Listen to enough self-improvement gurus, and it’s simple to think that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster after restless night, but a route to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Professional soccer players are all at it – as do musicians, mixed martial artists and business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three key drivers for napping for many people,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “One is termed make-up sleep, essentially what happens following poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for instance when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to desire: there is an opportunity to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to consider, so, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on when you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists found that crew members had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Studies suggests it is preferable to take an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – however, if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Certain specialists suggest employing the same protocol you use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” explains a sleep coach. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and practically command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to start the process initially. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids many individuals is to wait for a moment when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for example, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
