Hear a few self-improvement gurus, making it easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster following restless night, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers are all at it – and so are musicians, fighters and business leaders. However, if you lack a special sleep space or employment that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for napping for many people,” says an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “One is termed recovery napping, which is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating sleep loss in the future, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to desire: there is a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to consider, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – such as, when you are a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping because your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that can be an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps for brief periods for short-term problems – the priority should still be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that naps must not be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably are not recommended post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you retire at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. In one of a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this included a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations about the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research suggests it is preferable to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Nap Environment
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists recommend employing similar routines you use to promote a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Others suggest that one could merely snooze in a chair in the existing light is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bed as the space your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive there to bring the sleep on initially. I can usually snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own alarm-free, but what helps many individuals is to look for a moment that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong with bringing sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I advise that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
