Hear enough productivity gurus, making it easy to believe that napping is a superpower: more than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly quicker running times. Premier League athletes are all at it – and so are professional piano players, mixed martial artists & media moguls. But if you don't have a room for napping or employment that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep science researcher. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, which is what happens following insufficient sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for instance when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially boils down to the wish: you have a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to do, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your sleep at night, and best are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on what time you sleep overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, experts discovered that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there concerning the perfect length of minutes, yet that often make people feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – whereas if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Some experts recommend employing the same protocol one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as possible. Some advise that it's fine to just doze on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” says a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and basically tell yourself to nod off. You need some drive available to start the process to begin with. I can usually nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate an instance where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to grab a quick nap while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
