One thing that has kept me sane during lockdown is the resumption of my habit of taking a daily nap after lunch. I come from a long line of nappers. When I was young, you could walk into our living room and find us all snoozing away merrily after lunch.
The napping habit died out a bit with the advent of daytime TV and the Internet, but I found lockdown to be so emotionally exhausting that I needed a break from the doom. A nap provides a perfect pause in the day to recharge the aul batteries and set you up for the afternoon.
After lunch, I go up to bed and lie down for half an hour. After the nap I wake up, get a cup of tea and resume the day. It is a fact that the body has a natural slump in the afternoon, so don’t try to fight it with caffeine and sugar; instead, embrace it and take to your bed. If you are at work, sneak out to the car in your lunch break or find a quiet room if you can. Or if you commute by bus or train you can squeeze in a nap on your way home.
The best time for a nap is around 7 hours after you wake. So if you get up at 7 am have a nap at 2 pm. A nap should be 20-30 minutes, any more and you will go into a deep sleep and wake up groggy. If you do need to take a longer nap aim for 1 hour 30 minutes as this is the length of a normal sleep cycle.
At this point, I hear you thinking that’s all well and good for you, but I can’t go to sleep, I would just lie there awake. Fear not, let me tell you the secret of a power nap.
If you have Spotify, there are all kinds of weird and wonderful hypnotism and relaxation tracks. There is Andrew Johnston, who is a nice relaxing Scottish fella; or how about Brett Cameron, a silky-smooth Australian. If you have a search on Spotify you will find loads of different tracks you can try out. I am not exactly sure if these tracks will boost my golf game (don’t play it) or stop my problem gambling (don’t gamble) but what I do know is they zonk you out for half an hour, and that’s all I want.
You can also find a lot of tracks on Youtube, but I suspect they will put ads into the playback ruining the relaxing experience.
My own personal favourite nap system is Synctuition. Every day you get a new track to listen to – a mini trip for the mind. They are a weird mix of soundscapes, binaural beats and other whacky sound effects. It is tough to explain what it is, so I recommend you get a free trial and give it a whirl for yourself. Sign up for their newsletter, and they will email you discount offers. You should get it for about 40 quid a year if you buy directly from them.
No matter what apps or tracks you listen to make sure to listen with headphones for a more relaxed experience. And it may be pointing out the obvious but do not listen to any of these tracks while driving or doing any activity that requires concentration. One other tip is to turn on do not disturb on your phone to stop the various email and WhatsApp pings from disturbing you.
If you think you are too busy for a nap, have a look at your screentime on your iPhone or digital wellbeing on your Android phone. If you are like most of the population, you will find you are on your phone for 3-4 hours a day, more than enough spare time to squeeze in a nap. Rest is extremely important in life. If you find it hard to switch off, I can recommend a few books to convert you to the cause. How to Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson is a good starter. I also recommend his Idler magazine. Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is an excellent book for those of you who like lots of research and examples to convince you.
Embrace the nap – you know it makes sense.
“Nap Time” by froshea is licensed under CC BY-SA
Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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