Tune into plenty of self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be easy to think that napping is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid following poor sleep, but a path to a better memory, better spirits and possibly improved athletic performance. Premier League soccer players swear by it – as do musicians, mixed martial artists & media moguls. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages frequent naps, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the effort? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a leading sleep science professor. “The first is known as make-up sleep, which is what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to wanting: you get a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to undertake, therefore, is to think about your reason for napping. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes beyond your control – such as, for a new parent, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap because your nighttime sleep is unstable or poor, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the focus must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to affect your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on when you sleep overnight). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study about napping, experts found that astronauts experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations about the ideal number of time, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “The science indicates it's more effective to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to send you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you nap for slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals recommend employing comparable habits one would use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to force,” explains a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to recline and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive present to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often take a nap during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, though, what aids a lot of people is to look for an instance where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should your choices are limited – for instance, when aiming to fit in 40 winks during a commute or at the office – it's acceptable to employ some accessories. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
