Listen to a few performance gurus, and you'll be tempting to think that a nap is a superpower: rather than a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Premier League athletes are all at it – and so are concert pianists, fighters and high-profile executives. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a career that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three primary motivations for taking a nap for many people,” notes an expert sleep science professor. “One is what we call make-up sleep, which is what you do after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for example during on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about wanting: you have an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This implies that napping shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your overnight rest, and ideally should not occur after about 3pm (based on when you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists noted that crew members experienced a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the optimal amount of time, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action one can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you awaken. “Research suggests it is preferable to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a full cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts suggest adopting the same protocol you use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and as much darkness as possible. Others suggest that one could merely snooze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your bedroom as the environment your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” says an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on in the first place. I can usually nap during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to look for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for instance, if attempting to grab a quick nap on a train or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
