The art of napping

How to give yourself a midday boost without feeling groggy

Mar 09, 2025

Naps. Some people love them, some people hate them. Some people say naps leave them feeling refreshed, others say naps make them feel worse. Some cultures actively encourage napping, even during the workday, others frown on it.

So, what's the deal with naps - yea or nay? Well, it depends how you do it.

Why naps are great

A few minutes of shut-eye or a doze during the day can be great. especially for older people and children. Kids need a lot more sleep than adults, so they often need to sleep twice in each 24-hour cycle. Napping is essential for children’s brain development, particularly in supporting the growth of the hippocampus, which plays a key role in memory and learning. When babies are born, the hippocampus is underdeveloped, which is why they can't form lasting memories. As children grow, the hippocampus matures, and napping helps it process and consolidate memories more effectively. This extra rest lightens the load on the developing hippocampus, allowing it to better manage daily memories. As the hippocampus fully develops by preschool age, the need for naps decreases, which is why children stop napping around this time.

And older people tend to sleep less at night and tire easily, so a brief midday pick-me-up can be helpful. As we age, the brain’s ability to store and process new information can decline, often due to changes in the hippocampus and other memory-related areas. Naps can provide a mental reset, allowing the brain to process and strengthen newly learned information. This extra rest also helps reduce the effects of cognitive fatigue, which is common in older adults. Napping can enhance alertness, improve mood, and even help reduce stress, all of which contribute to better overall brain function.

Typically, when you nap, you'll get mostly light sleep, with perhaps a couple of minutes of deep sleep. You probably won't experience REM sleep (dreaming) at all - if you do, you'll probably wake up groggy.1 (More on that later.) However, that little burst of non-REM sleep is just enough to reduce cortisol levels, so when you wake, you'll feel less stressed, and your mind should be clearer. Naps have been proven to improve cognitive performance and memory, reduce depression, and improve emotional stability.2

Obviously, napping isn't always convenient. Here in America we don't believe in siestas. We don't even believe in lunch breaks any more - most office workers eat at their desks, and don't have the option for a half-hour to sleep. As usual, our hectic lifestyles get in the way of doing what's best for our mental and physical health.

But if you can, do. Even if you’ve had a good night’s sleep the night before, a short nap will boost your productivity, increase your alertness, and give you more energy throughout the second half of the day.3

Tips for successful napping

To get the full benefit of a nap, you need to do it right.

Don't nap too long: the sweet spot is 20 to 30 minutes - no longer! After 45 minutes or more, you're likely to start entering REM sleep and having dreams. If that happens, you'll wake up feeling groggy and disoriented. Studies show that if you nap for more than half an hour, you'll actually feel less alert and more tired than you did before. This effect can last for the rest of the day and disrupt your night time sleep. So set an alarm and make sure you don't oversleep.4
Pick the right time: avoid napping within six hours of bedtime. Naps late in the day are more likely to disrupt your evening sleep cycle, which will make it harder to get to sleep later. Lunchtime naps are good: afternoon naps could be problematical.5
Have a coffee before you nap: caffeine takes about 25 minutes to kick in, so it'll be starting to work just as you wake up. This will minimize your chances of feeling groggy, and will help you spring back into action after your nap.6
Napping after a meal can be particularly beneficial. After eating, the body secretes insulin, seratonin, tryptophan and melatonin, all of which make you feel sleepy. In addition, it diverts energy from the brain to the gut to enable digestion, so you feel less alert anyway. Your body is already trying to tell you to doze for a bit, so don't fight it.

Incidentally, if you’ve ever found that storms make you feel like taking a nap, there’s a reason for that. Lower barometric pressure as a storm comes in can lead to reduced oxygen levels in the air, which can make you feel sluggish. In addition, melatonin production is increased - though we’re not entirely sure why - which tells your body it’s time to sleep. As the temperature drops and the skies darken, that acts as yet another cue to tell you the day’s over. And, of course, the sound of gentle rain is soothing: put all those factors together, and curling up for an hour or so seems like a really good idea.7

Not all naps are great, though

Napping, however, isn't an ideal substitute for night-time sleep. If you're not getting enough sleep at night, you can't nap your way out of it. Naps can help, but the quality of sleep that you get in a nap is very different to night-time sleep because the duration is so short.8 In thirty minutes, you won't reach the deep relaxation state your brain and body needs in order to trigger the full restorative power of sleep.

Naps are good when you're low on energy, not when you're actually tired. They're a stress reliever and a mental reset, but they won't help you repay your sleep debt: for that, you need a proper night's sleep.9 In other words, naps are like snacks - they can keep you going until your next meal, but you shouldn’t live on them.

If you find yourself needing more than a short nap on a regular basis, this may indicate a medical condition that needs professional help. If you're sleeping a lot during the daytime, and especially if this is disrupting your life, you should see a doctor who can determine whether you have an illness, a sleep disorder, or something else that's affecting your sleep.10

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