Good day Jordan!
My new commute to work involves an hour long ferry ride every morning and afternoon (along with ~2 miles walking each way, yay city life haha). While I often use this time to re-read my SS and PP books, I am also a big fan of naps.
That said, my question is - to what degree do naps (say 30-60 minutes asleep) affect recovery as compared to full cycle sleep? Can time spent napping "make up" for a suboptimal night (5-6 hours) of sleep?
Well napping has been labeled as a risk factor for causing difficulty sleeping at night. Most naps of the duration you're listing are not particularly restorative just given the time constraints, but they are offer "more" recovery, likely, than being awake for instance. To the degree that they are measurably effective at dissipating fatigue, I'm not sure. The old adage amongst strength folks goes like this:
I would make the argument that some active recovery work is likely more productive from a recovery standpoint than napping, however.Don't run when you can walk, don't walk with you can stand, don't stand when you can sit down, don't sit down when you can lay down. When you can lay down, try to sleep if possible.