Hear enough performance gurus, making it easy to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid following restless night, but a route towards improved recall, better spirits and maybe quicker running times. Elite athletes swear by it – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists and business leaders. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three key drivers for napping for many people,” says an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “One is termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. Another is prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for example during graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: you get a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” says a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where required. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to affect your sleep at night, and preferably are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on what time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Studies suggests it’s better to have a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose adopting similar routines you’d use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should simply nap on the sofa in the existing light is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive present to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and if your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will