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Last Updated on April 9, 2020 by Ben Locke
You often hear that naps can be beneficial to your health. But you’ve had times when you napped and woke up feeling worse – groggier, more tired, and like you’ve lost precious time. And so, you are still undecided on whether or not to nap. And if you do decide to nap, you are left wondering how long to nap and how best to nap.
You should know that like any other factor that influences health (exercising or dieting), napping helps only when done right. To nap better you should learn – how long should you nap, when is the best time to nap, what is the best way to nap, among other things.
Done right, napping provides several benefits, such as:
Through this guide, you will learn more about:
Before you find out how long should you nap, it is important to understand the science behind it:
Considering this, it is best to nap for only so long as you are in the early stages of non-REM sleep and wake before the onset of the slow-wave non-REM sleep. If that isn’t possible, the next best option is to let your body complete one sleep cycle (non-REM and REM sleep). Doing so ensures you wake up feeling rested and refreshed and not interrupted and groggy.
Between 10-20 minutes (up to a maximum of 30 minutes) – This is the ideal duration for which to nap. If you keep your naps at this length, you will wake up feeling rested, more alert, and happier. This is because, when you limit your nap to this time, you stay in non-REM sleep (lightest stage). So, you don’t wake up feeling interrupted, groggy, and tired.
A study published by the Sleep Research Society noted these results post:
A 10-Minute Nap – Immediate improvement in fatigue, vigor, cognitive performance, sleepiness level, and sleep latency
A 20-Minute Nap – Delayed improvements in the same areas (35 minutes later)
A 30-Minute Nap – Sleep inertia symptoms followed by improvements in same areas
A 90 Minutes Nap– If you can wake up after 90 minutes, nothing like it. This is because your body has then been able to make it from light sleep to deep sleep and back. So, when you wake up, you awake feeling rested and refreshed. There is also some research suggesting that a 90-minute nap helps boost both creativity and memory.
Less Than 10 Minutes – This is just not enough time to serve the purpose of a nap – rejuvenation (also noted in the abovementioned study).
Between 30-60 Minutes – You wake up feeling groggy, sluggish and don’t sleep well at night. This is because, during this time, your body enters a deeper stage of sleep in which your brain functioning slows down. So, when you wake up, you feel interrupted and hence groggy (called sleep inertia).
Longer Than 90 Minutes – In addition to sleep inertia, you are likely to wake up and feel like you got up on the wrong side of the bed. You will, most likely, also struggle to fall asleep at night and sleep well.
It is better not to nap than to nap for these amounts of time. This is because you will wake up feeling groggy, fatigued, less alert, even irritable.
DO’s
DON’Ts
The entire purpose of a nap is to beat the afternoon slump and wake up refreshed. Hence, you would do well to keep it short, between 10-20 minutes, ideally. This is because when you take a power nap, your body stays in a lighter stage of sleep. When you wake from this stage, you wake feeling rested and refreshed. However, if you nap longer, your body then awakes from a deeper slumber, feeling interrupted and hence still sleepy and tired.
Yes. You should, ideally, take a power nap lasting between 10 to 20 minutes. If you must nap longer, then make sure you sleep for 90 minutes (120 minutes max). If you sleep longer, your body enters a deeper stage of sleep. When you awake in the middle of this stage, you don’t wake feeling like you’ve slept, rather like you’ve been roused mid-sleep and need to sleep some more (sleep inertia). So, instead of feeling light and refreshed, you wake feeling groggy and tired. Additionally, a longer nap means you’ve reduced your ‘sleep debt’, which you’ve been building since you woke up. Having done this, you will find it harder to fall and stay asleep at night (longer sleep latency). Doing so frequently can affect your wake and sleep times and even lead to chronic sleep issues.
If you absolutely must nap longer (for some reason on a one-off day), make sure that you nap earlier in the day (say before 2-3 PM).
Some experts feel that you ideally shouldn’t be needing a nap every day. If you do, it could be a sign that you aren’t getting enough sleep at night. If you need to nap more than once a day, they suggest that you get yourself checked for ‘excessive daytime sleepiness’ (a condition that is currently experienced by about 20% Americans as per the National Sleep Foundation).
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We all have experienced this phenomenon at some point in time. You are slowly slipping off to a drowsy state, and suddenly you find yourself jerk your limbs...
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