Listen to enough self-improvement gurus, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Elite soccer players swear by it – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that permits daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling better, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for taking a nap among most adults,” says an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “One is what we call compensatory napping, which is what you do following a lack of sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for instance if you’re working overnight shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to wanting: you have an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed due to causes outside your control – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap since your sleep at night is unstable or unreliable, that can be a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it should be. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This implies that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on what time you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. In one of the most referenced research about napping, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies indicates it’s better to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you nap for a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose employing the same protocol you use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in whatever light is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive present to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids many individuals is to wait for a time where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for example, when aiming to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
