How to nap

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/naps/

by ozzzy • 15 years ago

647 133 15 years ago

boston.com

deepkut• 15 years ago

Old, but interesting. I wonder if hackers nap more often?

j455• 15 years ago

First time I'm seeing this, thanks for sharing.

Where it mentions a nap makes stage 2 sleep, I know my ability to nap can depend on how quickly I can fall asleep.

I've found meditating for 5-10 minutes even at my desk offers a similar result to napping, without the nap-hangover/grogginess.

The feeling? Like when we wake up, fresh, clear minded, focused, settled and ready to go.

nvk• 15 years ago

I get the same results out of meditation, but if im going out at night or have to be at an event, i like taking a 30-40 min nap before getting ready, makes me be back to 100% till late.

j455• 15 years ago

Party naps are the best. I like taking them if I'm putting in a long coding day. Only downside sometimes I fall asleep for 90 minutes lol.

philwelch2• 15 years ago

The "disco nap".

zafka• 15 years ago

I usually get one nap a week on Sunday afternoons for about 3 hours. I find that I feel more creative and ambitious in the period after this nap than at any other time in the week. While it is feasible to add one more day to my nap schedule, I have yet to do it. I am rather much looking forward to when my schedule will allow for a daily nap.

Archio• 15 years ago

I've adjusted recently to have 1.5 hour naps in the middle of the day (I'm a college student), so then I can go to bed at around 1 AM and wake up at 7:30 AM, and be well-rested and awake the entire day.

It's almost like taking the nap in the middle day gives my brain a "restart" so it's refreshed and prepared to focus the rest of the night.

nicholasjbs3• 15 years ago

I cannot overstate how much power naps have improved my life. I started doing them regularly about seven years ago and have been recommending them to everyone I can since. Napping makes me happier, more alert, and way more productive.

A shameless plug: I wrote a post about how I learned to nap here: http://unschooled.org/2011/05/how-i-nap

snewman• 15 years ago

Ditto. For me, the 20 minute investment in a post-lunch nap pays back manyfold in increased productivity (to say nothing of health and general well-being) for the rest of the day.

Finding a place to nap in an office an environment can be tricky, but if you start thinking of your nap as an important work tool and not an embarrassing indulgence, you can usually find a way to make it work. Drop a few bucks on a good pillow, blanket, sleep mask, and/or white-noise headphones -- whatever's important for you -- to keep at your desk. (For me, the sleep mask is critical. YMMV.) Get creative with your sleep position -- couches are great, but I've made it work lying on the floor with my feet up on my office chair (suitably chocked so it won't roll away). The key point is, don't be afraid to ask the work environment to adapt to your nap, rather than vice versa.

j455• 15 years ago

Two tricks, both of which depend on your situation

CAR:

I used to go to my car and take a nap. Kick the seat back, eye cover, maybe ear plugs and put the alarm on vibrate and in my shirt pocket.

Depending on someones situation and their proximity to their vehicle, if they drive.. It could be good.

YOGA MAT:

Everyone likes being hip and yogic. Buy a yoga mat. By tying yoga mats to napping it seems all so, much, more okay.

It's easy to lie on the floor, once you learn to nap on the floor you'll have the most refreshing naps ever.

spuz• 15 years ago

Can you and other nappers here explain how you are able to find somewhere to nap in a busy office environment (and your car isn't available)? For me, lying on the floor would be far too noisy with hundreds of PCs humming away and I would be at constant risk of being stepped on by my colleagues.

light3• 15 years ago

I usually fold my arms on the desk and sleep with my head down, you have to be careful to make sure you let enough oxygen through and also to not cut circulation from your arm for too long. If I sleep for too long this way my arms become numb, but sometimes I'm so tired I just don't care =)

philwelch2• 15 years ago

You can try what I always did in high school: bend over your desk and nuzzle into the crook of your elbow.

nicholasjbs3• 15 years ago

In the three most recent offices I've needed to nap in, I napped: Sitting on a sofa with my head back against the wall; lying down on an oversized bean-bag cushion; in a computer chair, with my butt moved towards the front of it and my head back against the top of the back (the back wasn't tall enough unless I scootched forward). The last was obviously the least comfortable.

