Men’s Journal has an article about the art of napping. Included in this article are tips on Getting The Perfect Nap and How Long Is A Good Nap?

• THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds - Sleep studies haven’t yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone’s shoulder on the train.
• THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes - Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness.
• THE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes - Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance.
• THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes - Includes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
• THE LAZY MAN’S NAP: 50 to 90 minutes - Includes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles.

I definitely gravitate towards the Lazy Man’s Nap I hate the Nano Nap, which I usually end up doing when riding in a car during an extended trip. I doubt a Micro or Mini nap would do me much good, either. I find that I wake up more tired after a so-called Power nap than before. Give me a full nap any day!

Also, did you know that:

Salvador Dali napped in his armchair, holding a spoon over a metal pan on the floor below. When Dali hit REM Sleep and lost muscle tonus, the spoon would fall from his grip, bang the metal pan and awaken him.

(from powersleep.org

Via The J-Walk Blog