You haven't even read this post yet and you're already poised to leave a comment along the lines of "What a first world problem." I get it. I do. But for those of us who are napping challenged — unlike my dog, who regards afternoon snoozes as his birthright — the inability to doze during the daytime can be a real drag. There's a whole lot of research documenting the many health benefits associated with napping.
Did you know that most mammals nap? Just because humans have designated a nocturnal block of time as our normal sleep pattern doesn't mean it best suits our biology. Our bodies have two major periods of sleepiness: between 2 and 4am (when most of us are sleeping) and 1 and 3pm (when most of us are desperately slurping down double cappuccinos).
Napping can boost your creativity, alertness, productivity and mood later in the day. Studies also suggest that napping benefits your entire body, from reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke to staving off weight gain. Of course, most bosses still aren't cool with us crawling under our desks, George Costanza style, but at least the nap has been proven to be more than a lazy man's pastime.
Now, if only I could figure out how to do it. It's my curse that along with frequent bouts of insomnia I simply cannot sleep if it's not bedtime. While my man's eyes flutter shut like a toddler on nap mat, I stare at the ceiling, frustrated, wishing I could enjoy all those benefits of napping. I'm making it my mission this year, at least on the occasional weekend, to master the art of daytime shuteye.
Here are some strategies for pro nappers and the napping challenged alike:
• Figure out if you are a lark or an owl. A lark is an early riser, up at dawn and to bed by 10pm, and should aim for a nap around 1 or 1:30pm. For owls, who are up until the wee hours, the best time to nap is around 2:30 or 3pm.
• Keep it between 20 to 30 minutes for a pick-me-up. Longer naps can also be beneficial — especially if you're making up for lost sleep — but can result in grogginess, which is a no-no for a work day.
• Drink a cup of coffee just before your nap. It sounds counterintuitive, but caffeine takes 20 to 30 minutes to kick in. Time it right and you'll get a real jumpstart just as you wake up.
• Find a cool, quiet, dark place to shut your eyes. Use a mask and earplugs if you have to, and lie down if possible. (It can take nearly twice as long to fall sleep sitting upright).
• Take deep breaths and try to clear your mind. Focus on relaxing one group of muscles at a time. If you can't keep your mind quiet, count sheep or just do a backwards countdown.
• Try to convince your boss that napping is a worthwhile endeavor. Namedrop Harvard if you have to! There's nothing wrong with a quick nap in your car during your lunch break, either, if you can find a secluded spot. If you have small kids, schedule your nap while they're sleeping.
• On weekends, if you wish to take a longer nap, try to sleep between 90 to 120 minutes, which usually covers an entire cycle, including REM and deep slow-wave sleep. This kind of nap helps you bounce back from lack of sleep and improves your memory recall. A full sleep cycle also helps you wake up more readily after your nap.
• Don't feel guilty. That's probably the hardest part for many of us, but remember: It's good for you! And don't feel like a failure if you can't fall asleep, either. Just resting for a few minutes can work wonders.
Do you nap regularly? If so, do you have any strategies on falling asleep and making every minute count?
Image: AnnaMaria Stephens
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Ok, I won't cry first world problems, but posting this at noon on a Wednesday is just cruel for us desk monkeys...
Love this! Great idea about timing a cup of coffee and then a quick snooze. I'm definitely going to have to try that to keep my with my 18 month old.
I'm lucky enough to spend most of the day driving around the city seeing clients (I'm a speech therapist) which also affords me the luxury of going back home for lunch 2-3x/week. In addition to getting to let the dog out to do his business, I occasionally indulge in a 20 minute cat-nap. I feel a bit guilty when I do it in the middle of a workday, though. I wish it was sanctioned here the way it is in Spain and Argentina (other places I've lived).
More naps would make us all a bit sweeter to each other, I think.
I'm with Noelle153, especially since I'm seriously sleep deprived today.
I love napping, even if I don't manage to actually sleep. Sometimes just laying down and letting my mind drift for 20 minutes is all I need. Plus, my cats love to keep me company when I nap at home and there's just no better mood-lifter than two happy, purring kitties on your feet.
I agree with the caffeine before a nap...but it takes me at least 30 minutes to finish a cup of anything so it starts to kick in just as i go down for the nap! i need to learn to chug
Speaking for us church-goers, there's nothing like the weekly Sunday afternoon nap! I do it as religiously as going to the morning service.
Or use this: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/naps/
Good tips -- I'll try a few quick sips of java before my next nap
when you lay down for a nap hold your keys, when you drop the keys, nap is over. Very refreshing and not over napped.
I've never been a successful napper. No matter what, I wake up groggy, foggy headed and in a slightly foul mood. I've sadly given up on naps. However, I do sleep like a trooper at night, so at least I have that.
