Listen to plenty of productivity gurus, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a route to improved recall, improved mood and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers do it regularly – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions & media moguls. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “One is termed recovery napping, that is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. The second is pre-emptive sleep, when you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, such as when working on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to wanting: you get a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted due to causes outside your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This implies that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on the time you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that crew members had improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often make people feel more stressed than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies indicates it is preferable to take an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend using similar routines you use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that it's fine to just doze on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Sleep is something really tricky to command,” says an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to recline and basically command yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination present to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually snooze during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – such as, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap on a train or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
