Hear enough productivity gurus, making it easy to believe that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite athletes swear by it – along with professional piano players, fighters and high-profile executives. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a career that allows frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a reliable way to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three main reasons for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes a leading circadian rhythm professor. “The first is what we call recovery napping, which is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Another is pre-emptive sleep, when you are anticipating sleep loss coming up, for example if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically comes down to wanting: you get an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to do, then, is to think about your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping since your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This implies that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your nighttime sleep, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that crew members had improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals doze off quickly,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations regarding the perfect length of minutes, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything – and the worst thing you can do while aiming to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “The science suggests it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, advice differs. Some experts recommend using similar routines one would use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” says a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure there to start the process initially. I can usually nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – such as, when aiming to grab a quick nap on a train or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ some accessories. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