In general, I've found the biggest obstacles are social (i.e., people think you're lazy), not logistical. But these are largely gone for me now that I'm running my own company. My cofounder and I have vowed to not just tell any future employees that napping is acceptable, but to actually keep doing it, so they see that we're serious and feel comfortable napping themselves should they want to.

I'd recommend telling your coworkers/boss that napping makes you more productive, and that you only take one 20-minute nap a day. If they're silly and care about exact minutes worked, just show up a few minutes early or start a bit later.

BigTigger• 15 years ago

I'm not a regular napper, but whenever I've napped in a busy office, the best approach I've found is to head out to a park, find a shady spot and lie down. Take a towel so you don't get dirty or itchy

Options here are obviously, book a meeting, pretend you're going for a run, out to lunch or a coffee.

fedd2• 15 years ago

when the car wasn't available, i slept, i am sorry, in a toilet. (later i noticed that not only me was who did that, so i've nothing to be ashamed of)

kellishaver• 15 years ago

Not only is it good for your energy level and mental focus, a 20 minute nap mid-day is a nice break for the eyes.

thetrendycyborg• 15 years ago

Finally! I was wondering how to do this!

On a real note, napping changed my life. And when I had my own business, it really helped productivity to have a nap in the middle of the day. Now I work for the machine, and naps are unfortunately not allowed.

bh422225• 15 years ago

Now I work for the machine, and naps are unfortunately not allowed.

OK, here's a crazy idea!

I work for the machine, MOST of us work for the machine. Unions are in our past. But government might just be the way to force the machine to support naps for its workers.

If we start lobbying for a law to allow naps, how realistic is it for that to pass? Sure it's silly, but silly laws usually have a better chance of passing!

botker3• 15 years ago

While I'm a big fan of naps, I'm not a big fan of government. It's not their job to legislate when we sleep, and the Law of Unintended Consequences assures that it would be a disaster.

A better approach is to start your own business, and incorporate naps into the company culture.

danko• 15 years ago

I'm glad that this provides scientific justification for that napping danger zone between 45 and 90 minutes. Having taken naps that have ended in that precarious time span, I can attest that it feels like you're worse off than when you started.

sliverstorm3• 15 years ago

Not just feels. Definitely worse, it puts me off-beat for the rest of the day and I always feel like I suddenly desperately need a shower.

mattgreenrocks• 15 years ago

Yeah, I'm not sure where the sensation of needing to shower comes from...perhaps from sweat?

kcima• 15 years ago

Not everyone sleeps in the same way. After a doctor suggested I do an overnight sleep study, I found out that I often reach REM within 5 to 10 minutes.

Taking even a 15 minute nap in my car right after lunch completely boosts my creative thinking and problem solving ability.

danso• 15 years ago

Has anyone ever used phone apps that purport to wake you up at the right time by using the accelerometer to detect how much you're moving in your sleep?

Example: http://www.sleepcycle.com/

I've used this but only for a few times because it requires the phone to be activated all night, which makes it quite warm in the morning. But it seemed to make me less groggy...but I can't tell if that's just confirmation bias...

I haven't thought of using it for just 45 min spans though

cburgas• 15 years ago

I'm using it for nearly a year now. Its really nice if the app can wake you up while you are in light sleep but sometimes you are just not in that phase during the 30min period the app tries to wake you in.

So worst case is that you wake up the same way you would with a normal alarm clock, but on the other days its pretty neat.

But the 30% battery charge I lose overnight is sometimes a hassle because my phone is either near the 30% right before I want to go to bed or I know that I have no time to charge it in the morning... and I refuse to charge the phone while its laying next to me :)

j455• 15 years ago

I got a long iphone cable from dealextreme and it comes onto my bed just fine to charge. Not sure if you had a different reservation :)

shennyg• 15 years ago

What's wrong with charging your phone close to you while you're asleep?

gwern2• 15 years ago

One of the nifty things about the Zeo is that when it does that (the 'SmartWake' feature), it probably won't be mistaken because it's not going on your movements but more your EEG.

lazerwalker• 15 years ago

I tried using a Wakemate (a dedicated bluetooth wristband that talks to a companion iPhone app) and found it to be pretty close to useless for me -- I move around quite a lot when I sleep, and I found it was consistently waking me up within a minute of the start of the wake period.

