What are the common misunderstandings about napping?
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
Around the world, some people call napping lazy while others say you should nap on purpose. Japan's official sleep guidance answers the question by age group. Here is what it says, and where the common beliefs go wrong.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) Sleep Guide for Health Promotion 2023 [健康づくりのための睡眠ガイド2023] (adopted February 2024) gives separate recommendations for adults, children and older people. For older people, it describes it as desirable to "avoid long naps during the day and stay active."
Misunderstanding 1｜The longer, the better
Sleep moves into deeper stages as time passes. Waking from a deep stage can leave you feeling foggy for a while.
The MHLW's earlier guidance, the Sleep Guidelines for Health Promotion 2014 [健康づくりのための睡眠指針2014], listed "a short nap of 30 minutes or less in the early afternoon" as a way of coping with daytime sleepiness.
[Verify] The wording "30 minutes or less" and "early afternoon" is based on the 2014 Sleep Guidelines. Check the original texts, including how the 2023 edition handles this point.
Misunderstanding 2｜It makes no difference when you nap
Sleeping in the late afternoon or evening can affect how easily you fall asleep at night. If you nap, do it early in the afternoon — this is the approach set out in the guidance above.
Misunderstanding 3｜A nap can make up for lost night-time sleep
A nap does not fill in sleep you missed at night. For adults, the same guide says to make sure you get the sleep you need, "using six hours or more as a guide." If you are chronically short of sleep at night, fixing your nights is the surer route.
Misunderstanding 4｜Older people should nap more
The opposite. For older people, avoiding long naps is described as desirable. The concern is the balance with night-time sleep: time spent in bed should not become too long.
Misunderstanding 5｜If you cannot fall asleep, lying down is a waste
A short rest, or time spent with your eyes closed, has value as rest in itself. Do not regard not falling asleep as a problem in itself.
How VV sees it
VV wants to move away from thinking that links rest with slacking off. Short, and early. That alone makes napping easier to handle.
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Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, *Sleep Guide for Health Promotion 2023* [健康づくりのための睡眠ガイド2023] (adopted February 2024)
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kenkou_iryou/kenkou/suimin/index.html
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Study Group on Revising the Sleep Guidelines for Health Promotion, Document 1, *Sleep Guide for Health Promotion 2023 (draft)* [健康づくりのための睡眠ガイド2023（案）] (21 December 2023)
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10904750/001181265.pdf
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, *Sleep Guidelines for Health Promotion 2014* [健康づくりのための睡眠指針2014] (the "12 articles on sleep")
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
About this article
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
Please decide for yourself, using your own judgement, whether any of this suits your situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from following this article.
This article is not meant to diagnose or manage any specific medical condition. If you are worried about your health, see a doctor rather than relying on your own judgement.
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