Kaylie Wang is an English sophomore and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
We’re midway through winter quarter, which means that I just want to be in my bed more and more.
There is no better feeling than finally crashing on your bed after running on little sleep all morning. Taking a midday nap is my favorite strategy to boost my energy during exhausting days, allowing me to continue having a productive day with a clear, energized and well-rested mind.
Yes, I know taking a nap feels wrong because you should be busy with school or “making the most” out of college. It feels like college is a constant competition between Google Calendar schedules, comparing who’s taking the hardest classes or who’s more booked and busy — so it can easily feel like taking a nap means you are lazy, not taking enough classes or not having enough club meetings.
However, if you keep pushing yourself through the day on little fuel, you’re going to burnout and there will be catastrophic consequences on your health. Naps can actually be productive and help you become more creative.
READ MORE: The Peak: Burnout Issue
Since science points to all the ways college students would benefit from taking midday naps, we shouldn’t allow toxic hustle culture to stop us from prioritizing our wellbeing. If you find that naps are helpful, have time in your schedule and have a place to snooze, why don’t you give yourself a break and rest?
Although chugging coffee or an energy drink is a popular solution to fatigue among Cal Poly students, nothing beats rest. Research from the University of California San Diego found that napping improved memory better than caffeine. Plus, energy drinks and caffeine may be worse for your sleep schedule than napping.
I first want to define what I mean when I say nap. I’m not talking about the naps where you go down at 1 p.m. and wake up at 7 p.m., only to realize you’ve overslept classes and meetings.
According to the Center for Disease Control, both short 15- to 30-minute naps and long naps can be helpful. Your sleep will cycle through different phases, so a shorter nap isn’t always better; you may feel less groggy after a 90-minute nap, which is the length of a sleep cycle, than after just a 60-minute sleep, which is when the body is just entering deep sleep. You can prevent this by setting your alarm to hit the sweet spot so that you can wake up during light sleep to avoid sleep inertia.
The Cleveland Clinic separates naps into three categories: a 15- to 20-minute power nap, a 20- to 60-minute recovery nap or an extended nap, which is longer than 60 minutes.
Just don’t take a nap too late in the day or for too long, or else you’ll have a harder time sleeping that night, according to a study on sleep health from the Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.
Even though the CDC and Cleveland Clinic warn against an hour-long nap, I regrettably admit that is the average duration of my nap — plus at least 30 minutes of rotting and doomscrolling to give me the courage to get back up. However, I still find that the nap allows me to be more productive, especially on days when I didn’t get enough sleep, than I would have been if I just “powered through” the day instead of resting and listening to my body.
The burst of energy that I feel after my nap helps relieve any feelings of guilt for allowing myself to rest in the middle of the day. After I wake up, I’m always in a better mood, which reminds me that I would’ve been miserable if I stayed awake and pushed myself to do work.
Napping all around the world and in offices
If you’re still struggling to shake the guilt that resting is lazy, perhaps you could nap better knowing that countries and workplaces recognize the importance of naps. Other cultures outside the U.S. officially observe midday rest and consider naps an integral part of daily life, such as siesta in Spain, riposo in Italy or inemuri in Japan, where stores will temporarily close in the afternoon to allow naps.
A UC Berkeley sleep study from 2010 found that young adults who took a 90-minute siesta at 2 p.m. performed better on learning exercises than those who did not take a nap. Sleep essentially makes room in the brain’s short-term memory storage for new information and boosts learning abilities.
U.S. workplaces, like Ben & Jerry’s, Zappos, Uber and Google, have dedicated nap spaces within their headquarters so that employees can take a quick nap for enhanced productivity and creativity, an American Psychological Association article found.
We need to reject the notion that napping during the day means you’re not working hard enough or not “doing college right.” Clearly, it’s quite the opposite: napping can boost your creativity, memory and energy. Don’t let work guilt from not being productive 24/7 or the fear of missing out stop you from taking care of yourself. I would rather spend college making meaningful memories with friends and experiences, rather than being half-present because I was way too exhausted.
Think of resting as simply recharging yourself, just as you would with your laptop or phone when it’s low on battery. Instead, a blissful nap can boost your mood, productivity and social battery.
Next week, I challenge you to catch some z’s when you’re especially exhausted. Perhaps this is in your car if you commuted or on the lounge chairs at the Recreation Center’s leisure pool. Especially if your midterms are coming up like mine, a nap is the perfect way to recover from taking one exam and studying for the next. Sweet dreams and rest well, Mustangs.