By the way, I really hate that people who follow a design blog cry 'first world problems' on posts. SERIOUSLY rubs me wrong. Why are they even reading this blog at all if they need to point out such issues.
I honestly don't know what I would do without my Saturday afternoon naps. I tend to opt for the several hour naps, rather than 30 minutes, on the weekends, but I can tell you that during my college years, naps during the day helped me focus a lot better for those long nights in the library.
Not being able to nap turned out to be a postpartum issue for my girlfriend (as in, a sign of depression and anxiety) which I found fascinating.
I recommend reading a book you've already read to death in a dim room. Or to a kid, who hasn't noticed how sleepy they are at story time?! I just go with it and nap in a big ball with them.
The sweet glory of a nap is sadly lost on too many people. I'm able and ready to nap most anytime. It's a pleasure in life for which I refuse to feel guilty.
I have the same problem as Lynell. I am almost always super cranky and out of sorts when I wake up from a nap. It is the WORST if I fall asleep when it is still light out and wake when it's getting dark - even if it was a short nap...I think it makes me feel as though I've wasted the day and I just get super crabby for some reason. I can recognize that it's happening, but I can't stop it! As a result I very rarely nap, but I thankfully sleep well at night.
My husband gets the Best Napper award. I fail miserably. It seems I need a nap at the worst times. I am definitely a lark. Can't fit in a nap when my body wants it.
Oh I love the keys idea. I'll need to try that. I've been a napper my whole life. I love to get up super early (even on weekends) and take a nap during the day if/when possible. This never works during the week, but I almost always get two naps per weekend. I don't care if my friends call me an old lady. I'm well-rested and they're jealous.
For me, covering up is KEY. Even if it's hot, I need to cover up with at least a light throw if I'm going to fall asleep. I even keep a pashmina at my desk for those extremely rare occasions when I'm able to sneak away for a 20 minute rest. At home, I make sure to cover up with a soft blanket. It also helps to have a cat curled up on top of me.
Lynell - did you just wake up from a nap to post that comment?
I used to be unable to sleep anywhere but under the covers in the dark, but since moving to NYC I have become adept at the subway nap. I cross my leg over the strap of my bag, pull a hat over my eyes and I am out in about 90 seconds. It helps to live in Washington Heights which means a 20-25 minute ride from midtown with few stops. I think that it gets easier when you are in the habit, your body just expects the nap. Even on days when I've gotten a good night's sleep, I will still conk right out on the subway.
I love my Saturday naps, and so does my cat. Twenty minutes is all I need or want. I can't nap on a bed, though, or I oversleep. The sofa, with the TV on (golf is especially conducive), and a blanket over me.
I learned to catnap when I was in Navy officer candidate school years ago. We only got about 5 hours of sleep a night but had to stay awake in classes all day, a particular challenge after a typical cafeteria gut bomb for lunch. We got demerits for falling asleep during class, but on breaks it was okay. So as the smokers filed out, the rest of us plunked our heads down on our desks. The sound of the smokers coming back in woke us up. Just that little ten-minute snooze reset my brain for the rest of the day.
Napping during the workday is the best! My apartment is across the street from my office. Make and eat lunch in 20 minutes, nap for 30! I find I am much more productive in the afternoon that way.
If you can't fall asleep, do your best to block out the light. You will get a better sleep if it is dark.
I love naps. I'd almost consider my little naptime my favorite part of the day. I'm also lucky to have worked (and still work) for places where naps are extremely common. Dozing off during office hours isn't a huge deal where I am now, and taking a nap between classes, runs, etc. was common when I worked for an aquarium.
Now that I'm working consistently, I almost always catch a brief snooze when I get home from work.
I watch movies or television shows that I have seen a bunch a times....it is just enough to distract me from stress, but still boring enough that I can drift off
I nap just about every day & don't feel at all guilty about it. If I'm tired, I'm tired! I have the luxury of working at home though.
I'm a napaholic. I absolutely am addicted to them, although I can usually only have them on weekends. One of life's greatest pleasures. :)
If napping were an Olympic sport, I would get gold! I guess I have taken for granted my super power of being able to nap or sleep at a drop of a hat. Mom never had to force me to take a nap when I was little, I would just pass out on the floor. To this day...I can sit in a chair or lay on the couch and be out in 5 minutes or less.
@Lesliem, I''m with you -- sofa (chaise longue section) afghan, cat, TV with talking heads (I adore Rachael Maddow, but something about her voice can rock me right to sleep!)
i work 12 hour (6-6) rotating shifts-with 3 breaks if i am lucky. i love putting my head down on the breakroom table w/my cell phone alarm set. i can sleep for about 20 mins-even with the chatter and clatter around me-and still hit the bed at 7 for about 5-6 hours and do it all over again.
i love napping on my days off except for preparing to do the opposite shift rotation coming up. oh, and i am an owl.