That doesn't mean that stuff like this isn't useful for normal people who don't flail around like an animal when they sleep, but an anecdote is an anecdote. I'd also imagine a more sophisticated piece of software might be able to learn your sleep pattern and adjust the sensitivity (i.e. calibrate the threshold based on how much you personally move when you sleep, rather than the hypothetical average person).

(in Wakemate's defense, they have an awesome no-questions-asked 30-day return policy, so I was happily able to return it and get my money back when I wasn't satisfied. They were a true pleasure to deal with.)

darkstar999• 15 years ago

I used sleep cycle with success last summer, but I'm not sure how well it would work with a second person in the bed. Wouldn't their movement throw off the timer?

Schwolop• 15 years ago

Yes, they most certainly do throw off the timer. This was the main reason I stopped using sleepcycle. A wrist-strap certainly seems like a better option.

juliano_q• 15 years ago

Sadly, here in Brazil when I tell someone that I need a nap in the afternoon to be really productive almost everyone says "You are lazy" or something like that. I have worked in a single company that I had some time to take a 15-20 minutes nap in the afternoon and the boost in my productivity was simply outstanding.

crazygringo• 15 years ago

Believe me, it's not just Brazil!

bh422225• 15 years ago

Not even in Spain or Portugal? My last hope...

adnam• 15 years ago

I'm a big fan of siestas. I even put my pyjamas on to nap.

n_coats• 15 years ago

It's interesting to note the immediate difference between a short nap (less than 45 mins) and one longer. I've never heard the pre nap coffee suggestions! I take naps frequently and hate when I over sleep or wake up from one longer than an hour and a half due to the groggy/grumpy side effects.

Really interesting and insightful piece!

huhtenberg• 15 years ago

> hate when I over sleep

Try this - immediately before closing your eyes say to yourself "I need to wake up in 15 minutes". In exactly 15 minutes you will feel a subtle mental nudge that you need to act upon and open your eyes. You can as easily ignore it, in which case you will go right back to sleep. YMMV, of course, but it works for many people and it is seriously amazing.

Ixiaus• 15 years ago

The body's own clock is amazing. I've done this to wake myself up in the mornings successfully too!

I do it like this: when laying in bed right before falling asleep I imagine a flip-card clock and the whole thing is spinning, just spinning, then I imagine it stopping suddenly on the time that I want to wakeup. The really cool part is when you wake up at exactly that time the next morning with NO alarm clocks!

mkopinsky2• 15 years ago

I once had a study partner who took quite precise power naps. I remember one occasion when he asked to be woken up after 16 minutes. At the end of the 16 minutes I was mid-paragraph so I finished the paragraph and then woke him (after probably 18 minutes). His comment was, "That wasn't 16 minutes."

davewingler2• 15 years ago

Yep, I noticed I had this ability when I was a kid. Of I tell myself I've got to awake at a specific time then I always wake seconds before my alarm in the morning. Mysterious intuitive knowing by the sleeping-consciousness.

g3orge• 15 years ago

I really need that. Wallpaper-ed.

omgsean• 15 years ago

I've tried this so many times but I just can't fall asleep in the middle of the day unless I'm seriously exhausted. Anyone out there able to beat the "can't fall asleep unless conditions are perfect" curse?

gwern2• 15 years ago

Perhaps you could just try meditation instead.

nicholasjbs3• 15 years ago

What worked for me was to build up gradually over time. I started only napping when I was very tired, in my bed, with the lights off. Even then it took practice before my body learned to fall asleep in a reasonable amount of time.

Then I started napping with the lights on, and then when I wasn't super tired.

Today, I can fall asleep quickly in a chair in a noisy office.

DeusExMachina• 15 years ago

Please notice that it also depends on the length of your nap. I do 20 minutes naps and you don't fall asleep in those. Still it's enough to change your brain wave and to get the benefits of the nap.

