Hear plenty of self-improvement experts, and you'll be tempting to think that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after poor sleep, but a path towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes swear by it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions and media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a job that allows frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three key drivers for napping among most adults,” says a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “One is known as make-up sleep, essentially the action you take following a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, such as when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically is about the wish: you have a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is to think about why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes you cannot change – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping since your nighttime sleep is unstable or poor, that’s often a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This implies that napping shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on when you sleep overnight). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers had improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research would say it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Right Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals recommend adopting comparable habits you’d use to foster restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as possible. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the environment your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. You need some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep initially. Personally, I can often nap in full light and naturally wake up alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to look for an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – for instance, when aiming to fit in 40 winks while traveling or at the office – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
