'Power naps' may improve clinical performance for sleep-deprived anesthesiology residents

by American Society of Anesthesiologists

edited by Swati Mestri, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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For anesthesiology residents working 24-hour shifts, providing brief, scheduled "nap opportunities" may lead to better clinical performance, reports a clinical trial in the October 2026 issue of Anesthesiology.

"The findings provide initial evidence that a brief opportunity to power nap could mitigate the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on simulated crisis performance in anesthesia and intensive care residents," according to the study by Laura Schmidt, Ph.D., of Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University, France, and colleagues.

Sleep deprivation is common among medical residents—especially those working 24-hour on-call shifts—and can affect well-being and impair clinical judgment and performance. Although scheduled nap breaks have been suggested to alleviate fatigue, research on the effectiveness of this strategy is limited.

The study evaluated the effects of napping on clinical performance among anesthesiology and intensive care residents with partial sleep deprivation. All participated in a brief "nap training" program, which emphasized the role of napping as a tool for fatigue management.

Residents working a 24-hour shift were randomly assigned to a monitored 30-minute nap or quiet time without napping. After their shift, they were evaluated on a medical crisis simulation (cardiac arrest) using a training manikin. Overall performance on the simulation, as well as separate scores for technical and nontechnical skills, was compared for residents with and without scheduled naps.

In an analysis of 27 participants, those with scheduled naps showed a small but significant improvement in overall performance on the crisis simulation: 7% better than the no-nap group. Scores for technical skills tended to be better for participants with nap breaks, although the difference was not statistically significant.

In contrast, scores for nontechnical skills were significantly higher for residents with naps: 11% better than for those without nap breaks. The improvement in nontechnical performance was greatest in the areas of leadership and resource utilization.

Most residents slept during scheduled naps; average sleep time was 22 minutes. In an exploratory analysis, those with longer nap times showed improvement in several aspects of performance, particularly technical skills.

"Napping appears to enhance clinical performance, while the nap opportunity, nap duration, and previous sleep deprivation each influenced technical and nontechnical performance in distinct ways," Schmidt said. "Napping, before or during shifts, could potentially mitigate fatigue and increase patient safety."

In an accompanying editorial, Manuel C. Pardo Jr., M.D., and Matthew B. Weinger, M.D., M.S., take stock of previous research on the potential benefits of napping and approaches to develop further evidence on "realistic fatigue countermeasures" in anesthesia practice.

Within its limitations, the new study "generates an important hypothesis—a 30-minute power nap can improve the performance of a sleep-deprived anesthesiologist—that can be tested in future prospective trials."

Publication details

Laura Schmidt et al, Clinical Performance in Critical Care Simulation under Sleep Deprivation: Effects of Power Napping in the Recovery Napping Protocol for Anesthesiologist Performance (R-NAP) Randomized Controlled Trial, Anesthesiology (2026). DOI: 10.1097/aln.0000000000006135

Journal information: Anesthesiology

Key medical concepts

Sleep Deprivation

Clinical categories

AnesthesiologySleep & Recovery Provided by American Society of Anesthesiologists Who's behind this story?

Swati Mestri

Swati Mestri holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and has worked as a content editor since 2019. She has experience editing research documents across technology, health care, and materials science, and has a particular interest in technology and space. Full profile →

Andrew Zinin

Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →

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