Hear enough self-improvement experts, and you'll be simple to think that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Professional footballers swear by it – and so are musicians, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that permits regular snoozing, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” explains an expert sleep science researcher. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, essentially what you do following poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating sleep loss in the future, for example if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to desire: you have a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – such as, for caring for an infant, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping as your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. In those cases, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and preferably are not recommended in the late afternoon (contingent on when you retire at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers experienced up to a 54% increase in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that foggy state upon waking. “Research suggests it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and will probably wake up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Some experts suggest using comparable habits you use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap on the sofa in whatever light is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to will,” says a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to look for a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to use a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