Also, as you do it every day at the same time, your body gets used to it and you nap faster.

fauldsh• 15 years ago

I've really struggled with sleep schedules recently (varying from getting up at 6am to 3pm within a week, due to various late-night engagements whilst trying to get up earlier).

I have found that setting an alarm and counting down from 10 to force myself out of bed unnaturally early has left me feeling really awake once showered and very dozy around mid-day. Time will tell if this is sustainable but it feels pretty amazing right now, far more productive hours (in amount and intensity) than when I was sleeping 8-9hours a night.

CamperBob• 15 years ago

The 'sleep' part is not actually what's important. Just lie down in a quiet, dark place and close your eyes for 20 minutes, and you will gain a large portion of the same benefits that you'd have gained if you actually fell asleep.

kahawe2• 15 years ago

I can fall asleep at pretty much any given hour of the day... unless it is the actual time in the evening at which I should go to bed. I had a terrible case of getting a "second wind" rush at night around midnight and even worse after 3 or 4 am.

Freestyler_3• 15 years ago

I read that using an alarm to wake you up is not good. The perfect sleeping rithm is different from one person to another so I can't tell people how they should sleep, there are people who can, they studied for it.

sidcool• 15 years ago

A 3 year old infographic rises from ashes...

chjj• 15 years ago

I love naps.

jjcm• 15 years ago

Twenty minute naps leave me in a horrid state of disarray. It takes me about an hour to recover from the grogginess, so I tend to stay as far away from them as possible. I've experimented with time and location variations, but never with any success. It makes me sad, because I know tons of people who work naps into their day with fantastic results.

Harkins• 15 years ago

This was a problem for me, too. I found that naps over 16 minutes knock me out as you describe, naps under leave me very refreshed and alert. I set my alarm for 16m in a quiet environment, 17m if I'm in a noisier environment or heightened state to give me a little extra time to fall asleep. Maybe some experimentation will help you find a time that works, good luck.

pacomerh• 15 years ago

Yeah, same here, as long as you don't over-nap then it works good, try with shorter ones they really help a lot.

eric-hu• 15 years ago

Other sources I've read suggest that around 15 minutes of sleep is optimal, and going over puts you into a different phase of sleep. Perhaps you have an easier time falling asleep than others.

When I try to nap, I'm pretty sure it takes ~5 minutes to doze off usually, but sometimes even more than that.

strait• 15 years ago

I'd heard the same about the 15 minute limit. I've experimented with more and less and have settled on 13 minutes, which works well for me, and I'm sure it varies among everyone. If I'm really sleepy (usually from lack of sleep), even a 5 minute nap clears almost everything out the mind.

I think that the key to going right into the nap, nearly as soon as your head hits the pillow, is to have a routine of using a timer, and get up quickly as soon as the time is up. Then, you won't lie there worrying that you'll oversleep or thinking you should be doing something else more important. Your mind is given permission to fall off, knowing it will come right back with the timer beeping.

I've found it helps to cover my head with another pillow, blocking out some light and noise. The head sandwich feeling is also relaxing and may contribute to my falling right out of consciousness in 10 seconds or less.

ams6110• 15 years ago

I have not tried this, but have read about this technique: When you start your nap, hold something in your hand that will make a noise if you drop it. As your body relaxes and you start to sleep, you will eventually relax your grip enough that the object will fall to the floor and wake you up. This happens at just about the ideal wake time for a short power nap.

skore• 15 years ago

That's a well known rule of thumb: If you can fall asleep, but wake up groggy, decrease your total napping time by one or two minutes until you reach the spot where it works for you. 20-25 minutes is what you start off with, but the more you learn to fall asleep quickly, the further you have to chop away from that alarm clock to have it work.

tintin• 15 years ago

Each sleep cycle takes 90-110 minutes. Each cycle has 5 steps. So each step takes about 20 minutes. But if your cycle takes 90 minutes your first step will take about 18 minutes. So if you wake up after 20 minutes you will be in the first 2 minutes of the next step. And that's a bad moment to wake up.

