Tune into enough self-improvement podcasters, and it’s tempting to convince yourself that napping is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, better spirits and possibly quicker running times. Professional athletes do it regularly – and so are concert pianists, mixed martial artists & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that permits daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for napping among most adults,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “One is known as make-up sleep, that is the action you take after experiencing a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, for instance when working on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to wanting: you have an opportunity to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, then, is to examine your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed because of factors outside your control – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap because your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (contingent on what time you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists found that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the optimal amount of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “The science suggests it’s better to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you nap for a long period, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, advice differs. A few professionals propose using comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that you should just doze on a couch in whatever light is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is notoriously difficult to command,” says a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically instruct yourself to nod off. There must be some drive available to bring the sleep on in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in full light and awaken on my own alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – for instance, when aiming to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
