A recent study investigated the performance of participants during sleep deprivation during a simulated night shift after different length naps.
31 adults attended a 3-day study that included one baseline sleep (22:00-07:00) and one experimental sleep deprivation night involving either, No nap, a 10-minute nap or a 30-minute nap.
Performance was tested by a 3-minute psychomotor vigilance task (PVT-B), digit-symbol substitution task (DSST), fatigue scale, sleepiness scale, and self-rated performance scale which were undertaken pre-nap (03:00) and at 2, 17, 32, and 47-minute post-nap.
During the no nap condition, performance deteriorated as time went on compared to the pre-nap test showing a progressive decline in performance with sleep deprivation.
During the 30-minute nap, performance immediately deteriorated from the pre-nap test and was still worse at 47-minute post nap, indicating sleep inertia had set in.
During the 10-minute nap, performance did not change after the nap, and helped to mitigate the deterioration seen with sleep deprivation.
A short 10-minute nap is the optimal length of time to offset short term performance impairment when sleep deprived.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4763354/
