Tune into a few productivity gurus, and you'll be simple to believe that napping is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a route towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Elite athletes swear by it – and so are professional piano players, fighters and high-profile executives. But if you lack a room for napping or a job that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains an expert circadian rhythm professor. “One is termed recovery napping, that is what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, for example when working overnight shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about wanting: you get an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to consider, then, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted due to causes outside your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you nap as your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that’s often a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus should still be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that naps ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on when you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations concerning the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science suggests it is preferable to opt for a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – while if you nap for slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish a full cycle and will probably wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose employing similar routines you’d use to promote a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze in a chair with ambient lighting is present – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to will,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and practically tell yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure present to bring the sleep on to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and awaken on my own alarm-free, however, what assists many individuals is to look for a time when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
