543. Napping isn't just for toddlers; it's a performance enhancer. In her first solo episode back, sleep psychologist Dr. Jade Wu looks at what short naps do for your declarative memory, emotional regulation, and physical speed. She looks at the science behind the afternoon slump and why a well-timed nap can provide a performance boost.
543. Napping isn't just for toddlers; it's a performance enhancer. In her first solo episode back, sleep psychologist Dr. Jade Wu looks at what short naps do for your declarative memory, emotional regulation, and physical speed. She looks at the science behind the afternoon slump and why a well-timed nap can provide a performance boost.
Find Dr. Jade Wu on her website.
Find a transcript here.
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Welcome back to Savvy Psychologist. I'm your interim host, Dr. Jade Wu. While the QDT team searches for a new permanent host for this show, I'm excited to be back alternating with Dr. Ellen Hendriksen for the next few weeks. Every week, we'll help you face life's challenges with evidence-based approaches, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.
One cold afternoon in 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev fell asleep on a pile of index cards representing the chemical elements—only to wake up an hour later with the Periodic Table fully formed in his mind. Salvador Dali used “micro naps” to fuel his surrealist visions. Winston Churchill insisted that a daily nap was essential for winning a world war.
Were these geniuses onto something?
Today, we’re talking about one of my favorite—and most misunderstood—topics in sleep science: napping.
Yes, the thing toddlers do so they don’t melt down in grocery stores. The thing your Mediterranean tour guide disappears to do every afternoon. And the thing you might secretly crave at 2pm…but rarely give yourself permission to take.
But we can see from notable creators and leaders throughout history that naps might be a superpower. And it’s not just a few eccentrics…most cultures outside of modern-day United States embrace some sort of afternoon napping ritual.
Today, we’ll dive into what naps actually do for your brain and body, who benefits most, when naps backfire, and how to take a nap that genuinely helps instead of making you feel like you’ve been hit with a tranquilizer dart.
If you’ve ever felt your brain spinning its wheels at around 2pm, you’re not imagining it. Humans naturally experience a circadian dip—a built-in drop in alertness that happens whether you ate lunch or not.
And when we take advantage of that dip with a short nap, something remarkable happens: Your brain upgrades itself.
A giant meta-analysis—a type of research study that pools data from many studies to summarize the most likely answers to our questions—shows that naps improve:
One of my favorite studies, for example, looked at medical residents on the night shift. We already know that people don’t perform as well on night shifts as they do on day shifts–that part’s a given. But residents who got a nap performed almost as well on cognitive tasks as doctors who were working a normal day shift. Those who didn’t nap? Slower, more errors, and significantly groggier.
As someone who has given birth at a hospital at 3am and 5am, let me tell you—I very much want the doctor on call to have just taken a nap.
And it’s not just your thinking…it’s your emotions that get a tune-up. Preschoolers show us this clearly.
When they miss their nap, they become:
Adults do a subtler version of this. Without naps, we’re:
In other words, naps help keep us from metaphorically—or literally—dropping to the floor of the cereal aisle and throwing a tantrum.
Your physical performance, too, can be affected by a nap. Athletes—especially sleep-deprived ones—see improvements in:
… after a nap. And even if you’re not an athlete, you’ll get a better workout and feel more motivated to move if you’re well-rested, so a well-timed nap can be your workout booster, too.
So yes: a nap is like a free performance enhancer without the jitters from caffeine.
But okay, if naps are so great, what’s with the scary headlines saying naps cause heart disease or dementia? You may not have noticed these, because most sleep health coverage simply encourages people to sleep more. But in recent years, there have crept in dire warnings about the potential “dark side” of napping.
Let’s break this down carefully.
Just because two things appear together doesn’t mean one caused the other.
People who own ashtrays are more likely to get lung cancer—but ashtrays don’t cause cancer. Smoking does.
With naps’ potential association with heart disease, something similar is happening.
For example, there was a well-publicized Swedish study claiming that “occasional nappers” had higher heart disease risk. But the study used one vague survey question, didn’t measure sleep disorders, and didn’t adjust for many major health factors.
A Swiss study did it better. Participants had detailed questionnaires and overnight sleep studies. They found:
After adjusting? Risk vanished. This means that if we take into consideration the health issues participants had, it became clear that those were driving the heart disease risk—not napping.
Second, when we talk about whether something is good or bad for health, sometimes it’s not a straightforward answer. Consider the J-shaped curve.
A massive analysis of 300,000 people found:
This J-shaped curve means that there seems to be a “sweet spot” of napping not too little and not too much that is associated with the lowest heart health risk. Why?
People who don’t nap at all are not getting the benefits of napping. But people who often take long naps may be doing it because of:
And of course, all these things are associated with poorer health, including heart health. So, again: naps aren’t the problem—they’re the messenger.
Bottom line: Short naps are likely beneficial. Long naps may signal something else going on. And naps themselves are not the villain.
So now that we feel confident that we like naps for better performance, mental health, and physical health…let’s talk about how to hit that sweet spot of getting the most out of napping without ruining our nighttime sleep.
Tip #1: Keep it short to keep it sweet
Aim for about 30 minutes of sleep. If you’re not sure how long it takes you to fall asleep, set a 45-minute timer total. And if you wind up just resting and staying awake that whole time, no worries. That confers similar benefits and is also a good sign that you’ve already gotten enough quality sleep at night.
If you do fall asleep for part of your short siesta, this is also good news. The short nap allows you to:
For most people, the sweet spot is in the early afternoon, somewhere in the 1pm–3pm window. This is aligned with your circadian dip, and is early enough that it won’t interfere with your nighttime sleep. If your nighttime sleep schedule is earlier or later than conventional, adjust your nap time accordingly.
Not perfect—just welcoming enough for sleep that if your body wants it, sleep will be able to come to you. That means:
Don’t get frustrated if you’d like to harness the power of a nap, but you don’t seem able to fall asleep during the day. This usually means you’re getting enough quality sleep at night already, and you’re simply not used to napping. You can still lay down and meditate or simply let your mind relax. This allows you to:
No need to force sleep. Rest is just as good and just as important.
Before we wrap up, I want to acknowledge the emotional and cultural context of napping.
Many of us grew up hearing:
For some families—especially those shaped by chronic stress, discrimination, or other survival demands—rest wasn’t safe or available. Rest was something other people got to do.
And today, even in workplaces that preach “wellness,” napping is still often seen as indulgent… unless you’re a toddler or a cat.
But the science is clear: Napping is not laziness. Napping is biologically built into our rhythms, and it supports our health.
And a short nap is one of the simplest ways to support emotional resilience, cognitive performance, mood regulation, and overall well-being.
So if your body calls for rest at 2pm, consider this your evidence-based permission slip to honor that need.
You don’t have to earn it.
You don’t have to justify it.
You don’t have to apologize for it.
With that, I wish you restful nights and restful naps.
What do you think about napping? Let me know on LinkedIn at Dr. Jade Wu.
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Next week, you’ll hear from Dr. Ellen Hendriksen in her solo guest episode. I can’t wait!