Tune into enough productivity experts, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly quicker running times. Elite footballers do it regularly – along with professional piano players, UFC champions & high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” explains a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “One is termed make-up sleep, essentially what happens when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, for example when working overnight shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get an opportunity to doze during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the focus ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This means that napping ought not to be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended after about 3pm (based on what time you retire at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers experienced improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of time, but that tends to make people feel more stressed than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science indicates it is preferable to have an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you nap for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists propose using comparable habits you use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should just doze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says an expert. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, but what helps many individuals is to look for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if options are scarce – for example, if attempting to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing some accessories. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
