Tune into a few performance gurus, and you'll be easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players are all at it – as do musicians, fighters and media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a dedicated nap-room or employment that allows regular snoozing, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science researcher. “The first is known as recovery napping, which is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, for instance if you’re working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: you get an opportunity to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping is disturbed because of factors outside your control – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap since your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that is frequently an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep must not be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably are not recommended in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists found that crew members experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies would say it is preferable to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – while if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists recommend employing similar routines one would use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa in the existing light is present – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to command,” says a specialist. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive there to initiate sleep in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to use a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
