power nap

A power nap is a short nap, usually 20 minutes or less, meant to recharge you without the grogginess that comes with a longer sleep.

What power nap means

The trick is waking up before you sink into deep sleep. A short nap can leave you more alert, while sleeping longer and waking from deep sleep can make you feel worse, a groggy state called sleep inertia.

There are variations. A coffee nap, sometimes called a “nappuccino,” means drinking a coffee right before a short nap so the caffeine kicks in as you wake.

Examples

• “Give me a 15-minute power nap and I’m a new person.”
• “I power napped in the car before my shift.”
• “That wasn’t a power nap, that was a three-hour coma.”

Where it came from

Wikipedia credits Cornell University social psychologist James Maas with coining the expression, and Dictionary.com dates it to the early 1980s. The habit itself is ancient; plenty of cultures have a midday rest. What’s new is the branding as a productivity tool.

Related terms

• Bed rotting: a whole day in bed, on purpose.
• Zonked: completely exhausted.
• Revenge bedtime procrastination: staying up too late on purpose.
• Goblin mode: lazy, cozy, unapologetic.

More everyday words are in our Gen Z slang guide.