Listen to plenty of performance podcasters, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster after restless night, but a route towards improved recall, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players do it regularly – as do professional piano players, mixed martial artists and business leaders. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep among most adults,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, essentially what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting sleep loss ahead, for instance during overnight shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to wanting: there is a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted for reasons beyond your control – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep feels fragile or poor, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not where required. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus must always be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (contingent on when you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the ideal number of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “The science indicates it's more effective to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is sufficient to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect how you sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Sleep Space
When it comes to specific techniques, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest using comparable habits one would use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could merely snooze on a couch in the existing light is present – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and basically command yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually snooze in broad daylight and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to look for an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for example, when aiming to grab a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
