Hear enough productivity podcasters, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that napping is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a path to a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players are all at it – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists and business leaders. Yet, when you lack a room for napping or a job that allows daytime sleep, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Can you find a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, which is what happens following poor sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for instance when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically comes down to desire: there is an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – such as, when you are a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap because your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that naps shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on what time you retire overnight). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts experienced improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there concerning the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the worst thing one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “The science would say it's more effective to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, advice differs. Some experts suggest adopting the same protocol you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as is feasible. Others suggest that one could simply nap on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to command,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking any drowsiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap during the day and awaken on my own alarm-free, however, what assists most folks is to wait for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – for instance, if attempting to fit in a quick nap while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
