Tune into plenty of performance experts, and you'll be simple to believe that napping is a superpower: rather than a band-aid after restless night, but a path to improved recall, better spirits and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes swear by it – as do concert pianists, fighters and high-profile executives. But if you don't have a room for napping or a career that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, essentially what you do after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are anticipating sleep loss in the future, such as when working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about desire: you get an opportunity to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The initial step to do, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping since your sleep at night is unstable or broken, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus ought to remain a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
Therefore that naps must not be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (contingent on when you retire at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa discovered that crew members had improvements of over 50% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – most people are asleep quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there concerning the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action one can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research indicates it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you nap for slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists suggest adopting similar routines you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap in a chair in whatever light is present – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to will,” says a specialist. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to look for an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when you have few options – for example, if attempting to grab 40 winks while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
