Hear a few self-improvement experts, making it easy to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers are all at it – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages daytime sleep, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” explains a professor of sleep science professor. “The first is termed make-up sleep, which is the action you take after experiencing a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, for example during overnight shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which simply is about the wish: you get a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The initial step to consider, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that is frequently an indicator your sleep drive is not where required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on when you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around about the optimal amount of time, however, that can make people feel more stressed than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies indicates it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for a long period, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Finding an Ideal Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest adopting comparable habits one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – to prevent that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to force,” says an expert. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and practically tell yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to look for a time when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should your choices are limited – for instance, when aiming to grab a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ some accessories. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
