You’re either a napper or you’re not. I never nap (except in the weeks after my two children were born, when I couldn’t nap enough), but I married into a family so militant in their pursuit of daytime zzzs that they sit down for Christmas dinner at midday and pop back upstairs to bed by 1:30 A.M. So whose approach has the best scientific backing?
“I’m a big advocate of napping for almost everyone,” says Jim Brown, a consulting respiratory and sleep physician at the Centre for Health & Human Performance (CHHP) in central London.
Brown left the NHS two years ago and now treats insomniacs—mostly high-flyers—at his Harley Street clinic, where he has his own fold-out mattress. He naps wearing an eye mask at least twice a week for about 25 minutes while listening to meditation tapes. He drifts off for up to two thirds of that time and wakes up feeling refreshed.
“The research on napping is a mixed bag but there isn’t much dispute that short naps are beneficial for bumping alertness and focus,” he adds.
The hybrid work revolution has been a revelation for nappers such as my wife, who can bed down at home twice a week, while sleep pods are becoming a feature of some workplaces. But there are caveats, and Brown says the power-napping sweet spot for most people is no more than 30 minutes in the early afternoon.
Some studies on napping suggest the benefits may be more significant than a fleeting boost in afternoon alertness. A 2023 paper by scientists at University College London and the University of the Republic in Uruguay suggests that napping may keep our brains bigger for longer.
Researchers analyzing 35,000 people aged 40-69 found that the brains of those who identified as habitual nappers were 15 cubic centimeters larger than those of the never-nappers. The brain naturally shrinks as we age, when we become more vulnerable to dozens of conditions including dementia. The researchers suggested there may be a “modest causal association” between daytime sleep and brain volume.
But, like Brown, Colin Espie, a leading professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University, cautions against naps longer than 20-30 minutes. “If you get into a kind of daytime sleep as opposed to a brief nap,” Espie says, “you expose yourself to sleep inertia,” which is the groggy feeling of coming to that can lead to instant nap regret. More seriously, daytime naps can reduce the homeostatic drive for sleep at night—in other words, disrupting the hormonal systems that help us to nod off.
Night-time is when we need sleep the most. “It’s only during the night that neurotoxic waste is cleared from the system, immune signaling is strengthened, cells are regenerated, proteins are synthesized, growth hormone is secreted, memory is consolidated and emotions are regulated,” Espie says. “The modern approach might be that we can commoditize sleep and take it when we want it, but that’s not how we work.”
Excessive napping can also indicate health problems such as sleep apnea. Espie advises anyone concerned about this to talk to their doctor. He also cautions that we shouldn’t mistake tiredness for a need for sleep: fatigue is a normal feature of waking hours.
The people who would benefit most from short afternoon naps are those least likely to carve out time for them, according to Brown. “My clients have to schedule it,” he says. “But if you’re a healthy person who already sleeps well at night, there’s no downside to a good nap.”
Four tips for power napping
Keep it short and set an alarm.
Napping for longer than 20-30 minutes risks sending you into a full sleep cycle, increasing the chance that you’ll wake up groggy and affecting your vital night sleep.
Keep it regular.
Early afternoon is the best time for a nap, when we experience a postprandial circadian dip in energy and alertness. Short, habitual napping allied with good sleep is less likely to have a negative impact at night.
Don’t expect to sleep for the whole half-hour—the rest is still beneficial.
Eye masks and earplugs can help you drift off, while some people like audio. Jim Brown uses a 20-minute yoga nidra guided meditation session on YouTube.
Consider having a coffee before you nap.
Several studies have suggested that consuming caffeine immediately beforehand can create a win-win situation: the stimulant kicks in just as you get up, catapulting you into the afternoon feeling even more restored.
Simon Usborne is a freelance feature writer and reporter
