Hear plenty of self-improvement gurus, and you'll be simple to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players do it regularly – and so are concert pianists, fighters & media moguls. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that permits frequent naps, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Can you find a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, that is what you do following a lack of sleep overnight. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating sleep loss coming up, for example during on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply is about the wish: you get a moment to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to consider, so, is to examine your nap motivation. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted for reasons beyond your control – such as, for caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap because your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it should be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This implies that naps ought not to be too extended to affect your overnight rest, and best are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on when you retire overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that crew members had improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals are asleep quickly,” says a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around about the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research would say it's more effective to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose adopting the same protocol you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap on a couch in whatever light is present – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” says an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically command yourself to fall asleep. You need some drive present to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to look for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when you have few options – for instance, when aiming to fit in a quick nap on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
