Listen to enough self-improvement gurus, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that napping is a secret weapon: not just a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards a better memory, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes swear by it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions and media moguls. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the effort? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” explains a professor of sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is known as compensatory napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves anticipating sleep loss coming up, for example when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which basically boils down to desire: you have a chance to sleep in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to do, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted due to causes outside your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you nap since your night sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that naps must not be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on the time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. In one of the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that crew members had up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the optimal amount of time, yet that often make people feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “The science would say it's more effective to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for a long period, it may impact your sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists recommend using comparable habits you use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Others suggest that one could simply nap in a chair in whatever light is available – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says a sleep coach. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure present to initiate sleep in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to grab some shut-eye on a train or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
