Tune into enough productivity experts, and it’s simple to believe that napping is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a path to improved recall, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players swear by it – as do musicians, fighters & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that permits frequent naps, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” says an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. The second is prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, for instance during on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: there is a chance to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted for reasons you cannot change – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep specialist. “However, if you nap because your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that is frequently an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping for brief periods for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur after about 3pm (depending on the time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included a six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “The science would say it’s better to take a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – while if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more alert. But if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend adopting the same protocol you’d use to promote a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to lie down and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive there to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to nap during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a time that they’re 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 in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
