Tune into a few self-improvement experts, making it tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid following poor sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players swear by it – as do professional piano players, fighters and business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, which is what happens after experiencing poor sleep the night before. The second is prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting sleep loss coming up, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about wanting: you get a chance to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The first thing to do, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping since your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not where required. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that naps shouldn’t be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on when you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers experienced up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved a six-minute long nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the optimal amount of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science suggests it’s better to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a full cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend using the same protocol you use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that you should simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to lie down and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. You need some drive available to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to take a nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – for instance, if attempting to grab some shut-eye on a train or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to employ some accessories. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
