Tune into a few performance experts, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix following restless night, but a route towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite footballers do it regularly – as do professional piano players, fighters and high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap among most adults,” notes a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “One is known as recovery napping, essentially the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating sleep loss in the future, such as when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially boils down to the wish: you get an opportunity to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping as your night sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that naps shouldn’t be too extended to affect your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on what time you go to bed overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you awaken. “Studies suggests it’s better to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – however, if you extend it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more alert. Though if you nap for a long period, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, advice differs. Some experts propose employing similar routines you use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that you should simply nap on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” says a sleep coach. “Without any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids a lot of people is to look for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when your choices are limited – for example, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
