To Nap, or Not to Nap, That is the Question…
Well over a decade has passed since the tender years of kindergarten, yet many college students long for the sweet release of mandatory nap time. We all remember feeling like foolish children who grew out of nap time and were determined to prove that we were ‘big kids’ now. Today, we fondly reminisce on the time we could count sheep until we fell asleep on our mats. WAKE UP CALL. Now you’re in college. You’ve got to get those good grades, go to work, feed the cat, walk the dog, clean the dorm or apartment, take care of personal hygiene, make it to that meeting on time, schedule an advising appointment, meet your friends at lunch, get invited to that party this weekend, go to your professor’s office hours, and finish that homework assignment. You’ve got a lot going on, you don’t have time to reminisce.
So what are you going to do about it? Drop out? Nah, you’ve paid too much money, never mind your hopes and dreams. Call your mom? Sure, but her emotional support isn’t going to do much. Take a really long shower? True, you don’t have to pay for the water bill, but your fingers will get pruney. Take a nap? Why not?
Let’s get down to business to defeat the hundreds of things you have to get done by napping!
Napping right after lunch for about thirty minutes is the most ideal. However, being a college student might make that goal a little unrealistic. As long as you don’t nap too close to when you should being going to sleep for the night, you should be okay. If you do have a long enough lunch break between classes to eat and sleep, maybe going to the upper floors of the library and laying your head down on a table could be an option. I do see a future one day when all university libraries will have nap rooms. It’s a bright future ahead of us.
Nap length is very important. Taking a nap for too long could negatively affect your ability to sleep later in the night. A twenty to thirty minute nap is perfect if you have a short about of time and just want a little boost. Taking a short nap like this you only go into light sleep, not REM or deep. If you want to take a longer nap, make sure it’s in 90 minute increments. For example, a half hour or three hour nap are 90 minute increments. One typically sleep cycle is approximately 90 minutes. If you’ve ever woken up and felt extremely groggy, this is probably because you didn’t finish a sleep cycle and woke up from deep sleep.
Now if you really need some energy to get through the rest of the day, you could take a coffee nap. A coffee nap should only be attempted by an experienced napper. It is the black diamond of napping. The factors and processed involved in taking a coffee nap could easily go wrong. If you want to take a coffee nap you must sleep for about 20 minutes. I strongly recommend setting an alarm to make sure you wake up. Before all this though, you drink a cup of coffee. I know, drinking coffee then going to sleep seems counterproductive, but it actually works thanks to science.
Basically, your brain has receptors that take in the molecule adenosine. The caffeine in coffee can fit in the same receptors for adenosine. If you are tried adenosine is probably already in those receptors and the caffeine can not fit in. Taking a nap will remove the adenosine from the receptors, thus allowing more caffeine to fill those spaces. In turn, you fill feel more energized. It’s a body life hack!
Many studies have shown that napping can increase productivity. It still may feel like you’re wasting time, but I think that’s part of the beauty. When you’re asleep you can’t think about your problems. Well, unless you dream about them, but hopefully you won’t remember anyway.
If all else fails, listen to this. You’ll either die of boredom or fall asleep.
