Hear a few self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: rather than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players swear by it – and so are professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” notes an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “One is known as make-up sleep, which is what happens after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep ahead, such as when working overnight shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to the wish: you have a chance to doze during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap since your night sleep feels fragile or poor, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that naps ought not to be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and best are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. From the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that space travelers had up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long nodding-off period). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the ideal number of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep inertia, that foggy state when you awaken. “Studies would say it's more effective to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – while if you nap for slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose adopting the same protocol you’d use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” notes a sleep coach. “Without any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and practically command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually take a nap during the day and awaken on my own alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to fit in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing some accessories. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
