Tune into enough self-improvement gurus, making it tempting to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite athletes swear by it – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists & media moguls. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that allows regular snoozing, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for napping in the adult population,” explains a professor of sleep science professor. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, which is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, such as if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which basically comes down to the wish: there is a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – such as, when you are a new parent, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap since your night sleep is unstable or poor, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that daytime sleep must not be too extended to affect your overnight rest, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you go to bed overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the worst thing one can do when trying to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “The science suggests it's more effective to have a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Nap Environment
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists recommend adopting comparable habits you use to promote a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure there to bring the sleep on in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps most folks is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
