Listen to enough self-improvement experts, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: more than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards a better memory, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players swear by it – and so are professional piano players, fighters & business leaders. Yet, when you lack a room for napping or employment that allows frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” says a leading circadian rhythm professor. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, which is what happens after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for example if you’re working overnight shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to desire: there is a chance to doze in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to consider, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping because your night sleep is unstable or poor, that can be an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, napping can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the focus should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (contingent on the time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more stressed above all – and the worst thing one can do while aiming to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research indicates it's more effective to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it may impact your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose employing the same protocol you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze in a chair with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to force,” says an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive present to bring the sleep on initially. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – for example, when aiming to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
