Listen to enough performance gurus, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that a nap is a superpower: more than a quick fix after poor sleep, but a route to a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players swear by it – along with concert pianists, fighters and media moguls. Yet, when you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is termed make-up sleep, essentially the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, such as when working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to wanting: you get a chance to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on when you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “You'll find much recommendations regarding the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Studies suggests it's more effective to have a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – however, if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish of a sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Nap Environment
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the environment you associate with *real* sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” notes an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination available to initiate sleep initially. I can usually take a nap during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if your choices are limited – for instance, when aiming to fit in a quick nap on a train or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to use a few tools. “When I’m working with footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
