Listen to plenty of self-improvement gurus, making it simple to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: rather than a quick fix after poor sleep, but a path towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players are all at it – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that allows frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” says an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, essentially what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, where you are anticipating insufficient sleep ahead, for example during on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about desire: there is a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or poor, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority should still be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that naps ought not to be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on the time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the optimal amount of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research would say it’s better to take a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – whereas if you take it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more alert. However, if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect how you sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, recommendations vary. Certain specialists suggest adopting similar routines one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in the existing light is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the space you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” explains an expert. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and basically command yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure there to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often nap in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, though, what aids a lot of people is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – for instance, when aiming to grab a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
