Tune into plenty of productivity gurus, making it easy to think that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Elite footballers swear by it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists & media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or a career that permits frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for napping for many people,” says an expert sleep science professor. “One is termed recovery napping, which is what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is pre-emptive sleep, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep ahead, for instance during on night shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to wanting: there is a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes outside your control – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping since your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not where it should be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This implies that naps ought not to be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (based on what time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study on the subject, space agency scientists noted that astronauts experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this included a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the optimal amount for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it is preferable to have a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to finish of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. But if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
When it comes to specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose adopting comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – to avoid sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is notoriously difficult to command,” notes an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and essentially command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on initially. I can usually snooze during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to wait for a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if options are scarce – for instance, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye on a train or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
