Tune into a few self-improvement podcasters, making it tempting to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: not just a band-aid following poor sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers do it regularly – as do musicians, UFC champions & business leaders. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a job that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three main reasons for napping for many people,” explains an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, essentially what happens following poor sleep the previous night. Another is prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example when working on night shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically comes down to desire: there is a chance to sleep in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to think about your nap motivation. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “However, if you nap as your night sleep seems unreliable or broken, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for short-term problems – the priority should still be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies about napping, experts discovered that astronauts showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off quickly,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around about the perfect length of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious above all – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to nod off is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it is preferable to have a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – however, if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. A few professionals recommend using similar routines you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that you should just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically command yourself to go to sleep. You need some drive available to bring the sleep on in the first place. Personally, I can often nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap on a train or at the office – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
