Studies have shown that napping improves both cognitive performance and physical brain health, so it’s no surprise that it also means a brief nap translates to a boost in productivity on the job. That explains why nearly half of workers in the U.S. sleep during work hours—and a third admit to literally sleeping on the job.
Our employers, however, haven’t gotten the memo, and being caught sleeping on the job can put you in a tricky situation. If you’re stuck between nodding off in meetings or being fired when you’re discovered sprawled under your desk, you need a napping strategy at work. Here’s your guide to sawing some logs on the clock (without getting caught).
Before we get into strategy, though, the first rule of napping on the job is to educate yourself:
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Know yourself. Do you snore? Talk in your sleep? Kick like a mule while dreaming that you are, somehow, a mule? You need to know your weaknesses before going into sleep battle. You can have the perfect napping hideaway and ruin everything if you snore like a cartoon dog. Then take steps to mitigate the problem.
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Know how to nap. You might think napping is a skill we’re all just born with. Wrong! There’s a science to napping: Napping 20-30 minutes can avoid grogginess when you wake up, because your brain hasn’t shifted into a deeper sleep cycle. If you sleep longer than that, you’ll need to commit to a 90-minute nap (or longer) to feel refreshed instead of like a time traveler uncertain what century you’ve arrived in. The lesson is, bring your phone to your napping cave and set an alarm (but put it in Do Not Disturb mode first to avoid interruptions).
If you can’t risk an alarm, ask a coworker to wake you up, or try a variation of Salvadore Dali’s “slumber with a key” method, where you nap in a chair holding something in your hand that will make noise when dropped. When you fall asleep, your muscles will relax and the sound of the item dropping will snap you out of it.
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The caffeine hack. If you’re napping because you lose focus in the afternoon, consider adding caffeine to your nap ritual. It sounds counter-intuitive, but drinking coffee or some other caffeinated beverage right before you take a short nap (20 minutes or less) results in a bigger boost. This works because it takes the body roughly 20 minutes to absorb that caffeine, so you wake up just as it’s hitting you.
Now that you have some basic physical stuff nailed down, you just need to figure out where you can grab a power nap without getting fired.
Strategies for napping at work
If your employer isn’t keen on paying you to sleep (even for half an hour), you’ll need to find a way to nod off without being noticed. The key is not being noticed while you’re napping, so you need to scout locations. Depending on the specifics of your job, you have a few options:
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Nap in your car. If you drive to your job every day and can slip out unnoticed, leave a pillow and blanket in the back seat and enjoy a peaceful nap. Bonus: Your car will muffle ambient noise—it’ll actually be pretty peaceful in there.
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Unused conference rooms. If your office has conference rooms that aren’t in use all the time, reserving one (or just slipping in) for mysterious calls can work well. If the conference room is out of the way, you might be able to just duck in for half an hour. If they’re a bit more exposed, you can try setting the scene: Record an actual phone call or meeting and play it back along with a video of keyboard typing so that anyone passing by will think you’re in an actual meeting. Alternatively, take your chances and put your head down on the table, then pretend you were waiting for someone who didn’t show up for the meeting.
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Empty offices. Alternatively, unoccupied offices are also great napping spots, unless you’re in one of those super modern offices with glass walls everywhere. Just be sure no one is going to walk in on you.
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Your desk. This is the riskiest move you can make, and it won’t work unless you have some decent privacy. If your desk is turned away from everyone’s field of vision, you might be able to slip underneath for a nap—but if you get caught you can’t play it off as if you just sort of nodded off, so you’d better be certain no one’s going to walk around to check on something.
If you’re going to try the under-the-desk method and you’re in an office with a door, you could set up an intruder alert by placing something on the door handle that will drop when it’s turned. This could at least give you a few seconds to compose yourself and pretend you’re on the floor searching for something or plugging something in.