There’s a notion in our society that naps should be reserved for the elderly, the ill and those shorter than the “this tall to ride” sign, but I move that college students—and people of all ages for that matter—should embrace the nap in the same way that the English make time for tea, as a daily ritual vital to one’s well-being.
The fact that humans section off their days into two parts waking and sleeping is actually very strange considering 85 percent of other mammals alternate sleep and activity in shorter bursts of time throughout the day.
According to the November 2009 Harvard Health Letter, scheduled naps can help productivity. The letter suggest combining the powers of napping and caffeine by drinking something caffeinated and then sleeping for about half an hour. This will allow time for the caffeine to kick in and make sure the nap is not long enough to make you feel drowsy and disoriented after waking up.
Sleep is restorative and your body definitely needs more of it when you’re sick, but don’t wait until you’re ill to play catch up. Procrastination and balancing work with your social life is a discussion for another time, but the sleep-deprived haze you walk around in because of them can be helped with a few choice naps.
The time used for napping is more than made up if you wake up rested and ready to work. Being so drowsy that you have to re-read the same line over and over again is no help to anyone.
If you know you’re going to have a late night, it’s best to plan ahead and rest up earlier in the day so you’ll have more energy to make it through the night.
Some people have trouble sleeping in the daylight or in a place other than their own bed. If this is the case for you, try to find a dark, cool, quiet and comfortable place and see if you can get some shut eye. For some it’s just not possible, and you’ll have to find breaks in other ways. Even laying down for a little bit and closing your eyes can be helpful.
Others with difficulty sleeping though the night may find that napping makes it even harder to fall asleep later, but in a worst case scenario a couple naps might provide an alternative to a night’s sleep.
Getting on a sleep schedule is the most important thing. Training your body to sleep and nap at certain times every day will make falling asleep easier and will help avoid situations where you fear you can’t keep your eyes open yet still need to finish your sociology reading.
So go back to preschool for a while. In high school I know I grew jealous of their naptimes. Now that you have more freedom as a college student you need to take advantage of it in the right ways. Use that awkward hour break between history and dinner to get rested for homework later. Use the power that you have over your schedule to make those breaks available, and try to keep those times sacred. Your body will thank you.