Hear a few productivity gurus, and you'll be tempting to think that napping is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players do it regularly – along with concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. Yet, when you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that permits daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap among most adults,” says a leading sleep science specialist. “The first is known as recovery napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, for example if you’re working overnight shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about the wish: there is an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – such as, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This implies that napping must not be too extended to affect your sleep at night, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on when you go to bed at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. Among a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that astronauts showed a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals doze off within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, however, that can lead individuals to become more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it’s better to take a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it may impact your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists suggest adopting similar routines you use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap on a couch in the existing light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to recline and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually nap during the day and awaken on my own without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to look for a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
