How To Achieve A Perfect Nap
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 6:00AM 
I consider myself something of a nap expert. I take at least a short nap 4-5 times a week because it makes me a nicer human. Nap quality varies greatly though depending on my schedule and surrounding conditions. Over the years, with a lot of hard work and research, I have developed a recipe for napping greatness. Now I shall pass my formula on to you.
Free of charge.
You're welcome.
Recipe For An Ideal Nap
The perfect nap takes place between 1:00 and 3:00 on Sunday afternoon. It takes some thorough prep to set yourself up for this time frame. This is the game plan:
- Get enough household chores done on Saturday to make yourself a little cranky yet also relieve the feeling that you have a mile long to-do list. You can't take a quality nap with a giant list hanging over your head.
- Set your alarm for early Sunday morning.
- Prepare a meal and put it in the crock pot. Any of these will do. Knowing dinner is ready will ease your mind later and the fragrance will be heaven to wake up to.
- Race around getting the family ready for church, letting your husband sleep in a little. If you let him sleep now, you'll feel less guilty about sleeping later.
- Put on something at least slightly uncomfortable to wear to church yourself. Once your husband is up, make the bed.
- Go to church. Smile at everyone, take notes during service, volunteer for something you'll regret later.
- Eat something carb-laden for lunch. We go with donuts around here. Donuts are coma inducing.
- Around 12:45, head for the bedroom. Ideally, you'll send the family out for the afternoon. However this is rarely possible. As an alternative, make sure you have some kind of white noise in your bedroom (I use a fan) and lock the door.
- Threaten certain death to anyone who knocks on the door while you are napping.
- Turn off all phones in the bedroom.
- Change out of uncomfortable clothing and into sweats or even jammies.
- Make the room as dark as possible. Set the alarm for 3:00 so you don't oversleep and end up awake all night.
- Lie down on top of the covers with a blanket over you. If you get under the covers you'll send the wrong signal to your brain, sleep too deeply and have trouble sleeping that night. Trust me on this.
- In a perfect household there is a cat or two. Have them curl up with you, preferably purring.
- Enjoy. You'll know you have hit nap nirvana if you wake up with drool on the pillow.
Fifteen steps is a lot, but totally worth it to achieve the perfect nap. You'll wake up slightly groggy but also feeling like you have a new lease on life and ready to face the week. Spend the couple of hours before dinner as you like. I usually have a couple of chores to finish which I generally ignore in favor of something more enjoyable.
Anyone else have napping tips?
Reader Comments (18)
Awww man, naps on Sunday afternoons are the BEST! I would add that if you stay up all night the day before with a teething baby that it definitely makes for a great afternoon nap. That is, if you can get the baby to sleep too, of course...
Ahhh yes.. a nap. I am a serious napper as well. When I go down, I get IN the bed and get undressed. I don't do it often anymore, but I do enjoy a nap.
It has taken me almost 6 years to train my husband NOT to awaken me. He popped in the room one time during a nap and said, "What are you doing?" before he realized. Now I tell him ahead of time and threaten him.
Sometimes I take a power nap on the couch during the week. It does wonders for my mood.
OOO I have one, I have one! Ready . . . curl up on the hammock when the outside temperature is a whopping 72 degree with yoga pants, socks, and a comfy shirt under a light blanket. The sway of the hammock, best feeling in the whole world.
Oh love it, so true about getting stuff done before otherwise my mind is too busy with what needs to be done.
My biggest tip, is I never sleep longer than 20 minutes. If I do I always wake up feeling groggy not refreshed, but if I sleep 20 I feel wonderful.
My tip to only sleep 20 is I look at the clock exactly as I lay down, then mentally say I need to be up in 20 minutes and say the time in my head, never once have I over slept. It's a skill I am pretty proud of, lol!!
It's true! If you do get inside the bed your brain KNOWS. I"m going to lay on top of the covers with a light blanket from now on. See what I learn from you? And if my husband asks what I'm doing I'll say, "Mindee said!"
You have clearly put years of effort into your napping expertise.
So I have to wonder - how could you have possibly left out cheese?
It's nothing without cheese.
Though maybe I'm confusing napping with life in general.
Have very dark curtains on your windows to block out the sunlight. Sunshine can interfere with your nap cycle. I don't like that at all.
I am a napping queen!
Ardee-ann
This just convinced me that I need to take a nap RIGHT NOW. Yes, it is 9:52 AM, but I didn't sleep much last night.
Marla @ www.asthefarmturns.wordpress.com
No wonder I'm such a bad napper! I never even thought about the "under the covers" aspect . . .
I'm going to invest is a good blanket to go on my bed now.
Can you believe I don't like naps???
Yep, "nap", "siesta"... whatever. I don't like it.
I'm weird. I know.
Ok, I have an unusual situation in that none of the doors completely close in my house. Fortunately, I do not yet have children. This needs to be remedied before I do. However, because the doors do not completely close, there is the necessary step of ensuring that your face is facing the center of the bed, or you will get a face wash by the German Shepherd that has come to check where you disappeared to.
True or False Nap Test:
You can't take a quality nap with a giant list hanging over your head. TRUE (though i have made it happen before)
Threaten certain death to anyone who knocks on the door while you are napping. TRUE
If you get under the covers you'll send the wrong signal to your brain, sleep too deeply and have trouble sleeping that night. TRUE (but that doesn't keep me from getting under the covers b/c it is so comforting)
Prepare a meal and put it in the crock pot. TRUE...would have helped me immensely since I napped til 4pm yesterday and we didn't end up eating dinner until 8pm.
In a perfect household there is a cat or two. FALSE
I love this list!! Unfortunately, I'm not a napper. I hate taking naps because I always wake up grouchier than when I laid down. Instead, I could follow all steps above, but lock myself up to read for an hour or two and I'm as good as new. Jealous of your napping abilities! :)
My favorite nap time is when Ward turns on golf! Nothing makes me fall asleep quicker than that!
i so so so used to be able to sleep as much as i wanted during the day and STILL get in a solid 8 hours at night. NOT SO RECENTLY. i hope it's just because of the pregnancy, because napping is a much beloved pastime of mine. a hobby, if you will.
now i'm 45 minutes-1 hour max or there's no sleeping at night. BOO HOO.
your sunday nap sounds PERFECT. perfection. a real art.
It's not Sunday afternoon so I'm trying to figure out a way to make all of these steps happen today. Might be tough.
This is the perfect plan. I had the Sunday afternoon time frame right and occasionally I remember the crock pot thing, but there are 13 other steps here that I haven't even considered! What kind of napper am I?!?!? Thank you for showing me the error of my ways, Mindee.
~ Katie
www.marriageconfessions.com
One more thing - if your house is lucky enough to contain a grandchild - wait until they're ready for a nap, then shamelessly steal said grandbaby and slip away. Naps with babies can be so much fun! Also - NO chance you'll oversleep, better than any alarm clock. That is.. .IF said baby actually naps instead of playing!