Listen to enough performance podcasters, making it easy to believe that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix following restless night, but a path to a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite footballers are all at it – and so are musicians, UFC champions and media moguls. However, if you don't have a room for napping or employment that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three main reasons for napping among most adults,” explains a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is known as make-up sleep, that is the action you take following poor sleep overnight. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, for instance during on night shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to desire: there is an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to do, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it should be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on when you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. In one of the most referenced research on the subject, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost 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 to 30 minutes – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations about the perfect length of time, however, that can cause people to feel more anxious above all – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science suggests it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – however, if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals propose employing similar routines you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that you should merely snooze on a couch in whatever light is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your bed as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to will,” says a sleep coach. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive there to initiate sleep initially. Personally, I can often snooze in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to use a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
