Don't nap after 3 p.m. Naps later in the day may mess with your ability to fall asleep at night. Nap in a sleep-friendly environment. Choose a cool, quiet, comfortable place. Remove any bright lights, if possible.
Take naps in the early afternoon.
Napping after 3 p.m. can interfere with nighttime sleep. Individual factors, such as your need for sleep, your sleeping schedule, your age and your medication use, also can play a role in determining the best time of day to nap.
How Long Should a Nap Be? In general, the best nap length for adults is about 20 minutes and no longer than 30 minutes. Sleeping for 20 minutes allows the napper to get a bit of light sleep to boost alertness without entering into deep sleep.
“First, make sure you're in a place that is cold, dark and quiet,” Das says. “This will help your body transition into sleep faster.” Second, don't nap too late in the day. “The body's preference is to nap around 2-4 pm.
However, Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Why We Sleep, said people who have trouble falling asleep at night should approach naps with caution, and that everyone should avoid napping after 3pm.
The 15 minute rule
If, after 15 minutes, you find that you are not asleep, don't stay in bed. if you're still awake after another 15 minutes, get up again and repeat. This helps with associating your bed with sleep and has been found to be one of the nost effective strategies to address long-term sleep difficulties.
You should take only take a nap between 1pm and 3pm or 5pm and 7pm to avoid disrupting the body's natural drive for sleep at night. “Around 6.30pm should be the latest time you should nap, so a commuter nodding off on the train home is still OK,” says McGuinness.
Gurevich says. But in general, the term refers to short naps ranging from about 10 to 30 minutes. A power nap that lasts 20 to 30 minutes is usually ideal. It's long enough to give you all the benefits of sleep without leaving you feeling groggy when you wake up.
Modern research suggests that sleeping twice in a 24-hour period (a sleep pattern that is alternately referred to as biphasic sleep, segmented sleep, or siesta sleep) may facilitate greater energy levels, alertness, cognitive function, and productivity.
What is The 30-90 Rule? The 30-90 rule is a guideline for taking a good nap without feeling groggy afterward. It states that naps should last 30 minutes or less — OR be at least 90 minutes long, in order to improve physical health and cognitive performance.
Cote and NASA suggest taking power naps between 10 and 20 minutes long. You'll get the most benefit from a sleep cycle without any of the grogginess associated with longer sleeping periods. You don't need to get through all five sleep stages, just the first two.
Napping too long can make you feel drowsy and light-headed when you wake up. You could also have a hard time falling asleep that night, and suffer insomnia for a night or two. Typically, the best amount of time to nap is 15 minutes to 90 minutes. You'll feel replenished but still be able to sleep through the night.
Short naps (10-20 mins) improve alertness but wear off quickly; longer naps (40-90 mins) boost complex thinking but may cause sleep inertia or grogginess. Consider factors like your work schedule and specific goals when customizing your nap length.
Strong scientific evidence shows that our brains benefit from a brief period of actual sleep (a nap), not just a quiet period, to recover from fatigue and to help restore alertness. Both short (15-30 minute) and long (1.5-hour) naps can increase alertness. During the daytime, a brief nap is recommended.
It's not that long naps are bad for you, exactly, but they do carry risks. The biggest risk is sleep inertia. “Napping for an hour or longer increases your risk of falling into the deep stages of sleep,” Dr. Foldvary-Schaefer points out.
When you nap, you allow your body to enter a deeper state of rest, which can help increase growth hormone production. Deep sleep triggers the release of certain hormones, including growth hormone (GH), essential for muscle growth and repair.
The recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult is at least seven hours. Most people don't need more than eight hours in bed to be well rested. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, including weekends. Being consistent reinforces your body's sleep-wake cycle.
We do not recommend sleeping for only one hour at night. Some research suggests that lost sleep can take years off your life and that you may not be able to catch up on the lost hours of rest. This is because consistent sleep deprivation can cause a myriad of chronic health issues in people over time.
The ideal length for a power nap is between 10-20 minutes. The best time of day for a power nap is during the natural dip of your circadian rhythm, which occurs for many of us between 1-3 p.m. Avoid power napping if you have insomnia, you are trying to shift your sleep schedule, or it's too late in the day.
Take a nap
A nap was found to improve memory scores on a test in one study, suggesting that a quick sleep could help to refresh your mind and consolidate all that learning. Keep it short though; any more than 20-30 minutes and you could find it difficult to fall asleep later on.
In a study of first-year medical students, brief afternoon naps improved the mental acuity and alertness of participants, which are benefits we could all use a little more of.
If you're sleeping enough at night but still find yourself yearning for a nap more than just occasionally, it's a good idea to bring up your napping habit with your doctor. He or she can check for health issues that may be causing your sleepiness.
Studies show that napping does more than just reduce fatigue. It can elevate your mood, improve productivity and make it easier for you to learn and retain new information.