Tune into a few productivity gurus, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut to a better memory, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players are all at it – as do professional piano players, fighters & high-profile executives. However, if you lack a special sleep space or employment that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes an expert sleep science specialist. “One is termed make-up sleep, that is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting sleep loss ahead, such as when working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply is about wanting: you have a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes beyond your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal should still be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that napping ought not to be too extended to interfere with your overnight rest, and preferably shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts discovered that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “The science suggests it’s better to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – while if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Some experts propose employing the same protocol you use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap in a chair in whatever light is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” notes a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to nod off. You need a natural inclination there to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for an instance when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
