Listen to a few productivity gurus, and it’s simple to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster following restless night, but a route towards enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Professional soccer players are all at it – and so are musicians, fighters & high-profile executives. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or employment that permits frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Can you find a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Identifying The Reasons for Napping
“There are three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” says a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, which is what you do after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves anticipating a sleep deficit in the future, for example during graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to desire: you get a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to do, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you’re napping since your night sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. In those cases, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
Therefore that napping must not be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur post-3 p.m. (based on what time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts had a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science suggests it's more effective to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a full cycle and should wake 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 Sleep Space
As for precise methods, advice differs. A few professionals recommend employing comparable habits you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as possible. Others suggest that you should merely snooze in a chair in the existing light is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to force,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive present to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually snooze in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to look for a moment where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
