Tune into plenty of self-improvement experts, and you'll be simple to believe that napping is a superpower: rather than a band-aid after restless night, but a path to improved recall, better spirits and maybe quicker running times. Elite footballers swear by it – and so are concert pianists, fighters and high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or employment that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the kerfuffle? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep science professor. “One is termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take following insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating sleep loss in the future, such as when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to wanting: there is a moment to doze during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The initial step to do, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping because your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not at the level required. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the focus must always be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (based on what time you retire in the evening). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most referenced research on the subject, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers experienced up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “You'll find much advice around about the ideal number of minutes, however, that can lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Nap Environment
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists propose employing the same protocol you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the place you associate with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive present to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in full light and naturally wake up alarm-free, but what helps most folks is to look for a time where they feel naturally slightly tired and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – for example, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
