Hear plenty of self-improvement gurus, and it’s easy to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a band-aid following restless night, but a path towards a better memory, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players swear by it – along with professional piano players, UFC champions and media moguls. But if you lack a room for napping or a career that allows daytime sleep, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is known as recovery napping, that is what you do following a lack of sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for example if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which basically is about wanting: there is a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or you’re recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you nap because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa discovered that astronauts showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can do while aiming to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – while if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals suggest adopting the same protocol you’d use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should merely snooze in a chair in whatever light is present – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” notes an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to go to sleep. You need a natural inclination available to bring the sleep on initially. Personally, I can often take a nap in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps most folks is to look for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing sleep aids. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
