Sometimes I find myself in a situation where I would like to take a nap, but I don’t have much time available. In these situations, what I need is a short 5 minute nap where I can just relax a little and then continue with what I was doing before. The only problem with short naps is knowing when to wake up. I could use an alarm clock but then I might fall asleep after 4 minutes and only get 1 minute of relaxation, what I want instead is something that wakes me up after 3-5 minutes of real high quality rest.

The following technique has been known from a long time, but I started to use it only recently. Next time you want to take a short nap, forget about your alarm clock, instead hold a spoon with your arm in a way that it will drop in the ground once you fall asleep. The sound of the spoon hitting the ground will be the signal that you have to wake up.

This technique works because the moment when you relax and release the spoon is the moment before you would enter a more deep sleep phase, and it would be harder to wake up during that phase. Instead this way you’ll still get a short good quality rest, but you’ll feel energized and ready to work again after it.

You’re not restricted to use a spoon, keys or other items that make a sound when dropped will work perfectly. What’s important is how you hold them, you have to make sure that once you are relaxed they will fall in the ground. I personally never fell asleep without releasing the spoon, but you may want to set up an alarm clock 10 minutes in advance on the first two or three times if you are unsure.

With this simple technique I’m able to take a short nap even if I don’t have much time. What’s better though, is that I know that I’l always feel refreshed after it since it’s my body that tells me when to wake up.