Is Napping Necessary? (2024)

FAQs

Is Napping Necessary? ›

Napping offers various benefits for healthy adults, including: Relaxation. Reduced fatigue. Increased alertness.

Napping isn't just for babies. Studies show that an afternoon nap is great for adults, too. There's no need to feel lazy for indulging in daytime sleep. A short nap in the mid-afternoon can boost memory, improve job performance, lift your mood, make you more alert, and ease stress.

If it refreshes your day without making it hard to sleep at night, snooze away. For most people, napping in the early afternoon when your body experiences a natural circadian dip, is the best way to catch a few winks without disturbing the sleep-wake cycle. There is no consensus on how long you should nap.

What If You Don't Typically Nap? If you feel like naps throw off your nightly sleep or you don't feel refreshed after taking one, you just might not be someone who benefits from mid-day rest. But if you feel tired during the day, try napping for less than 20 minutes.

Taken together, research shows that the benefits of intentional napping outweigh the risks for most healthy adults — as long as you stick to the guidelines and don't rely on naps to compensate for poor quality and quantity of regular sleep.

Can Napping Count as Sleep? A daytime nap is not a replacement for a full night's sleep. Napping can help relieve fatigue, but it can't reverse the negative effects of chronic sleep loss.

In part, it is physiological: Our normal circadian cycle dictates a period of sleepiness or decreased alertness in the afternoon. However, sleep disorders, medical disorders, stress, insufficient sleep or poor eating habits can also cause excessive sleepiness at this time.

Short naps generally don't affect nighttime sleep quality for most people. But if you experience insomnia or poor sleep quality at night, napping might worsen these problems. Long or frequent naps might interfere with nighttime sleep.

If you're going to take a nap, Dr. Roth recommends keeping it to 30 minutes or less. Longer naps can leave you feeling groggy when you wake up. That's because you have a higher chance of interrupting a deeper sleep with a nap that's an hour or longer.

Plus, emerging research is showing short naps can boost work productivity, too. “Napping for just 20 minutes may provide ample benefits, including improved alertness, mood, and vigilance,” says Aarthi Ram, MD, a sleep neurologist at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital. It may even help you learn more efficiently.

What is a downside to naps? ›

Napping does not cause insomnia, but a nap for an insomnia person can do more harm than good. For those who have difficulty falling asleep at night, napping during the day will make falling asleep at night even more difficult. The need for sleep is based on how many hours have occurred since the previous sleep episode.

Many conditions can make you tired during the day regardless of how well you slept at night. Examples are very low blood pressure (especially after eating), low thyroid activity, vitamin D or B₁₂ deficiency, anemia, low blood sugar, depression, narcolepsy (sudden episodes of deep sleep), and even obesity.

A long nap, such as two hours per day, could indicate sleep deprivation or another sleep disorder, which may need a doctor's consultation.

Naps are not always bad for you and might enhance your attention, memory, and mood. Just make sure that you do not nap after 3 p.m. or for longer than 30 minutes. Try napping in a cool, dark, quiet environment or sipping coffee beforehand.

Try to sleep for 90 minutes, opt for one full cycle to try and get through the day. If this is not possible, try to take a 20–30-minute power nap, so that you do not fall into the deep sleep cycle. Remember, any sleep is better than none, however, different amounts of sleep may make you feel groggier than others.

While occasional bed rest can be a form of self-care, staying in bed excessively may indicate underlying mental health conditions such as depression or phobias. You should assess how staying in bed makes you feel in the short- and long-term.

A healthy adult doesn't need to nap, but can benefit from a nap of 10 to 20 minutes, or 90 to 120 when sleep-deprived. There is some evidence that older adults may benefit from napping for an hour in the afternoon.

You may be drowsy in the day if you have insomnia (trouble falling or staying asleep) or another condition that keeps you from getting enough rest at night, such as chronic pain, depression, anxiety, an overactive bladder, restless legs syndrome, or sleep apnea (frequent pauses in breathing during sleep).

The health benefits of taking afternoon naps are well documented. They can improve mood, reduce fatigue, and increase alertness. But how long should they last? A study in the May 2023 issue of Obesity suggested the ideal duration is less than 30 minutes.