Whether you’re a ‘wake-up-early-and-have-a-productive-day’ type of person (I hate you) or you can’t function at all because you stayed up late falling into the dark hole of YouTube videos about cats or like, conjoined twins, you can’t stop yourself aging process. Inevitably, we’re all bound to become 80 year olds who can’t even keep their eyes open for a full game of maujean (shoutout grandma for teaching me the ropes). With that said, learning how to nap the right way is key to life. Naps reduce stress, keep you energized and make you ready to take on anything (i.e. the rest of your homework).
Now, if you’re not a self proclaimed pro-napper like myself, I know what you’re thinking: “naps don’t help,” “I always wake up more tired than I was before,” or “I can’t possibly fall asleep in the middle of the day!” Fret. No. More. With these essential tips, you will be the best power napper there ever was in no time, and that’s definitely something you can put on the top of your resume.
Step 1) Assess your level of tiredness.
This step is very important, and your answer to this will predict the rest of your life. Jk but it will help you have a great nap.
a. “IDK I guess I’m tired but also like could just deal with a coffee.”
b. “Yawned 12 times in about 4 minutes.”
c. “Immune. To. Coffee. Must. Sleep. Eyes. Closing. Basically not a human anymore because I’m FUCKING DEAD.”
If you have identified yourself as choice a, then you’re not ready for this nap and you should take yourself and that coffee elsewhere (these power naps are no joke).
If you chose b or c, stick with me and I will turn you into the world’s best napper.
Step 2) Determine how much time you have.
a. “Endless time because I am a goddess who finished all of my work (is that even possible?) and simply need a beauty nap to freshen up.”
b. 90 min
c. 20-30 min
If you chose a, nap without an alarm until you wake up naturally. You’ll feel aaaaah-mazing. Also consider writing a novel on how to possibly be able to finish all of your work because actually how???
If you chose b, then its lit! because one full cycle of sleep is roughly 90 minutes, so you’re on the way to victory.
If you chose c, don’t panic because I’ve got youuuuuu.
The most important thing is knowing when to set the alarm because what makes a nap shitty basically depends on when during your sleep cycle you wake up. At night, you go into so many cycles of deep sleep and life is beautiful and *this is what dreams are made of.* But, naps are a different story. So why not *take a crazy chance* and use the following insane tips to have a v successful nap. (ily Lizzie Mcguire).
Step 3) THE MAIN EVENT: *Power Nap Secrets*
In naps, the key is to awaken BEFORE you hit deep sleep (REM) so that when you do wake up, you don’t feel groggy af and like you just emerged from a 10 year coma.
For a solid power nap, set a 25-30 min alarm. If you nap longer than that for a super weird time like, idk, 47 min, you will feel no bueno because of the whole deep sleep/cycle thing. ~Research~ shows that 10-20 min naps are best for a “quick boost of alertness”, which is perfect for doing work post-nap. The extra 5-10 minutes is for that questionable period of time when you’re like almost sleeping but also not. And cause YOU DESERVE IT!
Apparently if you sleep slightly upright during your nap, it’ll help you stay away from the deep sleep.
Also, it has to be super dark in the room!!! This makes it so much faster to fall asleep, so either close your blinds or be a super bougie eye-mask wearing diva and doze into your slumber.
The best time to nap is definitely mid-day. Try extra hard not to nap after like 7pm-ish though to avoid being extra screwed during during your REAL beauty sleep.
AND REMEMBER, great naps take time. You rarely become a master after the first time.
Just be patient and consistent and you’ll be a pro napper in no time.
HAPPY NAPPING!!!!
All GIFs via Giphy.com.