Listen to a few self-improvement gurus, making it tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a route to improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite footballers are all at it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that encourages frequent naps, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap among most adults,” says a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's what we call compensatory napping, which is what happens after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Another is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, for example when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about the wish: you have an opportunity to nap during the day, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for instance, for caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” says a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping because your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you retire overnight). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From the most referenced research about napping, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies would say it is preferable to have an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you wake up – however, if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
As for specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals recommend employing the same protocol one would use to foster a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as possible. Some advise that you should just doze in a chair with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” says a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and practically command yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure available to start the process initially. I can usually take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to look for a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if your choices are limited – such as, if attempting to grab some shut-eye while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to employ some accessories. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I advise that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
