Tune into a few self-improvement gurus, and it’s simple to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a sticking plaster after restless night, but a path to a better memory, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players are all at it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists & media moguls. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three main reasons for napping among most adults,” notes a leading sleep science specialist. “One is what we call recovery napping, that is the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for a sleep deficit ahead, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to the wish: you have a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is disturbed because of factors outside your control – for example, for a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you nap since your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not where required. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal should still be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and best are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on when you retire at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. In one of the most referenced research about napping, experts noted that space travelers showed a boost of up to 54% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around concerning the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research indicates it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
As for precise methods, advice differs. Certain specialists recommend adopting similar routines you’d use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in whatever light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the place you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to force,” says an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically command yourself to fall asleep. You need some drive available to bring the sleep on to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps many individuals is to wait for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
