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Flash forward to the present- now that nap is all you can think about.
For myself and many college students, the day begins at 8 A.M. and doesn’t stop until 9 P.M., sometimes even later. The schedule is relentless, packed with classes, meetings, Greek Life commitments, extracurriculars, advising appointments, office hours, internships, employment, and seminars. By the time I return home, I personally allow myself fifteen minutes to eat dinner before diving into homework, answering emails or texts, and preparing for the next day. I aim for five or six hours of sleep a night, but it's never guaranteed. For most college students, relaxation is a luxury reserved for the weekends, and even then, it never lasts long. There just aren’t enough hours in the day for sleep to be a priority.
Now, if you've ever heard the phrase, “sleep when you’re dead,” or worse- live by it- stop. When I was a sophomore in high school, I took an AP Psychology class where we studied sleep cycles. The number one lesson that stuck with me? Neglecting sleep isn't just unhealthy, it’s deadly. As my teacher bluntly put it, “this mindset will get you to the grave faster.” It sounds morbid, but science backs it up. Chronic sleep deprivation accelerates biological aging and contributes to long-term health risks.
Sleep is essential for overall health and cognitive function. Research from the CDC and the Sleep Foundation confirms its role in memory consolidation, emotional stability, decision-making, and reaction time. Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, impairs problem-solving, critical thinking, immune function, and increases stress hormones like cortisol. This leads to heightened anxiety, irritability, mood swings, and even long-term mental health struggles. The research is clear: sleep isn’t optional...it’s necessary.
As terrifyingly simple as this sounds, I’ll be the first to admit that getting eight hours of sleep every night just isn’t realistic at this stage of my life. I have too much to do. So, what’s the solution? In the past two years at the University of Louisville, I’ve conducted my own informal research on balancing a college lifestyle with proper rest, and I’ve found one answer- power naps.
To be clear, napping doesn’t replace a full night’s sleep, but it does have benefits. Studies from SleepOpolis and Psychology Today show that short naps (under thirty minutes) boost alertness, cognitive function, and brain health. They aid memory retention, enhance concentration, and even improve mood and creativity. Short naps also reduce stress and can help regulate your
sleep cycle. So you know what, if it was good enough for scholars like Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Aristotle, it's good enough for me.
Maybe this is an inherent jealousy of my toddler self or of countries like China, Japan, Sweden, and the entirety of the Mediterranean region, but I have taken power napping on campus to an art form. Those twenty-minute breaks between classes or lunch breaks have transformed my college experience and personal health for the better.
With that, some of my favorite napping locations around campus I have best utilized are as follows:
● McConnell Center Red Lounge Chairs (Bonus points if I get to dim the lights)
● The Couch in the SGA Student Body President’s Office
● The Hammocks in the Kurz Hall Courtyard
● A Quiet Study Room on the Second Floor of Ekstrom Library (If it’s not too heavily occupied)
● An Empty Classroom in the Attic of Ford Hall
● The Bingham Poetry Room in Ekstrom Library
● The Strickler Hall Lobby (You will however need to prop yourself upright)
● Any Window Chair on the second floor of the Belknap Academic Building
● The Ekstrom Library Lawn (During warmer months when studying)
While napping carries an unfair stigma of laziness or weakness in individuals, whether it is pushed onto you by society or yourself, the reality is that rest is essential. As college students, we push ourselves to achieve great things, often at the cost of our mental and physical health. But sometimes, the best way to maintain that momentum is with the beauty of a power nap to recharge in ways no amount of coffee or energy drinks ever could.
So my advice, take the power nap. With the knowledge that no matter where you nap, timing is everything. Keep them short and set an alarm to avoid sleep inertia (that groggy, disoriented feeling after waking). Then give yourself a few minutes to walk around afterward to refresh so that you are ready for whatever great thing is next.
With that, happy napping UofL!
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/myths-and-facts-about-sleep https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep/why-sleep-important https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/ https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/why-do-we-need-sleep https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/7/417.abstract https://sleepopolis.com/education/14-benefits-napping-college-students/