Hear a few performance experts, and it’s simple to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers are all at it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that permits frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, not worse?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “The first is termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take following insufficient sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, for example if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about wanting: you get an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The initial step to consider, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes you cannot change – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping since your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it should be. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the perfect length of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more stressed above all – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research would say it is preferable to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Finding an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists propose using similar routines one would use to foster restful sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that one could simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to force,” notes an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and basically command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive there to start the process in the first place. I can usually nap in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, but what helps many individuals is to look for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – for instance, if you’re trying to grab a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
