Listen to enough performance gurus, making it easy to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a quick fix after restless night, but a route towards improved recall, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Professional soccer players swear by it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists and business leaders. Yet, when you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a job that permits regular snoozing, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Can you find a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, essentially what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are anticipating sleep loss ahead, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about wanting: there is an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it feels nice to do it.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted for reasons you cannot change – for instance, for a new parent, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap as your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority must always be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
Therefore that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to affect your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on the time you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists discovered that crew members had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of guidance out there about the ideal number for sleeping, however, that can make people feel more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “The science would say it's more effective to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – however, if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose employing the same protocol one would use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that one could simply nap on a couch in whatever light is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” notes a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and basically tell yourself to go to sleep. You need a natural inclination present to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually take a nap in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to look for a time where they feel naturally slightly tired and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – for instance, when aiming to fit in a quick nap during a commute or in a work pod – it's acceptable with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
