What nap do I have time for?
Say how long you have. Get the nap that fits it, the alarm to set, and why the length matters more than the sleep does.
Updated August 2026
From lying down to when you need to be up and functional.
Enter your available minutes above to see your dose.
This is one nap. The full plan is the whole shift.
The free plan puts a nap window into your actual rotation, alongside your wake anchor, caffeine cutoff, and light timing, not just one number in isolation.
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From the field: Jocko Willink's version is a six-to-eight-minute power nap, feet elevated above the heart. Short enough to stay shallow, and the fixed ritual — same posture, same short duration — is part of why it works. Practice, not a trial; it sits at the short end of the same logic.
Common questions
Why is 40 to 60 minutes the worst option?
Most people drop into slow-wave (deep) sleep around the 30-minute mark. Wake out of the middle of it and you get 20 to 30 minutes of genuine sleep inertia: slower reaction time, worse decisions, a fog that shows up right when you need to be sharp. A 40- to 60-minute nap is long enough to reach that deep water and too short to surface back out of it on its own.
Why does being on call force the short nap?
If tones or a pager can end the nap at any second, deep sleep is the risk, not the benefit. A 20- to 30-minute nap keeps you in lighter sleep stages, so however the wake-up arrives, you come out of it functional instead of impaired. Waking clean is the job; a 90-minute nap only pays off when someone else is covering the first call.
What is a coffee nap and when should I use it?
Drink caffeine, then lie down for 20 minutes. Caffeine takes 20 to 30 minutes to reach peak effect, so you wake right as it starts working. It is a solid option any time your window is short, and it is specifically useful before the drive home after a shift, when drowsy driving is the real risk and a short window is often all you have.