Ron's corner: One of our favorite questions-How long is a power nap?

How Long is a Power Nap?

Power naps have been around as long as humans have. A power nap is a short sleep that terminates before deep sleep; it is intended to quickly revitalize yout. Cornell University social psychologist James Maas coined the term.

Plenty of people swear by regular naps to help them recharge in the afternoon. My 86-year-old mother has taken a 20-minute nap every afternoon at 2:00 since she was a little girl, and my partner pretty much always passes out for at least an hour after her big weekend nights out. I struggle to relax long enough to nap, and on the rare occasion that I do doze off, I wake up groggy and useless — the opposite of refreshed. I wondered about the best nap length, the anatomy of the “perfect” nap, and how one achieves this elusive state.

Why take a power nap at all? It turns out that power napping may have wide-reaching mental and physical benefits. Research suggests power napping can boost your mood, as well as enhance learning and memory. In a study published in September 2019, a daytime snooze once or twice week was associated with a 48% percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease events, such as heart attack or stroke. The power nap is meant to maximize the benefits of sleep versus time. It is used to supplement normal sleep, especially when a sleeper has accumulated a sleep deficit.

Power naps restore alertness, performance, and learning ability. A nap may also reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep or reverse the damage of sleep deprivation. A study found superior memory recall once a person had reached 6 minutes of sleep, suggesting that the onset of sleep may initiate active memory processes of consolidation which—once triggered—remains effective even if sleep is terminated.

Here’s how to take a power nap so that you wake up refreshed and ready to take on the rest of your day.

Set a 20-minute timer

“If your schedule allows and you’re feeling a serious energy drain, it’s great to take a quick 20-minute nap,” says Conor Heneghan, a lead sleep research scientist at Fitbit who recently facilitated a clinical trial to validate the company’s sleep apnea alert software. “Doing so can help improve alertness and performance while lowering your stress levels.” Twenty minutes into a nap, you’re still in a light, non-REM stage of sleep, from which it’s relatively easy to rouse yourself, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

So how long is a Power Nap? Anything longer than 20 minutes and you’ll sink into deep sleep, when your brain waves slow down, and your body doesn’t respond as readily to external stimuli. Waking up during deep sleep is not only a struggle, it can lead to a state of drowsiness and disorientation known as sleep inertia. (That explains my own post-nap grogginess; when I do manage to fall asleep, I’m dead to the world for an hour, sometimes more.) Although sleep inertia often lasts for only a few minutes to a half-hour, it can last longer if you’re sleep deprived or wake up from an especially long nap, per the NSF. One thing that can help recharge you should you oversleep is Redline Xtreme Energy Drink.

Heneghan suggests napping for no longer than 45 minutes, not only to avoid sleep inertia, but also to make it easier for you to fall asleep at your normal bedtime, so you don’t mess up your sleep schedule.

Take advantage of the post-lunch body adjustment slump

Generally speaking, the ideal time to nap is the after you’ve eaten lunch, when your blood sugar and energy levels naturally take a nosedive, Heneghan tells Mic. At that point, “your body enters a state of mid-day drowsiness.” Bonus tip: If you have time, taking a short walk after lunch and before you nap could benefit your metabolism, Heneghan says.

Account for your sleep schedule

You get that afternoon is ideal for naptime, but when in the afternoon should you nap? If you’re an early riser — someone who wakes up at 5:00 a.m. or so — Heneghan suggests napping earlier in the afternoon to avoid throwing off your sleep schedule. If you sleep and awaken later, though, save your nap for mid-afternoon. Don’t put it off for too long, though. Settling into a nap after 3:00 p.m. could affect your nighttime slumber, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Create a nap-friendly environment

“Darkness is essential for the body to wind down,” Heneghan says. Dim the lights, and shut down your devices to keep your bed strictly a “sleep zone.” Turn on a fan, or turn down the thermostat slightly. A temperature of around 65 degrees Fahrenheit promotes sleep, Michael Breus, a clinical sleep psychologist in Los Angeles, told the New York Times.

how long is a power nap

Ease into the rest of your day

Be gentle with yourself, and allow yourself time to awaken before diving back into your day, especially if it includes tasks that require quick response times, the Mayo Clinic recommends.

The Mayo Clinic also notes that napping may not be for everyone. Some people can’t sleep anywhere other than their own beds (making it hard to sneak in a nap if you’re in school or have an office job, for example), while others have trouble sleeping during the day. I wonder if I fall into this category, but before writing off napping completely, I’ll try some of these tips and hopefully find true rest and rejuvenation, not just the quick buzz of a caffeine high.

Do you ever wake up from naps either feeling worse than you did before the nap, or oversleeping and turning that 20 minute nap into a 3 hour snooze fest? I’ll show you how to put a stop to it, and begin power napping like a pro.

The key to understanding how to nap more effectively is a familiarity with the sleep cycle (00:47). Effective power napping takes advantage of the lighter stages of sleep, specifically stages 1 and 2. Deeper sleep (meaning stages 3 and 4) is more restorative sleep that is best kept for overnight. Napping into deeper sleep stages is more likely to result in sleep inertia, feeling groggy, and even oversleeping.

How to recover from oversleeping

A short period of sleep of around 15 to 20 minutes, preceded by consuming a caffeinated drink or another stimulant, may help combat daytime drowsiness more effectively than napping or drinking coffee alone. A “stimulant nap” (or coffee nap, caffeine nap, occasionally called napuccino) was discovered by British researchers, Horne and Reyner, to be more effective than regular naps in improving post-nap alertness and cognitive functioning. In a series of studies in a driving simulator, Horne and Reyner investigated the effects of cold air, radio, a break with no nap, a nap, caffeine pill vs. a placebo and a short nap preceded by caffeine on mildly sleep-deprived subjects. A nap with caffeine was by far the most effective in reducing driving accidents and subjective sleepiness as it helps the body get rid of the sleep-inducing chemical compound adenosine. Caffeine in coffee takes up to half an hour to have an alerting effect, hence “a short (<15min) nap will not be compromised if it is taken immediately after the coffee.” One account suggested that it was like a “double shot of energy” from the stimulating boost from caffeine plus better alertness from napping. Instead of coffee using Redline Xtreme is easier and doesn’t need to be made.

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