Society for some reason frowns on mid day sleep, however studies show that you can make yourself more alert, reduce stress, and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid day power naps can lead to more patience, less stress, better reaction times, more efficiency, increased learning and productivity, and better health.
7-9 hours of sleep per day is recommended by most experts depending on personal and genetic factors. 6 hours or less has been shown to triple risk of car accident. However more than 9 hours can be harmful to health; studies show that 9+ hours of sleep per day can decrease lifespan.
Due to sleep being cumulative if you don’t get enough sleep one day, you will feel it the next. Not getting adequate sleep a few days in a row will build up a sleep deficit which can impair judgment, vision, reaction time, information processing, production, performance, patience, vigilance, and short term memory; additionally those who are fatigued experience moodiness, aggressive behaviors, burnout, and more stress.
20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon has been shown to provide more rest that of 20 minutes more sleep in the morning, the body appears to be designed for this as they become more naturally tired midday, after being awake for about 8 hours.
Most experts suggest having naps between 15-30 minutes, sleeping longer will put you into a deeper stage of sleep which is more difficult to awaken from and make it more difficult to fall asleep at night. A one hour nap has been shown to have more restorative effects than shorter naps such as greater improvement in cognitive functioning.
There are pros and cons to each length of sleep, if you only have 15 minutes to spare in your schedule to nap, then by all means take it; but if you have the time for an hour nap do it. Even a 5 minute close your eyes to rest nap can help to reduce stress and help you to relax and unwind to help give you more energy to complete the tasks for the rest of the day.
To help maximize the health benefits that go along with getting enough sleep try to avoid caffeine after 3PM as it is a stimulant with a half life of 4-6 hours; set an alarm so that naps aren’t too long; if there’s not enough time for a power nap try meditation as it will also give the body a rest producing lower brain waves similar to sleeping and reduce stress.
