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How long should your naps be? - Sara C. Mednick

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  • 6,752 Questions Answered
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Your eyes get heavy and gradually close... But wait! It's only lunch time and you still have so much to do. Would taking a nap help? Or would it derail your day? Well, that depends on a few things— especially what stages of sleep the nap includes. Sara C. Mednick details the cognitive benefits of napping, and explores the optimal length and time of day for a quick snooze.

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Sara C. Mednick
  • Director Qian Shi
  • Narrator Alexandra Panzer
  • Storyboard Artist Qian Shi
  • Animator Qian Shi, Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits
  • Compositor Qian Shi, Marta Lemos
  • Art Director Qian Shi
  • Sound Designer Bamm Bamm Wolfgang
  • Music Gavin Dodds, Bamm Bamm Wolfgang
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal, Elizabeth Cox
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Production Coordinator Abdallah Ewis
  • Script Editor Cella Wright
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma
  • See more creators
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Whether you have recently started your napping career or you’re a habitual napper who is ready for some advanced tips, here is a section that will catapult you into the napping big leagues. Get ready for Strategic Napping. Remember, the quality of your nap is dependent on the sleep stages you obtain, and the sleep stages you obtain are dependent on the time of day and duration of your nap. This means that you can be strategic about when and how long you nap to engineer the perfect nap that meets your goals.

Say you wanted to get a shot of alertness and boost to your attention, that calls for Stage 2 sleep, so a nap of about 20 minutes should do the trick, and since stage 2 sleep doesn’t vary that much across the day, you can take that power nap at any time. But if you have engaged in a serious muscle-fatiguing workout, you will need the restorative powers of slow wave sleep, for that you will want an afternoon nap of 60min. Slow wave sleep is also good for memory, so get a 60 minute nap in between studying and taking that final.

Now, if you are working on solving a riddle, writing a song, or discovering a Nobel Prize worthy solution, you will need an early morning REM-rich nap. Watch the videos on this playlist to learn more.

Take a look here for an online Nap Wheel to help you program your perfect nap, also work your way through a short series of courses by Dr. Sara Mednick to help you understand more about the science of sleep, and figure out what type of nap is right for you. You can also visit Dr. Mednick's Sleep and Cognition lab to check out their scientific publications.

Avatar for Sazia Afrin
Lesson Creator
New York, New York, United States
Should employers welcome napping and provide nap spaces for employees. Should people be free to nap whenever and wherever they choose? Such as in school and at work?

10/01/2020
Avatar for ariane lafreniere
ariane lafreniere • LESSON IN PROGRESS

No i don't thinks so because if we authorized this everybody will be sleeping and not doing there work. Also is we authorize the people they will do it all the time so no time for work.

05/03/2021
Avatar for mara leclerc
mara leclerc • LESSON IN PROGRESS

no because we would be loose all the time but at the daycare it's ok like a half hour nap for the little ones but not at the high school and not at work but at work we could let the people go home during their lunch and have a little nap before going back to work and at the high school we could put a relaxation room.

05/03/2021
Avatar for Reagan Donnelly
Reagan Donnelly • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I think yes I may be a kid but I love to sleep so they do need to sleep

05/04/2021
Avatar for maika thibault
maika thibault • COMPLETED LESSON

No, because we have a place in our house called a room. When we go to wear our resume, we just have to say that we want to work in hours and you will be less tired and more in a good mood to go to work.

05/05/2021
Avatar for Magalie Côté
Magalie Côté • LESSON IN PROGRESS

no because you just have to sleep when your not working but maybe a relaxing room with chairs and couchs

05/05/2021
Avatar for Олександр Іванчишин
Олександр Іванчишин • Ternopil' Region, Berezhany, Ukraine • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Yes, giving some time after lunch to have a nap will be a good idea, both in school and at work. In school, it can be a specific time for everybody to rest for like an hour. At work, every employee should manage their own napping time and let everybody know about it, so that others won't bother you at that time and know that you'll work later.

05/10/2021
Avatar for Андрей Бакланов
Андрей Бакланов • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I think that not every job can have a floating daytime sleep schedule for workers, for example, at power plants. But just at such enterprises where the cost of a mistake is expensive, they are quite important but on schedule.

05/10/2021
Avatar for Artem Hodunov
Artem Hodunov • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Quite a few jobs involve concentration and focus from the worker. It seems to me that a more rational way out would be to reduce the working hours from the standard 8 hours to 5-6 hours. This would allow people to take naps at home, if they are comfortable with that.

05/11/2021
Avatar for Evgen Savko
Evgen Savko • LESSON IN PROGRESS

its depend on our culture I think. Coz ukranian conscience don`t allow you sleep on work in you office or factory. And of course if you try to napping and if it see by your boss you will be fire after 10 minutes coz you employer that sleep at work this is outrageous. perhaps it possible is some IT-company but it just 0.2% of all

05/11/2021
Avatar for Ihor I
Ihor I • LESSON IN PROGRESS

All employees will say that I'm working right now and he is sleeping. And for big companies they should have one floor for this. I don't think it makes sense nowadays.

05/11/2021
Avatar for Linh Nhật Trương
Linh Nhật Trương • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I think that employers should welcome napping and provide nap spaces for employees because nap brings benefits to people. However, people should not be free to nap whenever and wherever they choose.

06/01/2021
Avatar for Sebastian Salazar
Sebastian Salazar • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I think not, giving a space for a nap can waste a lot of time since each employee would have his own and maybe not all want to take a nap at a certain time. Something that would be more productive would be a room to distract yourself with games and other kinds of things.

06/04/2021
Avatar for Jacob Morales
Jacob Morales • COMPLETED LESSON

No i don't agree, if people sleep they won't do their work anymore and they wont get paid for what. they have and they might lose their stuff.

06/04/2021
Avatar for Val Martins
Val Martins • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Yes. I agree totally, During almost 5 years I worked at a company far from my house, I also studied and I used to go bed late and wake up early in the morning. So I really nedded to rest at lunchtime and I didn't have a suitable place for it. I slept on the floor, alond with the goods. I really wanted to have a better place to rest.

07/07/2021
Avatar for LESLY PAMELA HERAS CALLE
LESLY PAMELA HERAS CALLE • COMPLETED LESSON

Appetitive Nap: Appetitive naps are taken for the enjoyment of napping. Napping can be relaxing and can improve your mood and energy level upon waking.
Fulfillment Nap: Children have a greater need for sleep than adults. Fulfillment naps are often scheduled into the days of infants and toddlers and can occur spontaneously in children of all ages.

07/21/2021

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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Sara C. Mednick
  • Director Qian Shi
  • Narrator Alexandra Panzer
  • Storyboard Artist Qian Shi
  • Animator Qian Shi, Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits
  • Compositor Qian Shi, Marta Lemos
  • Art Director Qian Shi
  • Sound Designer Bamm Bamm Wolfgang
  • Music Gavin Dodds, Bamm Bamm Wolfgang
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal, Elizabeth Cox
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Production Coordinator Abdallah Ewis
  • Script Editor Cella Wright
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma
  • See more creators

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