Tune into a few performance experts, and it’s easy to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards improved recall, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers swear by it – as do concert pianists, fighters and high-profile executives. However, if you lack a special sleep space or a career that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, that is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are anticipating a sleep deficit coming up, for instance during graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to desire: you have an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” states a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you nap as your sleep at night is unstable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This implies that naps shouldn’t be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and preferably shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (contingent on when you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers showed 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 falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – while if you nap for slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a full cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence how you sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Some experts suggest adopting similar routines you use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Some advise that you should just doze in a chair in whatever light is available – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the environment you associate with proper sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to command,” says a sleep coach. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to lie down and practically tell yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure available to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to wait for an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to grab some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
