Tune into plenty of performance podcasters, making it easy to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards a better memory, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Elite soccer players do it regularly – and so are professional piano players, mixed martial artists & business leaders. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that permits regular snoozing, are there *really* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” says an expert sleep and circadian science specialist. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, which is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to the wish: you get an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to consider, therefore, is to examine why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes you cannot change – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap since your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and ideally should not occur in the late afternoon (based on the time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. In one of the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations about the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “The science suggests it is preferable to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel groggy when you wake up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Some experts recommend using the same protocol you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze in a chair in the existing light is present – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the environment your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” explains a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to recline and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive available to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists many individuals is to anticipate an instance when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when your choices are limited – for instance, when aiming to fit in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – 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, because they’re going to have|they will
