Tune into plenty of performance podcasters, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes swear by it – and so are musicians, UFC champions and business leaders. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “One is what we call make-up sleep, which is what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit ahead, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to the wish: there is a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The initial step to consider, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons outside your control – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping because your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not as strong as required. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority should still be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on what time you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists found that crew members had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep expert. “You'll find much advice around concerning the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “Studies indicates it is preferable to have 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 a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – while if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you nap for a long period, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose adopting comparable habits one would use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” notes an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists many individuals is to anticipate an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should your choices are limited – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
