NSDR or power nap: a 10-minute seated pause for when lying down is not possible

In short: A power nap means sleeping briefly. NSDR, which stands for non-sleep deep rest, means resting with guidance while remaining awake. No one has decided which of the two is "better", so let the situation guide you: a short nap works when you have somewhere dark and quiet to lie down, while a guided pause in a chair suits a desk or a train seat.

Both are explained in this guide, followed by a direct comparison and a 10-minute exercise you can do while seated. The Solva team wrote it.

What a power nap is

Samuel Gurevich, MD, points out in a Cleveland Clinic article that no medical definition of a power nap exists. The term generally describes a brief nap lasting roughly 10 to 30 minutes, and the article considers 20 to 30 minutes usually ideal.

A longer nap carries a familiar drawback: completing a full sleep cycle makes grogginess on waking more likely. For that reason the Cleveland Clinic recommends an alarm set to 20 or 30 minutes, napping earlier in the afternoon so the night is not disturbed, and a spot that is cool, quiet and dark.

The problem is easy to see. A dark room and a place to lie down are rarely part of an ordinary afternoon.

What NSDR is

Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist at Stanford School of Medicine, came up with the term NSDR. Huberman Lab applies it to practices that bring about deep relaxation without fully falling asleep, such as yoga nidra and certain kinds of meditation.

In everyday terms, you listen to a guided audio that walks you through breathing and body awareness exercises, eyes closed, barely moving. Huberman has published recordings of 10, 20 and 30 minutes. His page also mentions that sitting comfortably is fine when lying down is not possible.

Our guide self-hypnosis vs. meditation places NSDR alongside yoga nidra, meditation and self-hypnosis if you want to see how all four relate.

Side by side

Is a direct comparison possible? The Sleep Foundation says not yet: no research has measured the effects of NSDR against those of a short daytime nap. Treat any page claiming a clear winner with caution.

Which one when

• A place to lie down, early afternoon, half an hour to spare. Setting an alarm and taking a short nap is a sensible option.
• Sitting at your desk, riding a train or squeezed between calls. Falling asleep there is improbable or out of place. Headphones and a guided rest in your chair are the better fit.
• Naps tend to leave you groggy. Consider deliberately staying awake and resting with a guided recording.
• Tiredness that returns every single day. A nap will not solve that, and neither will NSDR. Huberman Lab itself states that nothing can completely replace sleep, and ongoing tiredness that interferes with your days is a reason to see a doctor.

A word on NSDR claims

Plenty of NSDR pages cite measurable effects on the brain and body. Those claims are not repeated here, and Solva does not make them either. Experience supports something much more modest: closing your eyes for ten minutes with nothing expected of you can feel like a genuine break.

Try it: a 10-minute recharge sitting up

All you need is a chair, headphones when your surroundings are loud, and a timer set for ten minutes. Read through the steps once, then shut your eyes.

1. Arrive (about 1 minute). Lean back and let the chair hold you. Place your feet flat on the floor and rest your hands on your thighs. Find three spots where your body makes contact with the chair.
2. Breathe out longer (about 2 minutes). Inhale while counting to four, exhale while counting to six. Once a few rounds have passed, allow your breathing to settle into its own pace.
3. Move through the body (about 3 minutes). Bring your attention to your right hand, then to the forearm, the upper arm and the shoulder. Repeat on the left side, then visit your jaw, your forehead and the area behind your eyes. Simply notice; nothing has to change.
4. Rest in a picture (about 3 minutes). Picture somewhere that asks nothing of you: a bench beside the water, a silent library, a garden just after rain. Give the scene one sound and one color, then leave it alone.
5. Come back (about 1 minute). Count up from one to five. Wiggle your fingers and toes, draw one deeper breath, open your eyes and focus on something in the distance before reaching for your phone.

Drifting off briefly is perfectly fine. Sit a touch more upright next time.

How Solva does it

Exactly this kind of pause is what Solva's Recharge moment is built for: staying awake while resting briefly in the middle of the day. In one sentence you tell the app how you feel, pick 5, 15, 30 or 45 minutes, and an AI writes a session for that moment using elements of hypnosis and trance. Safety rules are applied to the text automatically, and an AI voice reads it aloud.

Sessions during the day close with a gentle return and instructions to reorient yourself. You may still feel sleepy afterwards; only drive once you feel fully alert. Since preparation usually takes 5 to 7 minutes, begin your session a few minutes ahead of your break. Sessions can also be saved for offline listening, on a train for instance.

What Solva is not

• Not a replacement for sleep. A pause during the day does not replace enough sleep at night.
• Not an NSDR protocol. There is no connection between Solva and Huberman Lab, and its recordings are not reproduced.
• Not a medical product. Solva is a wellness app and cannot stand in for professional care.
• Two languages only. App and sessions are in English and German.
• A web app, not a store app. It goes on your home screen. While we test, it is free, with a waitlist.

Safe listening

Doing this while driving, cycling or operating anything that requires your attention is never okay. Once a session ends, allow yourself a few minutes before driving or before anything that demands concentration.

Further reading

Personalized meditation explains what it means for a session to be written for your moment. For evenings, sleep hypnosis vs. sleep meditation covers why bedtime sessions end differently, and self-hypnosis for sleep offers a practice for bed. If the pause you need comes at the end of the workday instead, how to unwind after work walks through five easy transitions.

Our page on Headspace alternatives compares several apps for short breaks side by side. You will find a sample session and the waitlist on our home page.

Sources

• Cleveland Clinic, Power Naps: Benefits and How To Do It (November 11, 2021), accessed September 30, 2026
• Huberman Lab, Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR), accessed September 30, 2026
• Sleep Foundation, What Is Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)? (Jay Vera Summer, updated May 27, 2026), accessed September 30, 2026