As people already noticed, you have to play a little bit with the timing.

janus• 15 years ago

I've found 15-20 minutes naps after having lunch, to be amazing. I can wake up really quickly and being fully alert to keep working, without any drowsiness or performance hits.

I wish I could wake up with the same mood in the morning. I find it really hard to even wake up without putting the alarm in snooze at least twice.

darylteo• 15 years ago

ONLY twice?

I set my alarms at 8, and I snooze it till 8:30.

mkopinsky2• 15 years ago

Why not set your alarm for 8:25? I've found that the time snoozing is just time that makes me feel guilty. Make realistic goals, and then stick to it rather than ruining your last half hour of sleep with noise and guilt.

lawnchair_larry• 15 years ago

It amazes me that people can "nap". I can only nap when extremely tired, and at that point, I'm so behind on sleep that 20 minutes won't do a thing. I'll be lucky to wake up, and if I do, I'll be just as groggy. :)

perlpimp• 15 years ago

What I do to fall take a nap or fall asleep is to focus on a point just outside of my right temple, tension drops and mind rest for me faster that way.

BadassFractal• 15 years ago

Is "nap" what they call coffee these days?

pmr_• 15 years ago

The lark and owl distinction has been driving me crazy since I thought about my sleeping habits. I spent about 2 years with completely self-determined sleep (I even collected sleep data) and do not even approximately fit into those schemes. I alternate between a lot of sleep and no sleep over the course of 10 days continually shifting my waking hours into the night until I reset. Some people claim that this would be unhealthy, but (measured by introspection) I felt good and haven't been sick during that time. And I have spoken to some people that feel similar.

While all this is not based on anything that can withstand analysis, it adds a strange flavor to advice when it starts with broad categories which seem not entirely correct.

botker3• 15 years ago

Same here. I've been allowing myself to sleep pretty much whenever I feel like it for the past several months, and I don't appear to have any sleep pattern. Sometimes I sleep 3 or 4 hours, and wake up feeling well-rested and ready to get back to work; other times I'll sleep 12 hours at a stretch. It's irrespective of the 24-hour day. After reading your comment, I'm going to start logging my sleep, to see if there's any noticeable pattern. Thanks.

zcid• 15 years ago

If you removed artificial lighting (including computer screens, tv, etc) from your life between sunset and sunrise, I can almost guarantee your sleep would fall into a pattern. Artificial light wrecks havoc on our automatic systems and stops our internal clocks from properly tracking time.

I highly recommend you try this for a month. Have a set time (say, 10-12PM) after which you will be able to get 8 hours of sleep and declare that blackout time: no lights, candles, tvs, computers, phones, etc. You will be amazed when within that month you aquire the ability to go to sleep and wake at the same times each day.

Edootjuh2• 15 years ago

Some tips on how to get white noise.

- Obviously you can set a radio between channels, but I often don't have a radio in the room but do have a computer, so...

- In linux, if you have ALSA installed, you can type

    cat /dev/urandom | aplay -f cd

in the console, or

    cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp

for OSS

- On the internet, there's http://simplynoise.com/

Edootjuh2• 15 years ago

I noticed that in the picture for 'owls' the best time to nap is 2 pm and ~3:15 pm, but the text says 'closer to 2:30 pm or 3 pm. Which is it?

blakestein• 15 years ago

This whole time, I thought I had a sleeping problem because I couldn't fall asleep until after 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m. and I would get irritable and tired from 3-6 p.m. Now if only that didn't clash with my work hours.

mhartl• 15 years ago

This "nap wheel" is useful for finding the right time to nap:

http://www.saramednick.com/htmls/book/napwheel.htm

palebluedot• 15 years ago

Here is a way to generate simple, wonderful pink noise (with a slight tremolo) from the commandline, if you have sox installed. It somewhat mimics the sounds of waves on a beach - I find it very relaxing.

A nice side affect (and the reason I played around with it originally) is that it helps mask tinnitus when it gets too annoying (I find that if tinnitus flares up too loud, it can make it more difficult to fall asleep).