I can only nap when pregnant or with a newborn. Then the hormones go away and it is physically impossible again. And if I do manage I can't sleep at night. I am jealous of nappers.
I tried. Right after reading this article I was inspired. But twenty to thirty minutes of sleep ended up being an hour and a half of effort. Working graveyard has made the world of sleep completely elusive to me.
I've always napped. When I worked at an office, I would frequently (several times a week at least) nap in my car for an hour on lunch break and just eat at my desk. Now that I work from home, I have the luxury of a more comfortably place to sleep and the flexibility to schedule my naps into my work day. I love it.
I've been napping in my car at lunch, from time to tima, as needed, for YEARS. Set my cellphone alarm, put the seat back and cover my eyes with a scarf (I keep for this reason) and after I am so much more refreshed for work. I'm in the design industry and I can testify to a casual car nap boosting my creativity.
I don't necessarily recommend it, but once or twice when I was desperate for sleep I took a 10-min nap in a bathroom stall. Sometimes that makes the difference.
@ rexrayfan, haha, totally hey?
My dad is the best napper I know, he can literally fall asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, and 10 minutes later he wakes up refreshed and ready to do some work. When we were kids we would be jumping on top of him and making so much noise, but he slept right through it, awesome!
I have nothing to say about napping but I am seriously in love with that dog.
One of the benefits of being self-employed for sure. Though I usually don't want to nap unless I'm sick. I'm an afternoon high-energy person, but not a morning or night person, so that might be part of it.
Nap is serious business in my house. EVERYONE naps. My 4 yr old, 2 dogs and my husband and I. We work from home. I have a nap sign on the front door. We all work better in bursts of energy and like to stay up late. I am more productive if I work later in to the night. It is kinda weird because we have ALWAYS planned outings around nap time and rarely miss them. My daughter ASKS for naps even though she knows her same age friends don't take them anymore.
Hmmm. Just yesterday, I was watching a show with a sleep expert who made the point that naps are NOT good for you -- that they interfere with your ability to sleep at night, which is more restorative and more important.
http://www.marilyn.ca/HealthFitness/segments.aspx/Daily/January2012/01_25_2012/SleepMyths
I thought I had sleeping problems since I am usually desperate for 15 mins of shut eye in the afternoon! Good to know it's human biology! I go home for lunch everyday, and love when I get time to nap for 20 mins. I've had job where I sneek out to my car and snooze. I'm so much happier in the afternoon. I've even snuck upstairs to my product library and laid down on carpet sample for 10. I feel guilty, but sometime I can barely keep my eyes open and brain clear!
My tick is; heated blanket, kitty curled up at my knees, fluffy pillow. Sometimes tv, but I'm usually so tired that I don't need it. Going to catch my lunch nap now!
@Mschatelaine: I read something similar to your anti-nap example even as I was writing this post, but decided in favor of the nap. It may cause issues for some problem sleepers, but anecdotal evidence swayed me in favor of the research that shows its benefits. Why fight nature?
Like some others said, napping makes me wake up crabby, and in some instances nauseous. I sleep like a baby at night, but sometimes I wish I could nap. Usually, I can nap only if I'm sick.
Interesting thread, don't get me wrong, but, um..
what exactly does napping have to do with design?
color me curious...
The nap is one of God's sweetest inventions. I nap daily.
I LOVE naps, and my Sunday afternoon nap is pretty sacred. Fetal position on the couch, dog curled up behind my knees...heaven.
I'm definitely a lark, but I'm also a teacher. Principals tend to frown on napping when there are children in the classroom!! I can definitely rock a 20-30 minute nap when I get home though, and feel refreshed and ready for an evening's activities. (No kids yet...haha the luxuries!)
I come from a long line of nappers, especially on Sundays. The whole house was asleep. Being in food service I work most Sundays now and those naps are history. I look forward to the weekdays off and having a quiet nap while everyone else is at work. I am an owl. I usually go to bed at 4am so my naps are probably later than most. I sleep almost exactly to the minute for 2 hours.
I think you are either a napper or you aren't. Sleep if you feel the need to. Trying to take a nap when you don't really need one if futile.
I can't fight the need for a nap. My husband does. He fights the sleeply feeling because his mother thought only lazy people slept during the day. When he finally gives in he is frustrated and doesn't sleep well. He gets up grumpy and in a bad mood.
Your body knows what you need. Just listen to it.
If I nap, I have to go for 2 hours. Any shorter and I'm even crankier and groggier when I get up than I would have been without the nap.
Make your apt as dark & quiet as possible...shut the windows, close the blinds & turn off your cell. If your significant other is home ask them to deal with the phone, the doorbell, ect.. & put on some comfortable clothing.