Tune into plenty of productivity experts, and it’s tempting to think that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers swear by it – along with professional piano players, UFC champions and business leaders. But if you lack a room for napping or a career that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” says a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, which is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for instance during graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to the wish: you have a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is to think about your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest gets interrupted for reasons beyond your control – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you nap because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This implies that naps ought not to be too extended to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on when you retire overnight). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists found that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the perfect length of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried above all – and the least helpful action one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “The science indicates it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – whereas if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts suggest employing similar routines you use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in whatever light is available – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and practically command yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure present to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without an alarm, though, what aids many individuals is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or at the office – it's acceptable to use a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
