The Art of The Nap with Dr. Sara Mednick
37m | Apr 25, 2021In this episode
- Why Sara Mednick rated her previous night’s sleep a six out of ten
- Alcohol, sleep onset, REM sleep and fragmented sleep
- The China Jintan study of 3,819 children and midday napping
- Academic performance, happiness, grit, behavior and IQ — and what the study can and cannot prove
- Why daytime naps may tolerate more light and stimulation than nighttime sleep
- Sleep pressure, slow-wave sleep and the difference between an early short nap and a late long nap
- Why insomnia treatment can be an exception to generic nap advice
- Habitual nappers, non-nappers and sleep inertia
- Why Mednick says you should stop trying if naps repeatedly make you feel terrible
- The 2003 “a nap is as good as a night” perceptual-learning experiment — and what that phrase actually means
- Why taking a break may matter even when sleeping does not work for you
- The coffee-nap argument and the evidence that complicates Mednick’s rejection of it
- Why a strategic nap and chronic long daytime sleeping are not the same research question
- Restless legs syndrome and its circadian pattern
- How guidance on pramipexole/Mirapex for RLS has changed since 2021
- Mednick’s then-upcoming book, The Power of the Downstate, published in 2022
About Dr. Sara Mednick
Sara C. Mednick, PhD, is Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She directs the Sleep and Cognition Lab, where her work examines memory consolidation, sleep, aging, pharmacology and brain stimulation. She is the author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life and The Power of the Downstate: Recharge Your Life Using Your Body’s Own Restorative Systems.
MENTIONED
Dr. Sara Mednick — University of California, Irvine
Current UCI profile for Mednick, her research areas and Sleep and Cognition Lab.
Midday napping in children
The 2019 China Jintan Cohort Study of 3,819 elementary-school children discussed in the episode.
Sleep-dependent learning: a nap is as good as a night
Mednick, Nakayama and Stickgold’s 2003 perceptual-learning study.
Nap habit and four weeks of nap practice
Mednick-group research examining whether habitual and non-habitual nappers respond differently and whether nap practice changes that pattern.
Memory in habitual and non-habitual nappers
A 2021 study finding long-term memory benefits from a 90-minute nap even in non-habitual nappers.
Light during daytime sleep
The 2011 experiment exposing young adults to narrowband green light during afternoon naps.
Caffeine plus a short nap
The controlled 1997 driving study that complicates the episode’s dismissal of the coffee nap.
Afternoon naps and subsequent nighttime sleep
A 2025 randomized crossover study of 25- and 90-minute nap opportunities in student athletes.
Daytime napping and health outcomes
A 2026 umbrella review separating the performance benefits of shorter naps from associations seen with longer habitual daytime sleep.
Circadian rhythm in restless legs syndrome
A modern review of the evening/night pattern Mednick speculates about during the interview.
Current AASM guideline for restless legs syndrome
The 2025 guideline explaining the changed recommendation on pramipexole and other dopamine agonists.
The Power of the Downstate
The book Mednick previews in the episode, published April 19, 2022.
Dementia and Sleep: It’s Not Just Deep Sleep That Counts
The Snooze Button interview with Laura Bojarskaitė referenced during the discussion of sleep architecture.
