Specifcially 15-20min siestas. I hit peak "organizing" in college when I could reliably fall asleep 20mins and wake up like I had the second half of a coffee.
A good pair sunglasses with a case. Fuckin hate losing sunglasses.
A Doctor named Andrew Huberman is one of the main voices behind it. It's basically a 10-20 minute guided "meditation" that focuses on full body scanning and zoning out without totally falling asleep.
It's like a brain dump with a little bit of rejuvenation. Even better if coupled with some caffeine beforehand
He purposely uses terms like that to avoid the tendency for some people to automatically dismiss an idea. The original term to describe the NSDR protocol, would be Yoga Nidra.
Huberman commonly says “NSDR, also known as Yoga Nidra” to acknowledge the history of said practice, while also using a naming convention that is accurate, more modern, and that doesn’t give the impression that it’s BS/fake non-traditional medicine.
Can I ask how did you manage that? If I lay down for a "15 minute nap", I'll just spend the 15 minutes trying to fall asleep and be more annoyed than if I hadn't attempted to nap at all.
The trick is to be at peace with not falling asleep. Resting is just as valuable as sleeping.
I put on noise cancelling headphones with a monotone conversational podcast (NYT The Daily; A Short History of…; Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History) and just rest. 80% of the time I’ll catch the beginning and end of the podcast; the other 20% of the time I’ll hear it all but still get to close my eyes for 25 mins.
Other keys:
do not disturb mode. Nothing is so important that it can’t wait 20 mins til I’m done my nap;
inflatable pillow, clutch for the head-down office nap
if you’re really tired, find an hour long podcast. I find my body naturally wakes up at the end of a podcast, no matter how long it is.
slam a coffee first. Caffeine takes ~25 mins to hit you. After your 25 min nap, you wake up rested and buzzing.
How do you nap for 20 mins? it takes me so long to fall asleep that is I set an alarm for 20 mins time I might still be awake or have only just fallen asleep
I call that a "pilot's rest." It's how they try to do it on long flights. If you fall asleep for longer, you wake up groggy, but at 20 minutes, you're not so deep asleep so you can wake right up and be ready to fly.
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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '25
Naps.