How to use the online timer
Twenty minutes is the length a nap can be without leaving you worse off than before. Past that, sleep tends to deepen, and being woken out of a deeper stage produces the heavy, disoriented feeling that puts people off napping altogether. Twenty minutes is also short enough to fit into a lunch break, a gap between shifts, or the flat hour after a large lunch.
Set the count before lying down and put the phone somewhere that requires sitting up to reach. Somewhere dark and cool helps, which in the middle of a summer afternoon means a room with the curtains shut. Keep this page open on a laptop nearby, and be aware that a machine going to sleep takes the countdown with it, so plug it in.
Early afternoon works considerably better than late, and a nap after about four in the afternoon has a habit of interfering with the night. Not everybody feels better for one, and if twenty minutes reliably leaves you groggy rather than sharper, that is worth taking at face value rather than persisting with. Fifteen minutes suits some people better than twenty.
Common questions
Why not nap for longer?
Past about twenty minutes sleep tends to deepen, and waking out of a deeper stage produces the heavy, disoriented feeling that puts people off napping altogether. Shorter is easier to recover from.
What if a nap always leaves me groggy?
Take that at face value rather than persisting. Not everybody feels better for one, and fifteen minutes suits some people better than twenty. Anything after about four in the afternoon tends to affect the night.
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