Something to factor in here is if you're sleep deprived. I can normally nap for 20 minutes and get said boost, but not when I'm sleep deprived. In that case, it feels way harder to wake up at the 20-minute mark, I also wake up groggy and I feel like napping longer (and that's what normally ends up happening).

You hit the crux of the problem here.

Our brains compensate for sleep deprivation by releasing increased dopamine in the striatum, which is involved in motivation and reward, and the thalamus, which is involved in alertness. On top of that, one of the effects of sleep deprivation is a reduction in your ability to tell how sleep deprived you are.

If you're sleep deprived, you're running on a natural high. If you get just enough sleep to get close to rested, that extra striatum and thalamus dopamine stops, and you also regain your ability to perceive yourself.

That feels really bad. Not only do you forego the high, but you can feel every bit of the lack of rest. It's like the end of a bender. The only good thing is knowing you're making progress back to relatedness.

Been there.

If you haven't do so already, perhaps you could try to experiment within +/- 5/10 minutes, to see where you sleep cycle hits better. It can make a whole lot of a difference.

Same trouble here. I find it’s better to get up and go for a 20 minute walk instead. That pulls all the right strings in my brain.

20 minutes is too long. You can get similar benefits by performing a few minutes of depth jumps to shock the central nervous system.

I agree - don't talk a walk, it's an unnecessary hit on your productivity. But, depth jumps require you to get up, which again seems unnecessary to me if you can just taser the CNS directly to wake it up.

Because this is HN, I don't know if this is sarcasm or not.

Had us in the first half…

Like an actual taser?

To get primed for the day, my protocol involves 3 cycles through a cold plunge (28 degree salinated water) and a sauna. On the third cold plunge I use the taser to boost the CNS.

Would not recommend this unless you’ve studied the Wim Hof method and have medical supervision.

Really not sure if this is satire.

I’ve tried this method at a spa, it’s pretty effective. I’ve looked into getting a Japanese style soaking tub for my spare bathroom so I could also fit a sauna and just do it at home, but it’s still not enough space. I would user a lower voltage taser probably if I was doing it myself.

I would not recommend mixing electricity with salt water.

No, that would require moving your arm, which seems unnecessary. A figurative one will have to suffice \s

It’s not just about that. You get time to process things in that 20 minutes.

Anecdotal, but for me this means I'm sleep deprived. When I'm getting enough sleep on a regular basis, a 20-minute "nap" (even if it's just closing my eyes and listening to something like [0]) is extremely refreshing.

[0] https://youtu.be/dPqCRyzhXn8

I’m curious how folks here manage a midday nap. I usually fall asleep quite well at night, but unless I’m unusually exhausted (stayed up too late, one of the kids was up during the night), I can’t calm my mind enough to actually sleep during the day. Even if I can manage to do it, it takes a long time, so a 20-minute nap really takes an hour+ given the wind-down time.

I have that issue, and I've tried with anything from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Regardless of the time frame I wake up feeling confused, sleepy and my head hurts.