The Circadian Dip Power Nap
Don't fight the 2pm crash — schedule 20 minutes inside it and come back with the answer.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 85%
Gartenberg is a strong proponent of the 20-minute power nap taken during the circadian dip, roughly 2 to 4pm after lunch. His key reframe is that the dip is biology, not weakness — humans simply are not built to work continuously for eight hours. Crucially, the nap works even if you don't sleep: closing your eyes during the dip produces alpha and theta waves that are themselves regenerative, which removes the performance anxiety that makes napping fail. The payoff he names is specific: the intractable problem you were stuck on earlier in the day often resolves after the nap. He notes the corporate gap — companies like Google, Nike and Zappos have nap pods, but the culture doesn't give people permission to use them.
Origin
Gartenberg works with employers to make the performance case for napping, and describes a group in Copenhagen building pop-up nap pod facilities. He predicted the practice would take over within two to five years.
Core principles
- 01Humans aren't built to work continuously for eight hours.
- 02The circadian dip between roughly 2pm and 4pm is a biological feature, not a discipline failure.
- 03Sleep cannot be forced — the harder you try to fall asleep, the harder it gets.
- 04Even closing your eyes without sleeping produces regenerative alpha and theta waves.
- 05Naps disproportionately help work requiring divergent, abstract thinking.
How to run it
- 1
Locate your dip
Find your circadian trough — for most people a couple of hours after lunch, around 2pm to 4pm. This is the natural low in the 24-hour alertness rhythm.
Pro tip If your rhythm is well entrained, the dip lands at the same time daily, so you can put it in the calendar.
- 2
Park the hard problem first
Go into the nap having worked on the intractable problem. The nap is doing consolidation work on what you loaded in.
- 3
Find quiet and close your eyes
Find a quiet place and simply close your eyes. Do not try to fall asleep — sleep comes on naturally and shouldn't be forced.
Pro tip Reframe the goal as 'eyes closed for 20 minutes', not 'fall asleep'. Removing the target removes the striving that blocks sleep.
Watch out Sleep is not like exercise. Forcing it harder produces a worse outcome, not a better one.
- 4
Cap it at 20 minutes
Keep the nap to around 20 minutes. This is the power-nap window that improves job performance without dropping you into a full sleep cycle.
- 5
Use it as weekend-recovery insurance
If you were out late, don't sleep in excessively the next morning. Take the power nap during your dip instead, so you get through the day and are still genuinely tired at your normal 11pm bedtime.
In the wild
Gartenberg noted that Google, Nike and Zappos have installed nap rooms and nap pods, but the issue he works on with these companies is that the facilities exist while the workplace culture doesn't give employees the opportunity or permission to actually take a nap.
→ Gartenberg's team works to prove the performance case to employers, while a Copenhagen group builds public pop-up nap pods to route around the office-culture problem entirely.
Common mistakes
Trying to force sleep in the 20 minutes
The harder you try to fall asleep the harder it becomes. Striving activates exactly the state that prevents sleep — and eyes-closed rest was already producing the regenerative alpha and theta waves anyway.
Building the pod but not the permission
Gartenberg's observation about Google and Zappos generalises: the physical facility is the easy half. Without cultural permission from leadership, nobody uses it.
Is it for you?
Best for
People in jobs demanding divergent or abstract thinking who have any control over their afternoon schedule.
Not ideal for
Workplaces whose culture punishes visible rest, and roles with no 20-minute gap available.
From the transcript
“I really believe that for optimum performance, especially for these jobs that require divergent abstract thinking, that taking like a 20 minute power nap during…”
“Often times when you take that power nap you'll be able to solve that intractable problem that you were dealing with earlier in the day.”
“The harder you try to fall asleep the harder it is to fall asleep... humans aren't meant to work continuously for eight hours, we're just…”
From the episode
Daniel Gartenberg: Unlocking the Power of Sleep
Daniel Gartenberg