Steph Clarke, Facilitator & Designer, Melbourne

As a morning person, I love that a nap can give me the feeling of having two mornings in a day!

I discovered the nap early in life, as my Dad is a serial (possibly professional level) napper. His mid-afternoon work naps still cause much amusement to his colleagues.

Turns out the napping skill is genetic! I’ve always been a recreational napper, my holidays and weekends rarely go without an afternoon nap (usually of the longer 45-90 minute type). But since working from home more I’ve been trying to incorporate a productivity nap into my routine at least once or twice a week. Most often on the sofa or armchair and usually around 1 or 2pm. I fall asleep easily on anything that moves and plane naps are my favourite. They also really help offset an early start for a red eye flight.

I’ve definitely had my fair share of horror naps where you wake up a shell of the person you were before. But a well timed, strictly boxed nap makes me feel ready to tackle the next part of the day.

A good nap can be like a reset button.

A chance to enjoy a do-over if you’ve slipped into a funk that day. 

Sleep is a really important health consideration to me so I am pretty strict around timing my naps so that they won’t interrupt getting my usual solid 7.5-8 hours at night.