Tune into enough self-improvement gurus, and it’s easy to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid after poor sleep, but a path towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players are all at it – and so are concert pianists, mixed martial artists and media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or a career that allows frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is termed compensatory napping, essentially what you do after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, for example when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to the wish: there is an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to consider, then, is to examine why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping since your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that is frequently an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the focus ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on the time you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers had up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep quickly,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the perfect length of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the worst thing you can do while aiming to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you get up – while if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose using similar routines you use to promote a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to preserve your bedroom as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” says a sleep coach. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and practically tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure present to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ some accessories. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