The cmdline:

  play -t sl -r48000 -c2 - synth -1 pinknoise tremolo .1 40 <  /dev/zero

shmerl• 15 years ago

Here is one for Star Trek fans:

  play -c2 -n synth whitenoise band -n 100 24 band -n 300 100 gain +20

sodiumphosphate• 15 years ago

I'm just going to leave that running for the rest of my life. Thank-you.

jamesgeck0• 15 years ago

Halfway down the page on http://www.reallifecomics.com , there's an hour long loop of this, complete with the random computer blip noises.

klipt• 15 years ago

Personally, I'm a fan of http://www.rainymood.com/

Or for sticking on your mp3 player, http://174.36.223.28/audio/RainyMood.ogg

kingnothing• 15 years ago

That site is amazing, thanks for the link.

Skeletor• 15 years ago

You are a napping genius!!!

philf• 15 years ago

I packaged this stuff into a small shell script: https://gist.github.com/1594482

Serentiynow• 15 years ago

Here is another site with sounds from the beach. http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/

agbell• 15 years ago

According to my zeo deep sleep usually starts way before 45 minutes into sleep.

tnorthcutt• 15 years ago

I wish this was a higher-resolution image (or text... one can dream, right?). It's awfully hard to read.

tobtoh• 15 years ago

For those wondering how to nap at the office and not get hauled into the managers office for sleeping on the job, I paraphrase a tip from Scott Adams (Dilbert):

"Grab a handful of paperclips and find an office/meeting room. Shut the door and lie down on the ground with your feet against the door. Sprinkle the paperclips in front of you. Now have a nap.

If someone tries to enter the room, the door will hit your feet. This will naturally cause them to pause (and stops them entering), it wakes you up and lets you reach for the paperclips which gives you a ready excuse ("Oh sorry, I was just picking up the paperclips")"

obiterdictum• 15 years ago

Obviously, (1) it's not very reusable, and (2) doesn't work for office with glass doors and open-plan offices.

fedd2• 15 years ago

i wanted to share my experience how i napped at work in a big company but found this far more interesting. i just went outside and slept in a car. in a big company noone notices you if everything works, and it did because i was good worker ;)

josefresco• 15 years ago

What about sleeping under your enclosed desk? and maybe building a small shelf to hold an alarm clock...

/end lame joke

felideon• 15 years ago

s/lame joke/Seinfeld reference :)

cpayne624• 15 years ago

"What the hell are you doing in this empty office with all those damn paper clips, man?"

johndoie• 15 years ago

I can relate.

bh422225• 15 years ago

Paperclips? I'd use actual papers, make it look like they spilled on the floor and you are picking them up.

anujkk• 15 years ago

I saw my senior sleeping with his eyes open. He was looking at monitor but wasn't doing anything. It appeared as if he was thinking about something. Only when I touched his shoulder to get his attention, I realized he was actually sleeping.

cr4zy• 15 years ago

When I went to Bolivia, everyone went home for a 2 to 3 hour after lunch. All businesses would close. The work day started at 7AM and ended at 6PM IIRC.

Apparently, this is most popular in warmer countries. Nap aka siesta times correspond with the hottest and most dangerous parts of the day in terms of UV radiation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siesta

brc• 15 years ago

My Dad always took powernaps and still does. He has the ability to sit down in just about any reasonably comfortable chair, and go to sleep on command. He can then wake up 5, 15, or 30 minutes later and be fully alert. Noise, light, temperature - doesn't worry him.

He laughs about it but it's got to be a skill built up over years by practicing.

The one trick he did teach me for a mid-day nap was to lie on your back on the floor and put your legs up on a chair (calf muscles on the seat, feet against the backrest). For some reason it really seems to help, I assume it's circulation related.

gnosis2• 15 years ago

There's been so much well-publicized research on the positive impact of sleep on performance, and hugely detrimental effect of not getting enough sleep.

Why do so many companies still force their employees to work with so little sleep? Why do they still frown at sleeping on the job? And why don't more of them provide cots, sofas and showers, when they can easily afford them?

