Considering it’s the weekend, I thought this article from LinkTipIdea would be a perfect read: The Perfect Nap. Apparently, the ideal nap lasts 20 minutes. Based on my experience, I would say that this is a pretty good estimate. The only thing worse than not being able to take a nap when you need it is to wake up from a nap feeling worse than you did before. Personally, if I get anywhere from 20-30 minutes I’m set. Any longer or shorter, and I usually feel more tired than I felt before I took the nap.

We’ve all heard countless times from our parents that we need to get enough sleep each night. However, how often do we actually listen? This came to mind because recently I haven’t been able to get my usual amount of sleep (about six to seven hours per night) for a variety of reasons, and I’ve seen a noticeable decrease in my effectiveness at work and home. I found it harder to concentrate, harder to get the motivation to work out, and other differences that I wasn’t expecting.

I used to be able to run on just a few hours of sleep a night, I guess that isn’t the case anymore. I’m not saying you need to get eight hours every night, I suggest finding the number that allows you to be at peak effectiveness. For me, this is about six hours. Interestingly enough, if I get more than this, I also find myself being less effective, so I guess it operates like a bell curve.

Experiment with how much sleep you need, but remember this: You’re not in college anymore, you may actually need to sleep each night =p.