Ever since I was a little girl, I envied my little brother for all the naps he managed to sneak in. The main reason for my jealousy was that I never found or made the time to take a nap. As the years went by, I started to take more and more naps. What I didn’t realize, however, was that nap is something we constantly need to perfect.

As my experience in naping had grown, I gathered more and more tips that help maximize the effect of the power nap. Today, taking a nap is one of the most important and crucial things during my day. To make sure that you wake up feeling refreshed and rested, instead of even more tired.

So, without further ado, here are the lessons I’ve learned about taking a nap, the right way:

1. Don’t take naps late in the day. Try to finish your nap by three p.m.. Otherwise, you might have difficulties falling asleep later at night.
2. To the limit, and not beyond: limit your naps to 30 minutes tops. If you won’t follow the limit, you might find yourself entering into a deep sleep that might interfere with your bedtime. Also, you will find yourself in a situation we all know and hate, in which you wake up even more tired than you were before.
3. Don’t take more than one nap a day. Again, this is likely to interfere with your nighttime sleep. If you find yourself needing more than one nap a day, it means your nighttime sleep isn’t sufficiently restorative, which is a matter you should discuss with your doctor.
4. Use an alarm! By using an alarm you guarantee two things. First, you don’t sleep past the recommended nap limit. Second, this way, you will be able to relax and fall asleep more quickly, as you can be certain that you will wake up at the right time.
5. If you have the time, take a Full Sleep Cycle Nap, which is a 90-minute nap. This amount of nap time will allow your body to go into REM sleep, which might help to make up for lost sleep and maybe even enhance creativity.
6. If you have trouble waking up, don’t take a nap. At the end of the day, as much as we would like to sugarcoat it or sweep it under the rug, Not everyone is made for napping. Instead, try drinking a glass of water, work out, or stretch, for example, as a way to energize during the day.

Of course, there are a few setbacks when it comes to napping. For example, napping before three p.m. at a workday can sometimes be impossible. However, this is a subject for a different conversation.

I hope you will find these tips helpful! Now got take a nap!