucet for a pleasing rushing-river sound. (Just kidding about that last one.)
6.
Don’t nap too close to bedtime, or you might not be able to fall asleep later. Remember, your inbuilt sleepy window is sometime in the early to mid-afternoon — try to nap then.
7.
Quit that silly job where they don’t let you take naps during the day.
Also check out our worksheet, Sleeping Giants, about famous people who napped!
Illustration by the Boston Globe.
Shhh…super secret special for blog readers.
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I was on a cycle for a while where I slept from 1 am until 6 am every night, and then slept from 2 pm until 4 pm each afternoon.
It didn’t plan it that way, but my schedule just allowed for it and if I had my choice, I’d sleep in that pattern every day.
posted by Karen on 6-20-2008 at 10:27 am
I’ve been a regular “napper” for years now, so I have it down to an art – lean back in your chair, feet on desk. As a grad student, I can get away with doing that at my desk. We also have a comfy couch in the lounge area of the lab.
posted by Jocelyn on 6-20-2008 at 10:38 am
@Karen
Try Latin America. Many countries there agree with you! I spent a summer (winter?) in Argentina and really enjoyed that schedule as well.
posted by kate on 6-20-2008 at 11:23 am
I love naps. I’ve had a petition out for the last six years in my office to institute official nap times… no luck.
posted by adrienne on 6-20-2008 at 11:42 am
I work for a government contracting company as a tech writer. I’m always tempted to go into our security room (where we work on secure docs). It’s basically a closet inside a closet–very chilly and no light. Give me a blanket, pillow, and 45 minutes and I’d probably get some good sleeping. Soooo tempting right now!
posted by nutmeag on 6-20-2008 at 12:37 pm
I’ve worked then night shift now (8:30pm – 5am) for about 12 years and it’s destroyed my sleep cycle. I have to take my kids to and from school, and my cell phone is the schools’ emergency number, so sleeping during the day is problematic at best. Getting 5 uninterrupted hours of sleep is like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one. Therefore, I’ve come to rely on naps, especially the 20 minute variety that actually does refresh me. In the summer I turn on the window air conditioner, the noise machine and the ceiling fan and I’m asleep at the drop of a hat. My wife says it’s like sleeping in an underwater cave, but I love it.
posted by Michael on 6-20-2008 at 9:46 pm
Nap time is also called ‘siesta’ here in the Philippines and in other countries, especially Latin America. According to Wikipedia, the Spanish term siesta comes from the Latin hora sexta, which means “the sixth hour”.
I usually take my 30 minute siesta after lunch and right before I get back to work (my office is near my house). I feel so refreshed afterwards that I end up doing almost twice as much work than when I don’t nap. My potbelly grew twice as fast too.
posted by Leizl on 6-20-2008 at 9:57 pm
I work from home three days a week and many times I nap during my lunch break. I set the alarm for 35 minutes; it takes about 5 minutes to fall asleep. When I wake up I feel great and can tackle whatever needs to get done.
BTW: My reCaptcha words were “today” and “Crabbe” which is how I felt because I didn’t get to nap.
posted by Sue on 6-21-2008 at 3:17 am
If I sleep in the afternoon for a long time (around 3 hours), I have difficulty sleeping at night. This results in me staying awake at night until around 2-3 am and then falling asleep ( I normally go to sleep at 11pm). I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this and how they dealt with it.
On the other hand, taking a 30 minute nap in the afternoon has no effect my night sleeping.
posted by Ron on 6-21-2008 at 11:34 am
Check out pzizz.com the little program creates a custom sleep nap I use it at work all the time. As and IT professional sometimes I get woken up in the middle of the night to take care of problems so I steal away into the server room for a quick thirty minute nap. Pzizz is cool cause it leads you into sleep, weeks you up and helps get rid of any unwanted background noise.
posted by Ryan Peterson on 6-21-2008 at 11:34 am
My husband naps a lot – he’s perfected the art of snoozing without sleeping too deeply. I’ve always avoided naps because of the groggy factor, but I think I’ll try using the timer for twenty minutes and see how I feel…
posted by JEANNE on 6-21-2008 at 11:46 am
Great info. Maybe I should try the prescribed 20, 45 to 90 minute napping routine. This might just help restore healthy sleeping patterns. Though I found that herbal concoctions are helpful whenever sleeplessness arises.
posted by herbal remedies on 6-21-2008 at 11:48 am
Your “super secret special” link is either broken or outdated… I was all set to subscribe, but the link gets me to a page error…
posted by Rob on 6-21-2008 at 1:11 pm
“Try not to sleep longer than 45 minutes but less than 90 minutes;”
Run that by me again? If I don’t sleep longer than 45 minutes, I will automatically sleep less than 90.
I think you mean “Try to sleep longer than 45 minutes but less than 90 minutes;”
posted by v.dog on 6-21-2008 at 4:05 pm
Dude I saw this movie yesterday and it TOTALLY ROCKED. Best movie of the year!
