Kelsea Smith ’29 (she/her) is a prospective English major. On campus she is involved in club rowing. She enjoys being outside, listening to music and trying new coffee shops. Contact her at ksmith07@wm.edu
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
We’ve all been there — 3 p.m. hits and you just can’t seem to keep your eyes open. Maybe you’re done with classes for the day, so you head back to your room, drop your bags on the floor and crawl into bed. Then, the age-old question arises: to set an alarm, or to not set an alarm?
Setting the alarm is a brave act of self-restraint. In choosing to wake yourself up, you are escaping sloth’s grasp at the price of enjoyment. You may be gambling on the amount of rest you ultimately get, but at least you’ll be able to sleep later on tonight, right?
On the other hand, not setting an alarm liberates you from the pressure of cramming good sleep into a time restraint. You are telling the world that you do not conform to typical ideas of night and day.
Different types of naps are good for different scenarios. But which is best for actually maximizing your energy during the day and your sleep quality at night? Let’s review …
Our shortest nap is the power nap. It should last around 10 to 20 minutes, and it’s best for increasing energy levels immediately upon waking up. Its brevity minimizes the risk of interfering with your sleep at night. These are great if you’re short on time, or just need a quick pick-me-up to continue your day.
A drawback to the power nap, however, is in its brief duration. Knowing you only have 20 minutes to rest can cause stress and inhibit your body from falling asleep. In this case, simply closing your eyes and trying to sleep is still a good tool for recovery. While falling asleep is ideal, the main goal is to increase energy, which resting (even while awake) will do.
Next, with a longer runtime, we have the recovery nap. Maybe you were up late last night studying, or you had trouble falling asleep. The recovery nap functions as a replacement for sleep loss. These naps should last for 90 minutes in order to complete every stage of the sleep cycle.
One caution to take with the recovery nap is the timing. Because this nap is longer, you’ll want to take it in the early afternoon. Napping for long periods of time too close to nighttime will only further disrupt your sleep, creating a vicious cycle of sleep deprivation and recovery napping.
The best nap for increased energy is a bit contradictory in concept. Called a “coffee nap” or “caffeine nap,” the idea is that you consume caffeine of some sort (ideally, a cup of coffee or tea rather than a supercharged energy drink) and then sleep for 20 minutes. This gives the caffeine enough time to start working immediately upon waking up.
Again, it’s important to be careful with the caffeine nap. You want to do this earlier in the day so as to prevent the caffeine from disrupting your sleep at night.
Lastly, we have my favorite type of nap: the appetitive nap. The appetitive nap is a nap taken for enjoyment, rather than energy: a nap for the sake of napping. Is there anything better than getting cozy in bed, putting on some quiet music, and just letting yourself float freely from your worldly responsibilities? These naps can help with relaxation and mood (and are probably a better mental break than doomscrolling on TikTok). Though sleep experts advise to keep these naps within 30 minutes, I believe we shouldn’t limit enjoyment.
Most importantly, for the appetitive nap, listen to your body. If at 30 minutes you naturally wake up feeling rested and relaxed, you’re probably better off ending your nap. If you knock out for two hours … well, you probably needed the sleep.
These are just four types of naps among many that exist. It’s best to assess your scenario when determining which nap is best for you — how much sleep did you get last night, will this affect your sleep tonight and what are you trying to get out of this nap?
Complexities aside, naps should always be enjoyable and restorative. Good night and sweet dreams!
