Exact Answer: Maximum 20 Minutes
Humans are known to be amazing creatures because of the capabilities that they are known to possess. Humans are immensely different from any other living being existing on the earth today.
Humans get known to be the kind that believes in hard work. That is the reason why there is so much progress everywhere. But that does not mean that one can go on and on. Even the most hard-working person on the planet needs to take a rest. It scientifically got proven that a person needs to get enough sleep to function. At least have a power nap.
How Long Is A Power Nap?
Fundamentally all humans are different from each other. The same applies when it comes to the capability to keep working. A proven fact is that some humans get tired pretty soon while others might find it easy to keep working even with fewer sleep hours.
The main reason is how a person gets built biologically. Each person has a different requirement regarding the time they take to rest to restore their energy. A human biologically gets designed to work for long hours. However, it is also essential to rest so that one can get to work again.
A human energy cycle is somewhat similar to a cellphone. When the cellphone’s battery goes down, it needs to get charged. Similarly, to get charged up again, humans need sleep. A human body already gets built that when over-exerted, it gets tired and needs rest to feel energetic again.
However, the world has become a place for tough competition, and if a person does not work hard, they will get left behind. Hence, it becomes necessary to use all the time that a person can. In this race of being the best, humans sacrifice their sleep. Sacrificing sleep is okay till the time there are no ill effects on a person’s health.
To juggle hectic schedules while trying not to compromise on health, the man came up with the idea of a Nap. A nap is a short sleep that a person takes to shake off tiredness. It also helps to increase the focusing capability. The ideal time for which a person can take a nap is ten to twenty minutes.
| Sleep Type | Duration of the nap |
| Healthy Nap | 10 to 20 Minutes |
| Unhealthy Nap | Beyond 20 to 25 minutes |
Why Is A Power Nap That Long?
Taking a nap is a very effective way to get energized again. It takes lesser time than sleep and makes a person feel fresh upon waking up. When it comes to a power nap, the ideal period is 10 to 20 minutes only. Otherwise, naps can also be longer than 20 minutes. However, longer naps defeat the purpose of having a power nap.
There are various reasons why a power nap should only be a maximum of 20 minutes. The reason is as below:
- If a person sleeps for 30 minutes or more, they slowly enter the slow-wave sleep stage. Waking up from a longer nap will still leave the person feeling tired and sleep-deprived. It will do more harm than good in reality. As waking from longer naps can irritate since the sleep was not enough as the body was starting to relax.
- On the other hand, shorter naps are of no use as they won’t let the body relax properly. It then becomes a waste of time rather than something of benefit. Hence the ideal period for which a power nap should last is a maximum of 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes.
Conclusion
Feeling the need to sleep or rest is as natural as the feeling of hunger. It has to be satisfied to avoid any other ill effects on the body. Like in the case of food, if a person gets food-deprived, it shows on the body, which is similar in the case of sleep or a nap.
With constant working, the homeostatic sleep drive comes into motion. Then a person starts feeling the need to sleep. If taking a full-fledged sleep is not possible, taking a 20-minute nap can prove very beneficial to the body.