Power nap

A woman having a nap in a napping pod, in the café Nappuccino in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)

A power nap or cat nap is a short sleep that terminates before deep sleep (slow-wave sleep; SWS). A power nap is intended to quickly revitalize the sleeper. The practice is connected to the custom of midday nap of many traditional societies around the world, with the difference that it has been studied and assessed by research.

There are different types of power naps, very much like the Spanish siesta For example, a power nap combined with consuming caffeine is called a stimulant nap, coffee nap, caffeine nap, or nappuccino (see cafè siesta in Spanish).

Origins of the term

The expression "power nap" was coined by Cornell University social psychologist James Maas. and recognized by other research scientists such as Sara Mednick as well as in the popular press.

Characteristics

A power nap, also known as a Stage 2 nap, is a short slumber of 20 minutes or less which terminates before the occurrence of deep slow-wave sleep, intended to quickly revitalize the napper. The 20-minute nap increases alertness and motor skills. Various durations may be recommended for power naps, which are short compared to regular sleep. The short duration prevents nappers from sleeping so long that they enter the slow wave portion of the normal sleep cycle without being able to complete the cycle. Entering deep, slow-wave sleep and failing to complete the normal sleep cycle can result in a phenomenon known as sleep inertia, where one feels groggy, disoriented, and even sleepier than before beginning the nap. In order to attain optimal post-nap performance, a Stage 2 nap must be limited to the beginning of a sleep cycle, specifically sleep stages N1 and N2, typically 18–25 minutes.

Experimental confirmation of the benefits of this brief nap comes from a Flinders University study in Australia in which 5, 10, 20, or 30-minute periods of sleep were given. The greatest immediate improvement in measures of alertness and cognitive performance came after the 10 minutes of sleep. The 20 and 30-minute periods of sleep showed evidence of sleep inertia immediately after the naps and improvements in alertness more than 30 minutes later, but not to a greater level than after the 10 minutes of sleep. Power naps are effective even when schedules allow a full night's sleep.

Health effects

Short (half-hour) power naps can restore alertness, performance, and learning ability. Such naps are also associated with increased morbidity and mortality.

Stimulant nap

A coffee nap is drinking a cup of coffee before a short 15-minute nap.

A stimulant nap is a brief period of sleep of around 15 minutes, preceded by consuming a caffeinated drink or another stimulant.

It may combat daytime drowsiness more effectively than napping or drinking coffee alone. A stimulant nap is more effective than regular naps in improving post-nap alertness and cognitive functioning. In a driving simulator and a series of studies, Horne and Reyner investigated the effects of cold air, radio, a break with no nap, a nap, caffeine pill vs. 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.[unreliable source?] 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. This procedure has been studied on sleep-deprived humans given the task of driving a motor vehicle afterwards, although it has not been studied on elderly populations.

Nap rooms and tech aided naps

EnergyPod, a sleeping pod, located in a small nap room of the Olin library at Wesleyan University

Some companies have nap rooms to allow employees to take power naps. This may be in a form of a nap room with a recliner, or chairs specially designed for power napping installed in a designated area. Companies with nap rooms say that employees are happier and become more productive at work.

Similar nap rooms and stations also exist in higher education institutions. Many colleges and universities provide napping furnitures such as cots and beanbags in libraries for students to take naps after long periods of study. At least one university[which?] has a nap room set up in a gym. Some medical schools also set up nap rooms at teaching hospitals. The nap rooms may include sleeping pods or cots, white noise machines, and antimicrobial pillows.

In Barcelona, there is a café called Nappuccino that implements custom-built napping pods inside the café.

A more portable aid is a nap timer app. Apps have various features including aided sounds, nap history and pattern tracking and daily reminders that make it easier to take naps.

Traditional midday nap

Longtime considered a sign of "lazyness" in the English-speaking world, the midday nap is currently being revitalised in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking countries This comes with a workplace cultural shift that emphasises the necessity of sleep and rest

In fact, midday naps are a widespread tradition in many countries, particularly those in warm-weather zones: the Mediterranean, Southern Europe (it. pisolino pomeridiano "little afternoon nap", gr. μεσημβρινός ύπνος "afternoon sleep"), the Middle East ( قيلولة, Qailulah), Russia, South and Southeast Asia and mainland China (午睡, wǔshuì). Through Spanish influence, midday naps are also common in most of Latin America and the Philippines.

