Listen to plenty of performance experts, and you'll be simple to believe that a nap is a superpower: not just a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players are all at it – and so are professional piano players, fighters and media moguls. Yet, when you lack a special sleep space or a job that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take following a lack of sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, such as when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically boils down to desire: you have a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – for example, for a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you nap because your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that napping ought not to be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on when you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. Among a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of minutes, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “The science suggests it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you nap for a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. Some experts recommend adopting comparable habits you’d use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should simply nap in a chair in whatever light is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” says a sleep coach. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to go to sleep. You need some drive present to initiate sleep to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if options are scarce – for instance, if you’re trying to fit in a quick nap on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
