How a power nap is good for your health and the best time to take them

Napping has long been a recovery technique, with famous practitioners including Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Bill Clinton.

As evidence for the benefits of power naps emerges, global corporations, such as Google, Samsung, Facebook, Procter and Gamble and Ben and Jerry’s, all have nap pods in their offices for workers.

Power napping is a growing trend. It can boost health and wellbeing, and studies have shown a link between regular napping and heart health.

Biphasic sleep (one long and one short sleep) is still practised in several siesta cultures, including Mediterranean Europe and regions of South America.

In Greece, before 2000, it was normal for shopfronts to hang a sign in the window that they were closed from 1pm to 5pm and open from 5pm to 9pm.

In response to government pressure to abandon this practice, a team of researchers from Harvard University’s School of Public Health decided to quantify the health consequences of this radical change in more than 23,000 Greek adults aged 20 to 83.

The researchers focused on cardiovascular outcomes and mortality, tracking the group over six years as the siesta practice ended.

For those who abandoned regular siestas, their risk of death from heart disease increased by 37% compared to those who continued to take regular naps.

The effect was especially strong in working men, whose mortality risk from not napping increased by 67%. The study demonstrated that biphasic sleep was beneficial, and removing it led to shorter lifespans.

Despite the findings, Greek government policy remained unchanged.

Regular naps also appear to be good for the brain’s long-term health.

A study by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of the Republic of Uruguay, published in Sleep Health (2023), suggested that habitual napping may keep our brains bigger for longer.

The researchers analysed data from 35,000 people aged 40 to 69 from the UK Biobank database.

They found that the brains of people who napped several times a week were more than 15cm3 (cubic centimetres) larger than those who never had a daytime nap.

Lead researcher Victoria Garfield, a senior fellow at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, said that people who have smaller brain volumes are more likely to have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, sleep apnoea, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia.

Napping during the early afternoon can benefit physical performance and thinking skills.

A review paper in the Nature and Science of Sleep (2021) reported that elite athletes who napped between 1pm and 4pm showed benefits in various outcomes, including physical and cognitive performance, perceptual measures, and psychological state. 

Napping was also found to supplement night-time sleep without compromising sleep quality.

The authors concluded that athletes may consider napping for 20 to 90 minutes between 1pm and 4pm.

Snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan, ultramarathon runner Camille Herron and Premier League footballers at Real Madrid have all incorporated napping in to their daily routines.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic recommend keeping naps short and early in the afternoon.

A 20- to 30-minute nap is ideal.

Try not to snooze for more than 30 minutes regularly. The longer you nap, the more likely you are to feel groggy afterwards. Also. take naps early in the afternoon. Napping after 3pm can make it harder to sleep soundly at night.

A literature review in Current Sleep Medicine Reports (2020) found that older adults are more likely to take naps during the daytime, due to age-related changes in circadian rhythms and sleep patterns. The review also considered other factors, such as your need for sleep and medication use, which can also play roles in figuring out the best time to nap.

Nap in a quiet, dark place with a comfortable room temperature. Limit distractions such as televisions, computers, phones and other electronic devices.

Timing is key for the perfect power nap.

The expert advice is that naps are good for health and wellbeing, heart health and thinking abilities.

But keep it less than 30 minutes and early in the afternoon.

In my experience, lecture theatres, conference halls, or a quiet corner in the library are the perfect places for a brain-boosting nap.

• Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork