Tune into plenty of self-improvement gurus, and it’s tempting to believe that napping is a superpower: rather than a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly quicker running times. Premier League soccer players swear by it – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Does there exist a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“There are three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a leading circadian rhythm professor. “One is what we call make-up sleep, which is what happens when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. Another is prophylactic napping, which involves preparing for sleep loss ahead, for instance when working on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to the wish: you get a chance to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to do, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you take a nap since your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on the time you retire at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists found that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “You'll find much advice around regarding the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “The science indicates it is preferable to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for a long period, it may impact how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose using comparable habits you use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” explains a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and basically tell yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination present to bring the sleep on in the first place. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps most folks is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to grab some shut-eye while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