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
posted by JOhn Thomas on 6-21-2008 at 4:50 pm
“Try not to sleep longer than 45 minutes but less than 90 minutes;â€
Run that by me again? If I don’t sleep longer than 45 minutes, I will automatically sleep less than 90.
I think you mean “Try to sleep longer than 45 minutes but less than 90 minutes;†-v dog
actually he asks us to sleep lessthan 45
or more than 90 minutes as then v will not feel groggy
posted by nirmal joseph on 6-21-2008 at 8:03 pm
I think he means something along the lines of “Do not awake between 45 and 90 minutes of sleep.”
As in: either sleep less than 45 minutes or wake up after ~90 minutes of sleep. It’s implied that waking up after 45-85 minutes of sleep will leave you groggy.
posted by the13thzen on 6-21-2008 at 10:23 pm
This has been really bothering me. Everyday when I’m about to leave work, I think to myself “I’m going to take a nap when I get home”, by the time I get home about an hour later I’m so wired I can’t nap! I end up going to be too late and repeat the same cycle again.
Does anyone else have this problem?
posted by AG on 6-23-2008 at 10:32 am
I’m not a big fan of nap, not after this one time back in high school. I think it was the end of my senior year. This one time I fell asleep while the sun was still out. When I woke, I was fully rested, so I thought it was morning. When I look at my clock, it said it was 9:00, and I thought I was really late for school. I happened to glance outside and saw it was dark. I thought the sun had burnt out. So, with there being no sun any more I figured if I didn’t go to school it wouldn’t matter. That’s when I realized that my clock said P.M.
posted by Garst on 6-23-2008 at 1:18 pm
Hi. Thanks for the post. I have quoted it on my post.
posted by Jessica on 6-23-2008 at 8:17 pm
Naps have helped me overwhelm my depression. I take medicines prescribed by a doctor, but when I feel low, a good nap really helps.
posted by Mario on 6-24-2008 at 9:29 pm
Just thought it’d be funny to share that around 1:30 pm everyday, I take a “bathroom break” at work in order to snag a quick 5-10 minute nap in a bathroom stall. I often wonder if my co-workers have caught on yet, or if they just think I’m very “regular.”
posted by Tiffany on 6-27-2008 at 1:17 pm
I am a chronic napper. No wonder I am creative! lol
Very helpful tips especially the window on how long to sleep.
posted by creativeK on 6-29-2008 at 6:09 pm
I really shouldn’t be on the computer right now, but, I’m 13, and have mild sleep insomnia, any advice?
posted by Logan on 6-7-2009 at 7:05 pm
Logan, try taking a melatonin right before bed. It’s great, I have mild insomnia (getting to sleep, not staying asleep, is my problem), and I’m 14. (:
posted by Caroline on 8-17-2009 at 4:05 pm
It’s not white noise that relaxes you,white noise is an intense hiss that is guaranteed to make you tense. What is needed is blue noise, like rain, on a tin roof.
posted by zoof on 8-25-2010 at 11:36 am
I have to agree with this, particularly #3. I’ve been doing early morning radio for years… I get up at 3:30AM… and learning how to nap was vital. Believe it or not, it takes practice to get so you don’t feel foggy when you wake up. Another rule I follow: I never nap in bed. That’s too “official.” I nap on the couch or in my recliner… it’s much more conducive to getting up and becoming productive again.
posted by Bandicoot on 2-8-2011 at 9:37 am
I second that taking a nap in bed is “too official”. Many times I lie down for a half hour nap, but when my alarm goes off, I feel way too comfy, so I just turn it of and roll back over– zzzzz (this however, is usually on a Saturday or Sunday when I’m procrastinating over household chores)
posted by Dionne on 2-8-2011 at 10:48 am
I wish I could nap. Only time I can sleep during the daytime is if I’m home sick. Then I sleep around the clock. I don’t think that counts as a nap either. (O_o)
posted by Jon on 2-8-2011 at 2:15 pm
My wife has taken a nap after lunch almost every day of our 44 year marriage. On the few days she’s missed you don’t want to be around.
posted by Sir Fatboy on 2-8-2011 at 6:07 pm
I only have two options to get over my afternoon nap attack:
Overload on caffeinated beverages. Shake for the rest of the afternoon.
Park on the top of the parking garage (where no one else parks) and nap furtively in my car over lunch.
I am not proud of either and wish there was a better alternative.
posted by Lynnie on 2-8-2011 at 11:18 pm
i love naps in school. you get in alot of trouble for it, but you just lay back put your head on the desk behind you, and take a 90 min nap. by the time the principle is in the classroom waking you up, you are already freshly rested and ready to take another nap in the next class. when you take 4 naps and the principle has the come in each of my classes waking me up, i get a FREE day at home with nothing to do but sleep! its a great day when i am at school sleeping, and the principle offers a free day at home for me!
posted by casey on 12-6-2011 at 9:46 pm