For decades, some of the more enlightened companies have been providing in-company cafeterias, laundry, fridges and microwaves in office kitchens, and other amenities so that employees don't feel like they need to leave the workplace as much. You'd think these companies would recognize that providing sleeping facilities is the next logical step. Why don't they?

glanch• 15 years ago

The obvious answer: Employees who need extra sleep during the day should simply sleep longer during the night so they won't need to sleep while they're at work. At least, that's the typical view of the employer.

kahawe2• 15 years ago

There is so much research available on how to make your employees work better, more efficient, how to make them happier, healthier, more productive, how to provide a positive team environment etc but still the majority of companies treat employees more like machines and by the rules of lowest-level production-line workers building Ford T model parts back in the beginning of the 20th century...

damontal• 15 years ago

find a nearby hotel with meeting space, usually on a mezzanine level (easy if you're in a city). these areas are often empty. find a comfy chair or couch and nap with a manilla folder or book on your lap so you don't look like a bum. set your phone to go off in 30 minutes.

akeck• 15 years ago

Another nap infographic...

http://www.patioproductions.com/blog/wp-content/upLoads/2011...

BasDirks• 15 years ago

I am lucky: I work in the village I grew up in. When I am too tired I tell my boss: "I am not productive, I am going home to sleep, I will work the remaining hours of the day at home after I wake up." My bed is then a 3 minute bicycle ride away.

On a more helpful note: I learned how to nap by having siesta when I helped someone build a house in the South of France. A mid-day nap there was common, even for those in the public sector. They reasoned that in summer it was just too hot too work.

I would do my napping where ever I'd like: the grass, a garden chair, a leather sofa. It took about 2 weeks to actually "get" it, but it did my body good. Sometimes I skipped a day because I wanted to read or w/e, but I'd still take my moment of rest.

jsemrau• 15 years ago

Shameless plug: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/just15min/id471609083?ls=1...

I wrote an iPhone app for this

jhancock• 15 years ago

Good info. I learned this years ago from my great-grandmother. She took a nap every afternoon for 20 to 25 minutes.

Now, living in Chengdu, office workers here are encouraged to nap after lunch time, around 2. At my wife's office, there is a chime followed by soft music twice a day, reminding workers its time for a break to do eye exercise, something they teach or at least used to teach in Chinese elementary school. Many offices in Chengdu also have a tea break around 4 ;)

kin2• 15 years ago

but surely you can still dream in non REM sleep can't you?

kin2• 15 years ago

It takes me like 40 minutes to fall asleep for a nap. I'm much too alert during the day after a full night's rest.

jacobr• 15 years ago

I don't nap (yet), but we get relaxing 30 min massages every other week at work. After that I'm a new person, and the thought of getting only a small portion of that relaxation every day...

I have a colleague who regularly meditates, he simply grabs a free meeting room.

itmag• 15 years ago

Why is sleeping on the job frowned upon for programmers? I asked for it once and was denied like it was some outlandish request. I thought I was doing them a favor by asking (by wanting to raise my energy levels during the midday slump).

It just reaffirmed that 9 to 5 culture is not for me.

swombat• 15 years ago

Here's my angle on this: http://danieltenner.com/posts/0017-how-to-nap.html

davewingler2• 15 years ago

In Japan noone is allowed to nap much less sleep. I need to move.

noveltyaccount• 15 years ago

How can I use this to better wake up in the morning, instead of groggy with "sleep inertia"? Set an alarm 90 minutes before I want to wake up, plus one when I want to wake up?

grigy• 15 years ago

Doesn't this depend on person? I never had naps and don't feel like I need.

tate• 15 years ago

Pro tip I learned from the world of ultra-cycling (riding a bikes for days at a time):

- Drink coffee as you prepare to nap

- Take 20 minute power nap as caffeine gets in your system

- Win

cl8ton• 15 years ago

Glad to see others power nap also, I thought I was just weird.

My routine is at about 1:30 slouch in my chair leaning back with my hands atop my head with fingers inter locked.

Whats strange is that I don't really goto sleep. I can hear everything going on around me but my mind is just totally blank and not focused on anything.

I stay like this for around 15-20 min then snap out of it fully refreshed!

How to nap

Related Stories