Listen to a few self-improvement experts, making it easy to convince yourself that a nap is a superpower: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly quicker running times. Premier League athletes are all at it – along with concert pianists, fighters and high-profile executives. But if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that allows frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's known as recovery napping, which is the action you take after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, such as during overnight shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply is about the wish: you get a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to consider, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping since your night sleep feels fragile or poor, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. Under those circumstances, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that napping must not be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and best should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious above all – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research suggests it's more effective to have an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – however, if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. But if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose using comparable habits you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to will,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep initially. I can usually nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to look for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
