# Taking Naps

The older people get, the less time they require for naps.

Healthy adults who don’t get enough sleep should take naps.

10–20 minute naps:

- Only engages in lighter sleep stages and is non-REM.
- Ideal for a boost in alertness and energy, and very useful for [finding creative answers](mind-creativity.md) and [quick re-focusing](success-4_routine.md).
- After staying up all night, a 15–20 minute nap right before the sun rises will reset the body's clock.

According to NASA, the perfect nap should last 26 minutes:

- Taking coffee right before a nap guarantees waking up 20–30 minutes later.
- Half-hour naps may cause sleep inertia (a groggy feeling that feels like a hangover) for up to 30 minutes after waking up.

60-minute naps:

- Hour-long naps are best for [recalling facts, faces, and names](mind-memory.md).
- An hour-long nap induces Stage 3 sleep.

90-minute naps:

- A full sleep cycle with all four stages that typically avoids sleep inertia.
- Leads to improved [creativity](mind-creativity.md) and better procedural and emotional [memory](mind-memory.md).

Depending on the sleep cycle, the ideal napping time is typically between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

- Napping too late in the day or for over 20 minutes can interfere with sleep cycles.

If you can’t nap, laughing for 15 minutes has the same psychological effects as getting 2 hours of sleep.