Listen to a few productivity experts, and you'll be simple to think that napping is a superpower: more than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Professional footballers do it regularly – as do professional piano players, mixed martial artists and business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” says an expert sleep science professor. “One is what we call make-up sleep, which is what you do after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep coming up, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: you get an opportunity to nap during the day, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to consider, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted because of factors outside your control – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap because your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your sleep at night, and preferably are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on when you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of guidance out there about the ideal number of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research indicates it is preferable to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – whereas if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a full cycle and are likely to get up feeling more alert. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists propose employing comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that you should simply nap in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says a sleep coach. “Without any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure available to start the process initially. I can usually nap in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
