I used to belong to the camp that made fun of people who took the occasional 10-15 minute nap at lunchtime. I didn’t understand why they would risk being groggy after they woke up for what little benefit they could reap from the power nap. However, after “crashing” during noon-time for 15-20 minutes, there are indeed benefits like renewed alertness and a sense of higher well-being.
Most people are sleep deprived in today’s hectic world. Do you know many people that can honestly say that they get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night? People who are sleep-deprived are more of a danger behind the wheel than a person under the influence of alcohol!

Typical school day for students:

Location, location, location…
It’s pretty easy to take power naps at school because there are hour breaks here and there that can be used to catch up on your sleep.

Everywhere you go, you can’t help noticing that someone is sleeping at the study booths, in the library, or on a bench. It’s not too easy when you work though because even if you are on a lunch break,, it doesn’t look too good to be snoozing on your desk when your boss walks by. The best location I’ve found for power naps is the car. All I do is recline the seat, put on my sunglasses for some darkness and I’m off to recharge my batteries. The sunglasses also help in that people who walk by the car do not know if I’m sleeping or just relaxing. I always like to past out with the mp3 player playing softly in the background.

Don’t Over Do It
Because the goal is to take a power nap and not a 2-hour real nap, you should always set an alarm to wake you up in 15-20 minutes. I am usually disoriented and groggy for the first few minutes after a powernap but that feeling always subsides once I walk back to the office. Compared to a real nap that I take when I watch television, that can make me groggy for the rest of the day. Power naps should be an option for everywhere, especially if they are sleep deprived. You can’t always sleep-in for hours during the weekends so why not get few ZZZs here and there during the week?

Luxurious power naps: