Tune into a few productivity gurus, making it easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players swear by it – along with concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a job that allows regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for napping for many people,” says a leading circadian rhythm researcher. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, that is what happens after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are anticipating a sleep deficit in the future, for example during overnight shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to desire: you get a moment to sleep in the afternoon, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to do, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap as your sleep at night feels fragile or unreliable, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on what time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. From the most referenced research on the subject, experts found that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this counted a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “The science indicates it's more effective to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose adopting similar routines one would use to foster restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” says a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to nod off. You need some drive there to start the process initially. Personally, I can often take a nap in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids many individuals is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if your choices are limited – such as, if attempting to fit in 40 winks during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
