Experts typically recommend that adults take naps eight or more hours before bedtime. For most people, that means napping before 3 p.m. Napping too late in the day may contribute to nighttime sleep problems. For some people, naps may feel natural or even necessary after lunchtime.
Take naps in the early afternoon.
Napping after 3 p.m. can interfere with nighttime sleep. Individual factors, such as your need for sleep, your sleeping schedule, your age and your medication use, also can play a role in determining the best time of day to nap.
Most sleep experts recommend napping no later than 2 pm. As discussed above, napping prior to the mid-afternoon results in a combination of light and REM sleep, whereas napping after 2 pm results in more slow-wave sleep.
The time of day can also have an impact. You should take only take a nap between 1pm and 3pm or 5pm and 7pm to avoid disrupting the body's natural drive for sleep at night. “Around 6.30pm should be the latest time you should nap, so a commuter nodding off on the train home is still OK,” says McGuinness.
"You should never take a nap at any time of the day other than 12:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon," says Dr. Robert Oexman, Director of The Sleep to Live Institute, over email. "This coincides with the normal circadian rhythm. Napping at any other time may make it more difficult to sleep at night."
Most will explain the Hour Rule to mean one hour in the crib. If your child falls asleep prior to that hour ending, then you get your child up the moment they wake. If they don't sleep at all for the full hour, you get them up at the hour. This is about the extent to the Hour Rule for most.
What is a danger nap? A danger nap is when your toddler has an unplanned nap late in the day. These naps are unscheduled and unhelpful and usually begin after the 3-4pm mark. These naps are to be avoided at all costs if you want to save your sanity and your sleep – let me explain why.
What is the optimal length of time for a nap? Naps can be short (15 to 30 minutes) or longer; both short and long naps can increase alertness and be useful. Take into account that sleep becomes deeper the longer you sleep, reaching the deepest level (slow-wave sleep) in about 1 hour.
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, insaufficient sleep or poor eating habits can also cause excessive sleepiness at this time.
The National Sleep Foundation recommend taking a 20-minute nap to wake up feeling refreshed. The ideal nap duration can vary from person to person, but most professionals agree that shorter naps are better if a person's goal is to wake up feeling refreshed and alert.
Strong scientific evidence shows that our brains benefit from a brief period of actual sleep (a nap), not just a quiet period, to recover from fatigue and to help restore alertness. Both short (15-30 minute) and long (1.5-hour) naps can increase alertness.
So baby napping too close to bedtime shouldn't be too big a concern. If possible, try to have between an hour and a half to a three-hour difference between naptime and bedtime, and if baby sleeps for no more than one hour during her nap, she should be good to get her Zzz's for her nighttime slumber.
In adults, a nap typically includes all the stages of sleep but in different proportions than regular nightly sleep. Naps are a useful stopgap for people who struggle to get enough sleep at night. But health experts agree that napping does not provide the same restorative power as a full night's rest.
Naps should generally last 20–90 minutes. But the optimal nap length varies based on your age, lifestyle, and health needs. For example, newborns need 14–17 hours of sleep, while seniors only need seven to eight hours. We generally need less sleep as we get older, but you can nap at any age.
Your body naturally experiences a circadian rhythm, which is responsible for you feeling alert and tired throughout a 24-hour period. Just as this rhythm makes you tired at night, it also makes you sleepy with decreased alertness in the afternoon, especially between 1PM and 4PM.
“A power nap is a nap that's short — less than 30 minutes long,” says Safia Khan, MD, a specialist in sleep disorders and an assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine and the department of neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
This is because our brain is constantly forming new connections while we are awake. The longer we are awake, the more active our minds become. Scientists believe that this is partly why sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression. However, there are negative outcomes of this, too.
Why am I still tired after 8 hours of sleep? Most likely, you're still tired after 8 hours of sleep because you don't know your sleep need, you're getting less sleep than you think, you've got sleep debt, or you're out of sync with your circadian rhythm.
So, according to your sleep cycles, what's the best nap length for an all-nighter? Studies have shown that even a quick shut-eye of 10 to 20 minutes is enough to give your brain a boost for the night ahead. Tip: Aim for a 10- to 20-minute power nap to give your brain a boost and help you feel refreshed.
Cote and NASA suggest taking power naps between 10 and 20 minutes long. You'll get the most benefit from a sleep cycle without any of the grogginess associated with longer sleeping periods. You don't need to get through all five sleep stages, just the first two.
The 2-3-4 nap schedule is for babies who are on two naps a day. The first wake window would be 2 hours, the second would be 3 hours and the last wake window for bed is 4 hours.
Experts typically recommend that adults take naps eight or more hours before bedtime. For most people, that means napping before 3 p.m. Napping too late in the day may contribute to nighttime sleep problems. For some people, naps may feel natural or even necessary after lunchtime.
The most ideal nap is the 90-minute nap. Why? 90 minutes is the length of one full sleep cycle, which includes all the light and deep (REM and dreaming) stages of sleep. A full sleep cycle nap improves procedural and emotional memory (e.g. for playing musical instruments and driving).