As a grown adult, I readily admit that I struggle to make it through the week without a nap. It seems as though most of my friends consider naps crucial to being a functioning human.

Naps are an investment. Their cost is time, and they require a tradeoff of productivity (“I should be reading for my next class instead”), and sometimes mean sacrificing a meal, a shower or a run. But in my opinion, naps are essential to boosting productivity.

If during the day I feel as if I’ve hit some kind of motivational wall, I’ll find my nearest napping chair and curl up for fifteen minutes. I wake up feeling like a new and real person (instead of my previous zombie-form), and my to-do list no longer stands a chance as I fly through all of the tasks I previously struggled to complete.

So about those napping locations … I recently conducted a poll amongst my friends to uncover the best (or at least, the most frequented) napping spots on campus. I personally prefer the big comfy winged chairs in the Ayres lounges to the side of the main entrance on the first floor.

The chairs are undeniably comfortable, with tables in front of them at the perfect height for propping up one’s feet and wings on the sides of the chairs to prevent any napping-induced neck trauma.

A close runner-up is the Hodges first floor red chairs; the (supposed) silence on the first floor, combined with the circular foot rests so conveniently provided, make this spot ideal if I’ve descended from The Hill between classes.

My other friends cite the Howard Baker Center, Hodges study carrels, HSS, the Ayres Lawn and the HSS amphitheater as prime napping real estate.

Sleeping through large classes that require attendance but not necessarily attention has also been noted as a viable, though less approved of a strategy. A friend disclosed a napping “close-call’ as she fell asleep in a Baker Center classroom only to wake up to a full classroom with a lecture about to begin. The solution to such situations: RUN!

Other friends have said they prefer napping with a guaranteed alarm clock; these students will get to class early, collapse on a desk and will inevitably wake up ten or so minutes later when class starts. As a disclaimer, most of my friends agreed that this tactic was much less weird when practiced in large lecture classes where one could nap in anonymity, instead of senior-level classes where teasing and questions will most definitely follow those impromptu naps.

Everyone has a different formula: 14 minutes, 20 minutes, 35 minutes … Yet the sworn enemy, sleep inertia, unites us all. Sleep too long, and you’ll wake up (if you can actually manage to pry yourself away from your midday dreams) feeling exponentially worse than before. Napping in that sense is a dangerous enterprise.

Naps are the common denominator in most of my days. Without them I cannot successfully master everything that I have to conquer each day, and I’m generally an unpleasant person to be around (not to mention emotional).

Naps are my guiltless pleasure. I feel no qualms in investing my time in 15 minutes of much-needed, productivity-enhancing sleep. Naps, not Red Bull or coffee, give me wings. So go ahead, catch some ZZZs.

Kenna Rewcastle is a senior in College Scholars. She can be reached at [email protected].