Hear plenty of productivity gurus, making it easy to convince yourself that napping is a secret weapon: rather than a quick fix following poor sleep, but a route towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players are all at it – as do concert pianists, mixed martial artists and business leaders. Yet, when you don't have a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for napping among most adults,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, essentially what you do following poor sleep overnight. The second is pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for instance when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to the wish: you have an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or broken, that’s often a sign 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. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to affect your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on what time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research indicates it is preferable to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish upon awakening – while if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a natural sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. But if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing similar routines one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that one could just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the place you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is tougher to lie down and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on initially. Personally, I can often snooze during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps many individuals is to look for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – such as, if attempting to squeeze in some shut-eye on a train or at the office – it's acceptable to use a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
