The Conversation

Your weekly dose of evidence

Daytime naps have to be one of the best things about weekends. But I find it's hard to hit that sweet spot between power-napping and sleeping so long that you wake up feeling groggy or can't sleep as well that night. We asked five experts if it's OK to nap during the day; four said yes, as long as you keep them under 30 minutes, don't nap too late in the day, and consider whether you're getting enough sleep at night. 

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Fron Jackson-Webb

Deputy Editor/Senior Health + Medicine Editor

It’s important to keep your daytime naps to ten to 30 minutes and no longer. zohre nemati unsplash

We asked five experts: should we nap during the day?

Alexandra Hansen, The Conversation

We asked five experts if a daytime kip is OK. Four out of five said yes.

From the archives: napping

Want to boost your memory and mood? Take a nap, but keep it short

Nicole Lovato, Flinders University; Leon Lack, Flinders University

We’re told to have power naps to keep us safe on the road and improve our alertness if we’ve had insufficient sleep. They even help our surgeons stay awake during long shifts. 

Health Check: what are ‘coffee naps’ and can they help you power through the day?

Chin Moi Chow, University of Sydney

Can drinking a cup of coffee before taking a short nap really give you the energy you need to see you through the day?

Power naps and meals don’t always help shift workers make it through the night

Siobhan Banks, University of South Australia; Charlotte Gupta, University of South Australia; Stephanie Centofanti, University of South Australia

Taking a power nap on a night shift can leave you feeling groggy. And eating a large meal can reduce your alertness. So, what's a tired shift worker to do to make it through the night?

Keeping time: how our circadian rhythms drive us

Sally Ferguson, CQUniversity Australia

Do we control our body clocks or do those clocks, ticking imperceptibly, control us? It’s the kind of question that keeps sleep scientists awake at night. Rhythms are a good place to start. 

Expert answers to serious, weird and wacky questions

Curious Kids: why do tigers have whiskers?

Alexander Richard Braczkowski, The University of Queensland

Whiskers are not just ordinary hairs. They are thicker and go deeper into the tiger's skin and send messages to its brain about what is happening in the world around it.

Curious Kids: how does thunder work? And why is it so loud?

Estelle Trengove, University of the Witwatersrand

Why is thunder so loud? It's because the amount of electrical energy that flows from the cloud to the ground is so enormous.

Curious Kids: who is Siri?

Allison Gardner, Keele University

The first thing to know is that Siri is not a "who" – Siri is a "what".

Curious Kids: how did the months get their names?

Chris Matthew, Australian Catholic University

December is named for the Roman word for "tenth". So, why is it the twelfth month?

Top picks from the week

New research shows dolphins have a large clitoris that is similar to the human organ. from www.shutterstock.com

All female mammals have a clitoris – we’re starting to work out what that means for their sex lives

Andrew Pask, University of Melbourne; Deidre Mattiske, University of Melbourne

It was not until the late 1990s that the anatomy of the human clitoris was accurately described by Australia’s first female urologist. And now research in animals is starting to catch up.

We need a community conversation about balancing the trade-offs. Natalia Deriabina/Shutterstock

Don’t kiss your kids? Questioning the recent advice about CMV in pregnancy

Brett Montgomery, University of Western Australia

Australia's college of obstetricians has warned pregnant women against kissing their toddlers on the mouth or sharing food because of the risk of cytomegalovirus (CMV). But is this advice useful?

Early detection of disease can be a double-edged sword. Shutterstock

We need new rules for defining who is sick. Step 1: remove vested interests

Ray Moynihan, Bond University; Paul Glasziou, Bond University

The threshold for diagnosing common conditions such as high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease and gestational diabetes have all lowered in recent years. But for whose benefit?

 

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