Listen to enough productivity gurus, making it easy to think that a nap is a superpower: more than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes swear by it – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and business leaders. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows regular snoozing, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is termed compensatory napping, essentially what happens when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, such as when working on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about wanting: you get a chance to nap during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to consider, therefore, is to examine why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for instance, when you are a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “However, if you nap since your night sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on when you retire overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. From the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there regarding the ideal number of minutes, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research would say it's more effective to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a full cycle and will probably wake up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose adopting comparable habits one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze on a couch in the existing light is available – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to command,” explains a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to lie down and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on initially. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps most folks is to wait for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing some accessories. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
