Listen to a few self-improvement podcasters, making it tempting to think that dozing is a superpower: rather than a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional footballers are all at it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions and business leaders. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for napping in the adult population,” notes a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, that is the action you take following poor sleep the previous night. Another is prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, such as when working on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply is about the wish: there is a chance to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to do, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – for example, for a new parent, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” says a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not where it needs to be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that napping must not be too extended to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on the time you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Advice differs. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers had improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies suggests it’s better to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a full cycle and should get up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Nap Environment
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose using comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that you should just doze in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your bedroom as the place your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to command,” says a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and basically command yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination present to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually snooze in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to wait for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and calmly allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ some accessories. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
