Listen to plenty of self-improvement podcasters, making it simple to believe that dozing is a superpower: more than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players swear by it – along with professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will get up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three key drivers for napping for many people,” says a leading circadian rhythm professor. “The first is known as make-up sleep, which is the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Another is prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, for instance during graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to the wish: you get an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for example, for a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (based on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. In one of the most-cited studies about napping, experts discovered that crew members had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the ideal number of minutes, however, that can make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do while aiming to nod off is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “Studies indicates it's more effective to have a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep that night.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
As for precise methods, advice differs. Some experts suggest employing similar routines one would use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could merely snooze on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the environment your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure present to start the process in the first place. I can usually nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a moment when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for example, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
