Taking a midday nap doesn’t mean you can sleep the day away. To reap most of the benefits, you want to be mindful of the amount of time you plan to hit the hay. Note that some studies suggest allowing yourself to go through one full sleep cycle (which is about 90 minutes) to receive the most benefits. Ideally, you should avoid waking up in the deep sleep stage.

While you may want to sneak a small nap into your day, you might have a hard time getting a little shut-eye if it’s not something your body is used to doing. On your first day, you’ll probably have no trouble falling asleep at all, especially if you sleep less than eight hours a night.

But once you wake up from napping, you may feel the first benefits—a clear mind and restored alertness.

Make sure you don’t oversleep. Sleeping more than the recommended time on the first day can backfire and make you feel groggy and tired. The recommended nap duration is 20 to 30 minutes.

If you sleep beyond that on your first day, you are likely to wake up to the opposite effect, which may discourage you from ever continuing to take consistent naps

This period is going to be the hardest, as you will have to constantly adjust your regular schedule to fit the naps in. Your body may have a hard time getting used to this new activity, too. The good news is, once you figure out the ideal schedule to incorporate a daily 20- or 90-minute nap into your routine, you’ll begin to notice the benefits almost instantaneously.

One month of napping can make a huge difference in your professional and personal life. When taken the right way, naps can improve memory, boost creativity, and enhance emotional control and stamina.

All of these things can help you achieve more in your career and build healthy personal relationships.

Basically, adding a nap into your daily routine will give your body a major health boost. After six months, the long-term benefits of napping kick in. One study on Greek adults that found a short nap during the day reduces the risks of dying from heart disease and regularly getting more rest may increase your sex drive.

Overall, napping can help you get on a more consistent schedule, and research finds the consistency to be extremely beneficial for your sleep.