Shelby HarrisPsyD, DBSM · behavioural sleep medicine psychologist
No, not while the nights are the problem
What it rests onDaytime naps reduce nighttime sleep pressure and reinforce the insomnia pattern; if you cannot sleep at night, napping usually makes it worse
Source: drshelbyharris.com ↗
Jade WuPhD, DBSM · behavioural sleep medicine psychologist
Sometimes yes, if the nap makes the day better and the anxiety smaller
What it rests onStates the field's general no-napping position and dissents from it on her own decision rule: nap if it serves the overall relationship with sleep
Source: drjadewu.com ↗
Both sides address adults with chronic insomnia, not shift workers, not the sleep-deprived, and not people with a hypersomnia disorder. Harris preserves naps for people who sleep well at night (sh-no-nap-if-insomnia) and Wu recommends them warmly for that group (wu-nap-30-early), so the two agree completely outside the insomnia population.
Almost everything else. Both put CBT-I first, both anchor the wake time, both refuse the compensating early bedtime, both treat sleep effort as the mechanism, and both route suspected apnea in women to testing. This is a disagreement inside a consensus, which is the most useful kind: it shows that disagreement is normal rather than disqualifying.
A trial of permitted versus prohibited short daytime naps during CBT-I, measuring both sleep outcomes and dropout. Wu's argument is partly about adherence and quality of life during treatment, which is an outcome the standard trials do not report.
You do, and your call is dated, kept, and yours to change. Follow the people you already trust and what they publish turns into a short daily practice.
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