How To Take The Best Power Nap

Medically reviewed by Daniel Combs, MD

Naps are short durations of daytime sleep, usually lasting 10 minutes to a few hours. Mid-day naps in the 10- to 30-minute range are often called power naps because they can quickly boost your energy and alertness.

Power naps are a great way to quickly recharge your energy levels if you feel sleepy in the middle of the day after a late night. Power naps can also help you beat the afternoon slump by improving your memory and thinking power.

Here's how to take the best power nap and get the most benefits from your mid-day snooze.

Related: 8 Things To Know About Your Body's Energy Levels

Benefits of a Power Nap

Napping isn't just for little kids. Adults can benefit from naps, too. A power nap can improve your alertness, memory, and overall health.

Can Help Increase Alertness

The most significant benefit of taking a power nap is that it can help you feel more alert hours after you wake up, which helps reduce daytime fatigue and improves your brain function.

Power naps keep you in a lighter stage of sleep that helps recharge your brain and decrease sleepiness. Because you don't go into a deep sleep during a power nap, you'll also avoid waking up too groggy and disoriented—known as sleep inertia.

Related: The 4 Stages of Sleep And What Happens in Each

May Improve Cognition

The longer you're awake, the less efficiently your brain works—making it tough to think straight and focus. A power nap can help your brain recharge and can improve cognition (thinking, perception, and reasoning).

Research also shows that naps may improve adenosine A1 and A2A receptors in the brain, which help reduce sleepiness and improve cognition.

May Improve Memory

Napping can help improve long-term memory needed to help you function throughout the day. Research also shows taking short naps can help improve executive functioning skills—like memory and self-control—thanks to the brain becoming more alert and less sleepy.

Additionally, a 2022 study of 23 young adults found that taking a 30-minute afternoon nap helped improve brain speed when completing procedural memory tasks.

May Boost the Immune System

While not well studied, power naps may help boost your immune system and reduce stress. In a 2015 study, researchers restricted 11 young men's sleep to cause sleep deprivation. The following day, participants either took 30-minute naps in the morning and afternoon or didn't nap.

Researchers found participants in the napping group had normal biomarker levels linked to inflammation and stress. Participants who didn't nap had elevated levels. That means that taking a power nap may help you decrease your chances of getting sick, although more high-quality research is needed to draw hard conclusions.

How Long Should A Nap Be?

Ideally, a power nap should be about 20 minutes and shouldn't exceed 30 minutes. Taking a 20-minute power nap gives you enough time to increase alertness in a light sleep stage, but it shouldn't make you tired when you wake up.

Sleeping for more than 30 minutes can have the opposite effect of an energizing power nap because you may wake up in a deep sleep stage. Waking up from a deep sleep can cause sleep inertia, which makes you feel groggy and disoriented.

Sleeping under 20 minutes also won't make it difficult to fall asleep later on because it won't reduce your homeostatic sleep drive. This drive builds throughout the day and pressures your body to sleep, forcing you to get some shut-eye at night.

How To Power Nap

Ready to take a quick snooze? Here are some power nap best practices for successful napping: 

• Set an alarm: A power nap should be about 20 minutes. Timing your nap helps you avoid oversleeping so you stay in a lighter sleep stage and avoid waking up disoriented.

• Nap midday: Napping too late can make it hard to fall asleep later. Sleep researchers suggest napping during the midpoint of your day and after lunch—typically between 12:30-3 p.m.

• Nap on a couch or chair: Avoid sleeping in your comfy bed if you have trouble waking up from a nap. Instead, opt for a place you don't want to sleep for more than 30 minutes.

• Prepare your space: Make sure the room is dark, quiet, and cool to help you fall asleep quickly and get the most out of your nap time. You can also use an eye mask or earplugs if the room is too bright or loud.

• Try a coffee nap: Drinking coffee or other caffeinated beverages before a 30-minute nap gives the caffeine time to kick in and enough time for your nap to improve alertness. As a result, you may feel even more alert and refreshed when you wake up.

Drawbacks of Napping

Napping usually doesn't affect nighttime sleep, but napping too long or late in the day can make it difficult to fall asleep at night. Napping between 30 and 90 minutes also increases your risk of waking up in a deeper sleep stage, which causes sleep inertia. Sleep inertia can last 30 to 60 minutes after waking up, making it difficult to wake up, think, learn, and remember things. Sleep-deprived people may also reach deep sleep quicker when they nap, making it hard to wake up or feel alert after shorter naps.  

While research is limited, studies have also linked napping for 60 or more minutes to an increased risk of certain health conditions. A Chinese study found women over 45 years old who napped for more than 90 minutes had an increased risk of high blood pressure.  But napping did not have the same effect on men. A large research analysis also found people who nap for more than 60 minutes a day have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. 

However, more research is needed to find out exactly how much naps contribute to these health conditions, or if it's simply that people with these conditions are more likely to nap. Research has found that napping is more common in people with anxiety, high blood pressure, and type 1 and 2 diabetes.

Who Should Avoid Naps

Power naps can be an excellent tool to boost energy and productivity during the workday, but naps aren't great for everyone. Healthcare providers recommend people with insomnia avoid naps. Insomnia is a sleep disorder that makes it difficult to fall, stay, or get enough quality sleep. Studies show naps may cause the body to go into high alert—known as hyperarousal—which is part of why insomnia keeps people awake.

Power napping also isn't ideal if you work night shifts. Night shift workers benefit more from prophylactic naps—longer naps that put you into a deep sleep and reduce the pressure to sleep at night. Research has shown nurses were more alert during their night shift after taking a 90-minute nap from 3:30-5 p.m., a 2.5-hour nap from 7:30-10:00 p.m., and a 3-hour nap from 2-5 p.m.

When To See a Healthcare Provider

Naps shouldn't replace a good night's sleep, and most adults should still get 7-9 hours each night. If you need to nap every day to function because you're exhausted or have trouble staying awake, talk to your healthcare provider. You may have an underlying health condition that naps can't treat, like narcolepsy.

Sleep disorders like sleep apnea and insomnia can cause daytime fatigue that a nap won't solve. Sleep apnea causes people to stop breathing while they sleep, which makes it challenging to get enough quality sleep. Excessive daytime sleepiness is the top symptom of sleep apnea.

Still, you may experience other symptoms like restless sleep, snoring, and gasping for air while sleeping. Napping may also make symptoms of insomnia worse. 

A Quick Review

Power naps are quick, mid-day naps that typically last 10-30 minutes. Experts note 20 minutes is likely the best power nap duration. Taking a 20-minute power nap can help you feel reenergized, but it helps you avoid deep sleep that makes you groggy when you wake up.

Beyond feeling more alert, power naps can also help improve your thinking power and memory. Most people can benefit from a power nap without issues, but you should avoid napping if you have insomnia.

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