Listen to enough self-improvement experts, and you'll be tempting to think that a nap is a superpower: more than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly quicker running times. Professional athletes swear by it – as do professional piano players, mixed martial artists & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that permits regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” says an expert sleep and circadian science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, that is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating insufficient sleep ahead, for example when working overnight shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about desire: you have a chance to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – such as, when you are a new parent, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping as your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not where required. Under those circumstances, napping can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This implies that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts had a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the worst thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you awaken. “Research suggests it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to send you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you nap for a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more alert. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts recommend using the same protocol you use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that you should just doze on the sofa in the existing light is available – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your bed as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” explains an expert. “Without any sleepiness, it becomes harder to recline and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to bring the sleep on initially. I can usually nap during the day and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a time when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for example, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
