Hear plenty of performance podcasters, making it easy to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers swear by it – and so are professional piano players, fighters and business leaders. But if you lack a special sleep space or a career that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for taking a nap among most adults,” explains a professor of sleep and circadian science professor. “One is what we call compensatory napping, essentially the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting sleep loss in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to wanting: you have an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes you cannot change – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you nap as your night sleep is unstable or broken, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the focus must always be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This implies that napping shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on when you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study on the subject, space agency scientists noted that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there about the optimal amount for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Studies indicates it's more effective to have a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you nap for slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a full cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in whatever light is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to will,” notes a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it becomes harder to lie down and essentially tell yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure there to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for an instance when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and if your choices are limited – for instance, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing some accessories. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
