Listen to plenty of productivity podcasters, making it tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: more than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a route towards improved recall, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Professional footballers swear by it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you lack a special sleep space or a career that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” explains an expert sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, that is what happens after experiencing poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, for instance during graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to desire: you have a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap since your sleep at night is unstable or unreliable, that can be a sign your sleep drive is not as strong as it should be. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From the most referenced research about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep expert. “You'll find much guidance out there about the perfect length of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Research suggests it is preferable to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – however, if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals suggest adopting comparable habits one would use to encourage restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could merely snooze in a chair in whatever light is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and essentially tell yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for an instance when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
