By now it is practically a law of nature that college students are sleep deprived. Compared to the seven to ten hours a night recommended for 18-25 year olds, the average college student only sleeps six hours each night. For many, myself included, napping can be serious business. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of all the best—and worst—places to nap around Kenyon, so that my fellow droopy-lidded, mind-jumbled, high-achieving, late-night-loving compadres can make their best napping decisions.
A note before we begin: I have set up an arbitrary rating system based on three factors that I have determined are essential to the perfect nap experience. These three are: comfort, convenience, and privacy. Comfort is a given—you can’t fall asleep unless you’re feeling comfortable (unless you’re that exhausted that it doesn’t matter where you sleep anymore as long as you’re sleeping). Convenience is important for the college student because usually if you’re napping in the middle of the day it’s in between commitments or studying, so you want to be able to pick up leave to get where ever you’re going as soon as you wake up. I’ve included privacy as an essential factor because it is a luxury for some, and a necessity for others—some people can’t sleep with extraneous noise or other people lingering around.
Each nap location is rated in one to five Zs, with five Zs being the most comfortable, most convenient, and most private spot for napping. Check out the spaces with the most Zs for what could prove to be the best nap of your life.
Your Own Bed
Comfort: ZZZZZ
Convenience: ZZ
Privacy: ZZZZ
As far as sleeping goes, nothing beats your own bed. It has just the right amount of pillows and blankets, and it’s your own space so you even change into some comfy sweats while you’re there. The drawback for a lot of people on campus, i.e. those who live North, your bed is very far away from all your classes, Peirce, and basically everything. Also, falling asleep in your own bed in the middle of the day can be life-changingly disorienting—once when my friend woke me up from a nap in my bed to go to dinner I felt like I never fully reentered my body or like I missed a whole 48 hours of living while sleeping and I couldn’t hold a proper conversation for two days. Beware.
Someone Else’s Bed
Comfort: ZZZZ
Convenience: ZZZZ
Privacy: ZZZ
Sleeping in your friend’s bed has almost the same level of comfort and privacy of your own bed. The trade off is that you can spend some extra time with friends, even if you’re not awake to actually interact with them. Plus, if you’re friend lives South and you live North, it’s a whole lot more convenient to crash in their dorm than trek back to your own.
Dorm Lounges
Comfort: ZZZ
Convenience: ZZZ
Privacy: Z
This is probably one of the worst places to nap. There’re always going to be people moving in and out of these spaces with widely varying degrees of loudness. Plus, you don’t know who’s walking through there. That cute kid in your bio class? Yup, they just saw you drool on that arm rest.
The Library
Comfort: ZZZ
Convenience: ZZZZ
Privacy: ZZ
Library naps should be some kind of right of passage. Although not the best nap experience by far, there’s something to be said about falling asleep in the library—at least you were attempting to do work.
Peirce Lawn
Comfort: ZZZ
Convenience: ZZZZZ
Privacy: ZZ
This one should be the most convenient place to sleep considering it’s a three to five minute walk to almost anywhere on South campus, but it’s so weather dependent that it’s hard to rate accurately. If it’s too hot and sunny you could get a sunburn if you fall asleep, if it’s raining or snowing, which it is for 75% of the year, that’s also a no go. Still, there’s nothing like a nap in the grass, with a cool breeze under a blue sky.
Lower Peirce
Comfort: ZZZZ
Convenience: ZZZZ
Privacy: ZZ
Probably the most well-known public napping spot, the couches in Lower Peirce are just comfy enough and just convenient enough to eke out a top ranking. Peirce can get pretty noisy during lunchtime, so try to do your napping during off hours for the best experience.
Ascension
Comfort: ZZZZZ
Convenience: ZZZ
Privacy: ZZZ
The couches on third floor Ascension are magic, I swear. They gobble you up and take you to dreamscapes that you could never have traveled to on your own. I would highly recommend a nap here before you graduate. On top of that, there are never a gross amount of people there, so you can snooze in relative privacy for a public space.
Various Random Chairs and Couches in Academic Buildings
Comfort: ZZZ
Convenience: ZZZZZ
Privacy: ZZZ
There are couches in literally (probably) every building—Higley, Lentz, Gund Gallery, Palme—take your pick. I’ve heard there are especially nice ones on the third floor in Horvitz. These are especially prized for convenience since they are, after all, wherever your next class is.
Practice Room
Comfort: ZZ
Convenience: Z
Privacy: ZZZZZ
I would not recommend this unless you are absolutely desperate, or it’s an accident. The major perks of sleeping in a practice room are that you can be completely alone, and there’s not a lot of place on campus in which you can do that, and that the noise of other people playing instruments or singing can lull you into a blissful rest. But, and this is a very big but, there are likely people that need to use them for their actual intended purpose as a place to practice music. So be respectful. I’ve heard the chairs in the Storer lounge are pretty comfortable, so you could try those instead.
The Basement of Cheever
Comfort: ZZZZZ
Convenience: ZZZZ
Privacy: ZZZZ
This is my personal favorite nap location. Although I think the basement is technically a space set aside for Kenyon Review Associates, Cheever is still a campus building and is open to all students. There are two HUGE couches with pillows, and there’s never more than a couple of people there, if anyone at all. Plus, sometimes you can fall asleep to the sound of Professor Kluge typing away on his typewriter on the floor above.
Now when you need to take that 15-minute power nap (or that accidental two-hour midday snooze), you know exactly where to go!