Tune into enough performance gurus, making it tempting to think that napping is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid following poor sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players do it regularly – as do musicians, mixed martial artists and business leaders. Yet, when you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that allows regular snoozing, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” says an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, which is what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, such as during overnight shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply is about the wish: you have an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to consider, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – such as, for a new parent, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that naps ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (based on what time you sleep overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often make people feel more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “The science indicates it is preferable 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 disoriented when you get up – however, if you take it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend adopting similar routines you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” says an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
