Naps — the sole thing keeping some college students together. Whether it’s a brief respite in between your classes or a cooldown before you start your homework for the evening, there’s no wrong way to sneak in some rest. Take your napping experience up a few notches with some tips and tricks from other students. Just try not to doze off while reading.
While sitting in a remote corner in a Whitten Learning Center classroom, a usually attentive student succumbs to an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. In this incognito location, his eyes slowly close, his fingers idle over his laptop and the hour-long class begins to feel more like a lullaby than a lecture. The professor’s voice drones on as the PowerPoint advances the student into oblivion. With his chin leading the way, the student’s heavy head gradually lowers to his chest.
And the next sound he hears is the jarring voice of a vexed professor: “Hey, somebody wake that guy up.”
Probably at least once in the four-year journey to a college degree, a student will end up in a similar unscripted classroom predicament where note-taking has yielded to napping and where bobbing heads are not nodding in agreement with the instructor but from lack of sleep.
Welcome to the weary world of classroom fatigue.
“My most inconvenient naps have come during a variety of courses where the professor lectures for a very long time,” said Erika Guzman, a University of Miami sophomore majoring in exercise physiology.
Sleeping in College
Students like Guzman have busy schedules filled with academics, jobs, parties, time management decisions and newfound freedoms of being away from home. Universities recognize that the combination of all these dizzying factors can prevent a good night’s sleep, hence web pages dedicated to helping students maintain good sleep schedules and habits.
In the “Sleep” section on UM’s Student Health Service website, administrators advise students to aim for seven to nine hours of sleep a night.
“There is a link between a lack of adequate sleep and poor academic performance,” according to the site. It cites a study that showed that after two weeks of sleeping six hours or less a night, students perform as poorly as someone who has gone without sleep for 48 hours. The website also warns that students who pull all-nighters are more likely to have a lower GPA.
A 2014 National Institute of Health report revealed that more than 70 percent of college students sleep less than eight hours a day; 60 percent say they are “dragging, tired, or sleepy” at least three days a week, and more than 80 percent say loss of sleep affects their academic performance.
Many students turn to naps to play catch up on their poor night’s sleep.
Rather than sleep during class time, Guzman said she tries to make it back to her room at Eaton Residential College before fully entering nap mode.
“I like to take quick 20-minute naps that make me feel very replenished,” Guzman said, adding that she naps about three times a week.
Insufficient sleep also can interfere with a student’s other important daytime activities.
Clocking in for an extra shift after class can be unbearable without proper sleep, said George Kavadias, a freshman finance major who works as a lifeguard.
“I often catch myself dozing off at work whenever I miss a nap,” said Kavadias, acknowledging that he needs to be alert at all times as a lifeguard.
Several studies affirm that a daytime nap can help improve performance and alertness for students. Naps also can help boost mood and lower stress. The Journal of Sleep Research performed a study in 2017 that found a correlation between a short nap and stress reduction among young adults.
Freshman Bronwyn Hyland is a believer.
“I allow myself to take naps because I get very irritable and emotional,” said Hyland, a marketing and finance major. “When I don’t take naps, things tend to make me more stressed and anxious; therefore, I think it’s important to put my health and body first.”
Recognizing the problems students encounter in getting sufficient rest, some schools have installed nap pods, resting zones, nap nooks and resting stations to help students get more rest. The University of Michigan and Washington State University are two colleges who use these napping technologies.
At the urging of UM Student Government, two nap pods were installed in 2016 at UM in the Shalala Student Center and the Whitten University Center. A major goal was to provide downtime for commuter students who don’t have the luxury of a nearby dorm room to catch a quick nap, UM said.
Francesca Cagnana, a junior journalism broadcasting major, often looks for an opportunity to rest during her day on campus.
“Sometimes I use the napping pods to calm my mind by shutting my eyes with relaxing music in my ears.”
Students also have ideas on best practices for napping.
Strategic Naps
Clarke Augustine, a junior public relations major, is a nap enthusiast who devised a 5-step plan for achieving the best nap.
- Enjoy a cup of your favorite coffee or espresso, hot or iced.
- Set a 45-minute timer and put your phone on silent mode.
- Lie down on your coziest resting spot .
- Close your eyes and savor 45 straight minutes of uninterrupted rest.
- Wake up dazzlingly refreshed and alert just as the caffeine effects are peaking in your body.
Augustine’s “Coffee Nap Routine” is based on research literature that claims caffeine concentration peaks 45 minutes after consumption, he said.
“One should wake up from a nap feeling caffeinated and be able to take on the world energized,” Augustine said.
Proceed With Caution
As wonderful as naps may sound to a student who is craving some extra rest, naps can have potential downsides. If a student falls asleep and enters a luxurious, multi-hour nap, they may wake up feeling more fatigued than before, sleep researchers say.
Researchers at Boston College’s School of Nursing conducted a study that tracked the nap-taking and nighttime sleeping habits of 440 college students in 2015. Students who were frequent, long and late nappers could have a “higher risk of poor nighttime sleep quality and more severe sleep deprivation,” the study concluded.
“I don’t get as many hours or as good of a sleep when I nap, and I have difficulty falling asleep,” said Taylor Consolazio, a sophomore majoring in health sciences.
Consolazio and Kavadias said when they take longer naps, it often negatively affects their quality of sleep at night.
Taking naps later in the day can result in difficulties falling asleep at night, said Derec Alexis Rodriguez, a junior finance major.
Rodriguez said his best naps happen if scheduled correctly. His nap window is between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the afternoon to avoid feeling restless at bedtime.
“If I take it at a proper time, it helps me be less fatigued for the rest of the day,” Rodriguez said.
And while UM provides sleep pods for students, the Student Health Service nevertheless promotes developing healthy sleep habits over napping. It offers 10 healthy sleep habit tips, ranging from sticking to a sleep schedule to avoiding alcohol, cigarettes and heavy meals in the evening.
If students have trouble sleeping, the health service’s sleep tip No. 2 cautions students to avoid naps, especially in the afternoon.
“Power napping may help you get through the day, but if you find that you can’t fall asleep at bedtime, eliminating even short catnaps may help,” reads the website
Visit studenthealth.studentaffairs.miami.edu for more sleeping tips.
words_max keller & emma kessler. photo_lizzie kristal. design_laurie vuong & lizzie kristal.
This article was published in Distraction’s Summer 2023 print issue.