Taking Naps
This week when I sat down to write, it just came over me. Exhaustion.
It was late afternoon. I had already done a fair amount during the day. So I gave in, curled up, and slept for an hour… until I was woken up to make mac and cheese.
Recently, a colleague came in after a late flight and was back at work the next morning. My advice? Take a nap at work if you can.
Wild, right?
In our culture, napping is often frowned upon. You could argue sleep in general is. We tell people they need eight hours a night, yet we quietly reward overwork. If you are sleeping, you are not producing. You are not creating. You are not maximizing.
But here is what the research actually tells us.
Short daytime naps, particularly 20–60 minutes, have been shown to improve alertness, cognitive performance, and mood (Brooks & Lack, 2006). NASA famously found that a 26-minute nap improved pilot performance by 34% and alertness by 54% (Rosekind et al., 1995). That is not laziness. That is performance enhancement.
Sleep researchers also consistently show that sleep loss impairs executive functioning, emotional regulation, and decision-making (Pilcher & Huffcutt, 1996; Killgore, 2010). In other words, the very capacities we rely on as leaders decline when we do not rest.
And here is where it gets even more interesting.
Matthew Walker’s synthesis of decades of sleep research demonstrates that sleep supports memory consolidation, learning, and creative problem-solving (Walker, 2017). When we sleep, our brain is not shutting down. It is integrating, sorting, strengthening neural connections. It is literally helping us think better tomorrow.
Yet industrialized culture trained us to override what our bodies evolved to do. Historically, humans have often practiced biphasic sleep patterns, with rest periods built into the day. The midday dip in alertness is biologically real. It is not a character flaw.
Napping allows you to reset your nervous system. To regulate. To restore attention. To return with clarity rather than grind.
Ironically, the very thing we fear will reduce productivity often increases it.
From a leadership standpoint, this matters.
Sleep deprivation has been linked to lower self-control and greater emotional reactivity (Barnes et al., 2011). If leadership is about presence, judgment, and influence, then rest is not optional. It is foundational.
You may think you cannot afford to take an hour.
The research suggests you cannot afford not to.
So maybe we stop treating naps like indulgence and start seeing them as strategy.
With all the stress and challenge the coming weeks will bring into our lives, allow yourself the refresh you deserve and often need.
You will not miss anything that matters.
But you might regain the energy, clarity, and steadiness that make you a better leader.
Steve