On a day when you know you’re going to be doing a lot of things and need to be productive, your body needs a break, and that’s where napping is the key to being able to give it your all. Ruth Leong at the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at the National University of Singapore has conducted a study that demonstrates the great effectiveness of napping through polysomnography experiments. The conclusions showed that naps help improve memory, mood, and attention, and even reduce feelings of sleepiness. Keep reading to learn how to boost your cognitive performance and take care of your mental well-being.
The perfect strategie for you body and brain
For some people, napping can become “crucial.” As ab example, for night shift workers. Spite of this fact, “taking a break from work to improve nighttime sleep is a short-term shortcut rather than a sustainable solution.” The key would be to experiment and observe how it affects overall sleep quality.
Taking a nap in the middle of the day is not a luxury, but a scientific strategy to recover energy and improve mental performance. A study conducted by Ruth Leong and colleagues at the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at the National University of Singapore analyzed how different nap lengths, 10, 30, and 60 minutes, affect memory, mood, attention, and sleepiness.
The power of a well-timed nap
Researchers evaluated the effects of three nap lengths (10, 30, and 60 minutes) compared to a period of wakefulness. After a night of short sleep, 32 young adults underwent each condition in random order, with monitoring via polysomnography. Variables such as memory, mood, processing speed, and sleepiness levels were measured at different times after waking up.
The results were clear: all naps, regardless of duration, elevated mood and reduced feelings of tiredness for up to four hours afterward. However, only 30-minute naps improved the ability to encode new memories, i.e., to incorporate recent information. Ten-minute naps provided a quick boost of energy, while 60-minute naps caused a brief “sleep inertia,” which disappeared within half an hour.
The ideal time is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. “It is best to take it in a cool, dark, and quiet environment, similar to the conditions in which we sleep at night,” concludes the publication. Masks or earplugs can help.
Greater mental clarity and improved daily balance
The findings confirm that short naps can be an effective tool for maintaining emotional and mental well-being without disrupting your daily routine. Sleeping for 10 to 60 minutes helps you stay alert and in a positive mood during the afternoon, even several hours after waking up. Although no significant improvements in processing speed or sustained vigilance were observed, the overall benefit in mood and restfulness was evident.
The study also showed that these effects do not depend on the internal structure of sleep, meaning that even a light nap can be beneficial. In other words, you don’t need to sleep deeply to notice results: a short break is enough to allow the brain to reset its energy level.
Participants completed four conditions: no nap, 10-minute nap, 30-minute nap, or 60-minute nap. Before the nap, tests were conducted on sleepiness, attention, and mood. After the nap, sleep inertia and performance were assessed at 5, 30, 60, and 240 minutes. Image coding was done 90 minutes after waking up, and memory recovery 210 minutes later.
There is no universal “winning nap,” but science suggests that 30 minutes offers the perfect balance between practicality and benefit. That short period improves memory, renews energy, and combats drowsiness without causing lethargy. In a fast-paced world, a conscious half-hour break may be the simplest—and most effective—way to reset your body and mind.
