There seem to be two cognitive-emotional camps on this subject:
The Never-Nappers: Naps are a sign of illness and infirmity. Take a nap and risk destroying your sleep forever.
The Always-Nappers: Naps fuel creativity and health. They are the source of greater productivity and accomplishment.
Will a nap wreck YOUR sleep? It depends…
- Are you ill? Wanting/needing to sleep when you have an acute illness like COVID or the flu is nature trying to heal your body. Take a nap and let your amazing immune system do its job.
- Are you jet-lagged? You would do better to try to jump into the time zone you landed in, and go to bed as close to your regular bedtime. The exception is if you are so sleepy that you would crash that rental car or injure yourself on the slopes. Take a short nap to prevent disaster.
- Are you sleep-deprived? This can happen if you sleep a lot of hours but get poor quality sleep. And it can occur at any age. You could benefit from a short nap. And I mean short. And scheduled. Your attention and productivity could improve with an early afternoon nap of about 20 minutes. Try to do this every day at the same time each day. Your brain expects it and doesn’t see it as a damaging one-off to your circadian rhythm.
- Are you an insomniac? You would do better without a nap. Every nap removes the buildup of adenosine in the brain. That is the neurochemical that makes you sleepy at night. Nap and you drain out a lot of beneficial adenosine. If you are sleepy, get up and get active in sunlight instead. Play music. Do almost anything active. You want to be sleepy tonight.
- Are you a super early bird or super night owl? You already struggle to be awake when most other people are happily awake, and struggle to sleep when they are fast asleep. Taking a nap probably won’t make things better and get you more in synch with everyone else. It could make you an insomniac bird/owl.
360 Sleep Consulting 