Hear a few self-improvement gurus, and it’s tempting to convince yourself that napping is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players do it regularly – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and business leaders. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “The first is what we call recovery napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting sleep loss ahead, for example during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to wanting: you have a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to do, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap since your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that can be an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level required. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for short-term problems – the priority must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This means that naps shouldn’t be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on when you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies on the subject, experts noted that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the perfect length of time, yet that often cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action one can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research would say it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – while if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more alert. But if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, 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 you can manage. Some advise that one could merely snooze on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure present to start the process initially. I can usually take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids many individuals is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing some accessories. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I advise that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