Some historians point out that taking a long lunch break including a nap was a tradition also in American south. However, this was very probably limited to the élite social class, such as masters, while slaves were not allowed to rest This practice is depicted in the book and the film Gone with the wind.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Vier gute Gründe, sich nachmittags aufs Ohr zu hauen". SRF.ch (in German).
  2. 1 2 "Il «pisolino da caffè», la formula migliore per restare ben svegli" (in Italian). 2 September 2014.
    • Siesta relámpago: less than 5 minutes;
    • Siesta relax: between 5 and 30 minutes;
    • Siesta regia: more than 30 minutes;
    • Cafè-siesta: taking a coffee before taking a short nap.
  3. 1 2 3 Naomi Imatome Yun, World Lifestyle, "Get a Jolt with the 'Caffeine Nap'", Retrieved Aug. 29, 2014, "Napuccino... Longborough University scientists have found out that having caffeine before a short nap boosts alertness...
  4. 1 2 Mednick, Sara C.; Mark Ehrman (2006). Take a Nap! Change Your Life (First ed.). New York, NY, USA: Workman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7611-4290-4.
  5. ↑ Maas, James B. (1998) Miracle Sleep Cure: London: Thorsons
  6. ↑ "The National Institute of Mental Health Power Nap Study". 1 July 2002. Archived from the original on 2 August 2002. Retrieved 1 July 2002.
  7. ↑ "Researchers: Power Nap Better than Caffeine to Fight Afternoon Fatigue". Fox News. 4 September 2007.
  8. ↑ Brooks, A; Lack, L. (2006). "A brief afternoon nap following nocturnal sleep restriction: which nap duration is most recuperative?". Sleep. 29 (6): 831–840. doi:10.1093/sleep/29.6.831. PMID 16796222. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Hayashi, Mitsuo; Hori, Tadao (1 April 1998). "The effects of a 20-min nap before post-lunch dip". Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 52 (2): 203–204. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1819.1998.tb01031.x. PMID 9628152. S2CID 14147227.
  10. ↑ Dhand, Rajiv; Sohal, Harjyot (2007). "Good sleep, bad sleep! The role of daytime naps in healthy adults". Current Opinion in Internal Medicine. 6 (6): 91–94.
  11. ↑ The Editors of Prevention, Prevention magazine, 6 Good Health Habits Made Better, Retrieved Aug. 29, 2014, "...1. Take a "caffeine nap"..."
  12. ↑ Roseane M. Santos, Roseane M. Santos, M.Sc., Ph.D. & Darcy R. Lima, M.D., Ph.D., Darcy R. Lima (2009). An Unashamed Defense of Coffee. Xlibris Corporation. page 66. Retrieved Aug. 29, 2014. "...researchers found worked best was a Caffeine Nap..."
  13. ↑ Anahad O'Connor (October 31, 2011). Really? The Claim: For a More Restful Nap, Avoid Caffeine". Well (blog). The New York Times. Retrieved Aug. 29, 2014. "...sleep researchers in England found that drinking a cup of coffee and then immediately taking a 15-minute nap was even more effective...."
  14. ↑ Rose Eveleth, Smithsonian magazine, October 24, 2013, What Is the Exactly Perfect Time to Drink Your Coffee? It's a good thing that science is here to figure out the exact perfect way to drink a cup of coffee, Retrieved Aug. 29, 2014, "...taking a 15 minute (no longer) nap right after you chug your coffee..."
  15. ↑ Corrie Pikul, 02/27/2012, Oprah magazine, "6 More Health Myths—Busted!". Retrieved Aug. 29, 2014. "...Drinking a cup of coffee and then immediately snoozing for 15 minutes was more effective at reviving a wiped-out person".
  16. ↑ Reyner, LA; Horne, JA (1998). "Evaluation 'in-car' countermeasures to sleepiness: Cold air and radio". Sleep. 21 (1): 46–50. PMID 9485532.
  17. ↑ Horne, J. A.; Reyner, L. A. (1995). "Driver sleepiness". Journal of Sleep Research. 4 (S2): 23–29. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2869.1995.tb00222.x. PMID 10607207. S2CID 45193968.
  18. ↑ "Loughborough University researchers issue new warning to tired drivers". Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  19. ↑ Reyner, L. A; Horne, J. A (1997). "Suppression of sleepiness in drivers: Combination of caffeine with a short nap". Psychophysiology. 34 (6): 721–5. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1997.tb02148.x. PMID 9401427.
  20. ↑ Wan, J; Lau, E; Lee, T (2013). "The effect of caffeine nap on declarative and procedural memory in elderly". Sleep Medicine. 14: e309. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2013.11.758.
  21. ↑ Schwartz, Meredith (24 October 2012). "Napping in the Library—On Purpose". Library Journal. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  22. ↑ Stump, Scott (15 March 2013). "'Nap rooms' encourage sleeping on the job to boost productivity". TODAY Money. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  23. ↑ Waxman, Olivia B. (29 August 2014). "Napping Around: Colleges Provide Campus Snooze Rooms". TIME. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  24. ↑ Romero, Shantal (18 June 2019) "Nappuccino: Conoce el primer café en el mundo en donde puedes dormir". RSVP
  25. ↑ (16 March 2019)"Télématin France 2 TV". FRANCE 2 TV 2h27min
  26. ↑ "Are Spanish People Lazy? What the Data Says About the Siesta Stereotype". yescontext.com. Apr 2026.
  27. ↑ "Are People in Hot Countries Lazier? Unpacking the Myth of Climate and Work Ethic". yescontext.com. Apr 2026.
  28. ↑ "The National Institute of Mental Health Power Nap Study". 2002-07-01. Archived from the original on 2002-08-02. Retrieved 2002-07-01. The bottom line: we should stop feeling guilty about taking that "power nap" at work or catching those extra winks the night before our piano recital.
  29. ↑ Maas, James B. (1998) Miracle Sleep Cure: London: Thorsons
  30. ↑ Huffington, Arianna (2017). The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time. Random House. ISBN 9780753551899. OCLC 957022651.
  31. ↑ Nicholas Ware Eppes (1925). The Negro of the Old South. A Bit of Period History. Chicago. p. 13-14.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  32. ↑ Wilma Dunaway (2008). Women, Work and Family in the Antebellum Mountain South. Cambridge University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-521-88619-2. Masters denied to enslaved women the prenatal care they afforded to their own wives in the way of nutrients and rest, for owners assigned black women to work during pregnancy that they considered to be too taxing for their own wives and daughters when they were not pregnant... Even when masters espoused a "lighter" workload, their schedule of moderate work and shortened work hours was still too arduous. Southern doctors recommended that affluent pregnant women limit their physical exertion to activities no more strenuous than those conducted "in carriage," and elite women took regular afternoon naps.

Further reading