Listen to enough self-improvement experts, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes do it regularly – as do professional piano players, UFC champions & media moguls. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Can you find a reliable way to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep science specialist. “The first is termed recovery napping, which is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for instance during on night shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about desire: you get a moment to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to do, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority should still be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (based on the time you go to bed in the evening). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists found that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around concerning the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “The science suggests it is preferable to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – while if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing of a sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Nap Environment
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists recommend using comparable habits you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Others suggest that one could just doze in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to preserve your bed as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to force,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and practically instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure there to start the process initially. I can usually nap during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should your choices are limited – for example, if attempting to fit in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
